INDEX: 1700-9 = 100 Decade Imports Domestic Exports Re- Exports Total Exports EXPORT INDEX 1700-09 4.783 3.961 1.655 5.615 100.0 1710-19 5.585 4.775 2.150 6.925 123.3 1720-29 6.796 4.937 2.840 7.777 138.5 1730-39 7.478 5.858 3.200 9.076 161.6 1740-49 7.290 6.556 3.571 10.128 180.4 1750-59 8.465 8.750 3.504 12.254 218.2 1760-69 10.719 10.043 4.490 14.533 258.8 1770-79 12.105 9.287 5.136 14.422 253.3 1780-89 13.730 10.200 4.262 14.462 257.5 1790-99 21.797 17.520 9.350 26.870 478.5 GR BRITAIN 1780-99 14.889 10.889 4.529 15.419 274.6 1790-99 22.164 17.697 9.425 27.123 483.0
France 17.0 21.9 30.5 38.5 Netherlands 1.2 1.9 2.0 5.1 Spain 9.0 8.5 14.0 18.6 Italy 11.0 12.0 18.4 32.5 Germany 12.0 12.0 18.1 43.6 Western Europe 61.1 71.9 116.5 201.4 England as % Western Europe 4.91% 6.82% 9.87% 15.14% Percentage Growth Rates
as indicated, customs duties or tariffs on the importation of various goods, including food excise taxes on the sale of foodstuffs – beer, wine, bread, meat, fish, etc. – and other consumables, such as textiles. levied at the same rate for everybody without exemptions. excise duties had long been imposed in continental European countries, but were not introduced into England until much later: in the Long Parliament of July 1643, just after the outbreak of the Civil War between Parliament and the Crown. (9) The following table indicates both the proportions and regressivity of both excise taxes and customs duties on consumption: CHIEF SOURCES OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT REVENUES as percentages of total revenues Years Customs Excises Stamp Post Land Others TOTAL duties duties taxes office taxes 1700 35.0 23.7 2.1 1.8 34.1 3.30 100.00 1710 25.5 29.5 1.9 1.2 34.9 7.00 100.00 1720 26.4 39.2 2.8 1.5 24.4 5.70 100.00 1730 31.3 44.8 2.5 1.5 24.9 -5.00 100.00 1740 24.7 49.0 2.3 1.5 26.4 -3.90 100.00 1750 20.6 46.2 1.8 1.2 29.6 0.60 100.00 1760 22.9 45.8 3.1 0.9 29.2 -1.90 100.00 1770 25.0 45.2 3.0 1.4 15.8 9.60 100.00 1780 22.1 48.5 4.3 1.1 20.1 3.90 100.00 1790 20.3 45.3 7.8 2.2 17.6 6.80 100.00 1800 21.5 33.5 8.3 3.8 16.1 16.80 100.00
Region 1700 1750 1772 1798 North America 6% 11% 25% 32% Caribbean/S. America 5% 5% 12% 25% Africa-Asia 4% 7% 14% 13% Total of Above 15% 23% 51% 70% Europe 85% 77% 49% 30% Total Values: millions of £ st. £4.461 £9.125 £10.196 £18.298 (4) Even as early as 1700, North America and the Caribbean were offering the English important overseas markets, as the following population figures indicate:
Western Europe 61.1 71.9 116.5 201.4 England as % Western Europe 4.91% 6.82% 9.87% 15.14% Table 3 Percentage Growth Rates (Overall: for periods designated) 1550-1680 1680-1820 1820-1900 England 64 133 166 France 29 39 26 Netherlands 58 8 149 Spain -6 64 33 Italy 9 53 77
1500 estimate 50,000 1600 estimate 200,000 1650 estimate 350,000 1750 estimate 550,000 1801 census 1,088,000 1851 census 2,491,000 Table 5. Percentages of Total Population Living in Towns with 5,000 or more inhabitants, 1600 - 1850 Year ENGLAND FRANCE NETHERLANDS 1600 8 9 29 1700 17 11 39 1750 21 10 35 1800 28 11 35 1850 45 19 39 Source: E. Anthony Wrigley, ‘British Population during the “Long” Eighteenth Century, 1680 - 1840’, in Roderick Floud and Paul Johnson, eds., Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, 3 vols. (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), Vol I: Industrialization, 1700 - 1860, Table 3.11, p. 88.
