The Business Community and Political Economy in Manchester, C. 1815-1825

Changes in local economic structure associated with the rapid expansion of the factory and the growing integration of spinning and manufacturing were inevitably linked to the evolving political economy of Manchester in the post-Waterloo period. At the same time local structures should not be treated in isolation at the cost of discounting national economic developments. We will examine some of these dominant national issues 1 and examine their relationship to the local political economy of Manchester. In doing so we hope to shed light on the development of Manchester’s business community as it sought to advance the claims of manufacturing industry in the overall pattern of the nation’s economic priorities.