Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism

The publication in 1995 of the two award-winning volumes of British Imperialism by P. J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins was a major event for historians of Britain, of imperialism, and of international economic history generally. The work provided the mature exposition of the author’s theory of “Gentlemanly Capitalism” – a complex of economic, social and political power centred on the City of London (then the world’s chief provider of international economic services) which, according to Cain and Hopkins, had a central role in shaping the course and the character of imperial Britain’s development, at home and abroad, across the past three centuries. The idea of Gentlemanly Capitalism caught the attention not only of historians interested in the British and imperial past, and also of commentators preoccupied with the future. It stimulated vigorous argument in many different parts of the world. The present volume, Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism, will therefore be assured of a wide welcome. Its specially-commissioned contributions are intended to provide an accessible guide to this developing debate; to illustrate the role of Gentlemanly Capitalism in a number of different international arenas, both inside and outside the formal Empire; and to stimulate further work on Britain’s imperial past and its contemporary legacy.