Region 1700 1750 1772 1798 North America 6% 11% 25% 32% Caribbean/S. America 5% 5% 12% 25% Africa-Asia 4% 7% 14% 13% Total of Above 15% 23% 51% 70% Europe 85% 77% 49% 30% Total Values: millions of £ st. £4.461 £9.125 £10.196 £18.298
NOTE: (4L) = watchmen, guards, porters, messengers, Post Office letter carriers, janitors; (1H) = clerks, Post Office sorters, ware-housemen, collectors, tax surveyors, solicitors clergymen, surgeons, medical officers, architects, engineers; (2H) = shipwrights; (3H) = fitters, turners, iron-moulders; (4H) = bricklayers, masons, carpenters, plasterers; (6H) = compositors. SOURCE: From Williamson, 1982b, Appendix Table 4. TABLE 18 Trends in Nominal Full-Time Earnings for Six Labor Groups, Compared with Three Previous Series, 1755-1851 (1851 = 100) -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Farm laborers Bowley's farm laborers Middle group Phelps building laborers Labor aristocracy Tucker's London artisans All blue collar White collar All workers
1755 1781 1797 1805 1810 1815 1819 1827 1835 1851 52 weeks' earnings in 1851 59.16 72.62 103.41 139.12 144.76 137.88 134.47 106.89 103.41 100.00 £29.04 75.5 93.9 100.8 112.3 100.00 £29.04 42.95 54.88 72.92 98.89 110.95 105.55 99.41 98.89 96.98 100.00 £52.95 48.5 57.6 66.7 83.3 97.0 97.0 97.0 97.0 97.0 100.00 £42.90 50.86 57.38 64.86 79.44 92.03 95.28 91.92 93.55 88.68 100.00 £75.15 69.8 69.8 81.0 87.0 105.6 112.1 103.3 105.1 98.9 100.00 n.a. 51.05 59.64 74.42 96.58 107.81 106.18 101.84 97.59 94.11 100.00 £52.62 21.62 26.42 32.55 38.88 43.01 46.55 50.77 55.09 75.03 100.00 £258.88 38.62 46.62 58.97 75.87 84.89 85.30 84.37 83.11 88.77 100.00 £75.51 NOTE: The indices are aggregated from the finer groups listed in Table 9.1, using wage series from Table 9.2 and employment weights. The employment weights for 1755-1815 draw on Lindert, ‘English Occupations, 1670-1811,’ Table 3; while those for 1815-1851 are derived from censuses. The derivations of the employment weights are described in DP, Appendix A. SOURCE: For the three previous series, see Bowley, 1900, table in back; Phelps Brown and Hopkins, 1955; Tucker, 1936, pp. The conversion of the Phelps Brown-Hopkins series from daily to annual wages assumed 312 working days a year. Table 19 A 'Best Guess' Cost-of-Living Index for southern England, 1781 - 1850: 1850 = 100 Using Southern Urban Expenditure Weights
Years Index Years Index 1781 118.8 1816 192.1 1782 119.3 1817 197.5 1783 121.9 1818 192.4 1784 118.4 1819 182.9 1785 112.3 1820 170.1 1786 109.6 1821 150.5 1787 112.5 1822 139.8 1788 115.9 1823 146.0 1789 122.3 1824 154.6 1790 125.9 1825 162.3 1791 121.2 1826 144.4 1792 118.3 1827 140.9 1793 127.3 1828 143.2 1794 130.7 1829 143.2 1795 153.8 1830 143.9 1796 159.5 1831 141.3 1797 138.8 1832 133.9 1798 136.9 1833 124.7 1799 155.7 1834 117.6 1800 207.1 1835 112.8 1801 218.2 1836 126.4 1802 160.9 1837 129.2 1803 156.8 1838 138.3 1804 160.2 1839 142.3 1805 186.7 1840 138.4 1806 178.5 1841 133.3 1807 169.1 1842 123.4 1808 180.5 1843 109.6 1809 204.9 1844 114.5 1810 215.4 1845 112.0 1811 204.5 1846 116.4 1812 235.7 1847 138.0
(A) Agriculture 1761-70 1771-80 1781-90 1791-1800 1801-10 1811-20 1821-30 1831-40 1841-50 260 276 299 326 351 373 396 421 455 22.5 24.4 27.0 30.0 30.8 33.3 35.9 38.3 42.3 0.9 1.8 2.1 2.4 1.8 1.9 1.9 2.2 3.5 23.4 26.2 29.1 32.4 32.6 35.2 37.8 40.5 45.8 874 908 894 842 768 770 820 805 809 23.5 23.8 23.6 23.9 24.1 27.1 27.3 28.6 29.6 19.8 19.7 20.3 21.2 24.5 21.0 22.0 32.3 37.0 374 395 423 453 435 418 680 739 886 66.7 69.7 73.0 77.5 81.2 83.4 97.0 101.3 112.4 (B) Industry 1761-70 1771-80 1781-90 1791-1800 1801-10 1811-20 1821-30 1831-40 1841-50 198 219 248 292 341 403 501 664 887 6.6 7.5 8.9 10.8 11.1 13.7 17.6 21.6 29.0 1.8 2.3 3.7 5.0 4.9 7.4 12.4 20.2 24.3 8.4 9.8 12.5 15.8 16.0 21.2 29.9 41.7 53.3 447 504 594 789 988 1204 1473 1862 2217 16.5 18.6 21.9 27.6 33.7 46.0 75.6 97.0 128.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.8 3.9 6 7 8 10 12 15 19 37 79 25.2 28.7 34.8 43.8 50.2 67.9 106.4 140.6 185.5