The structure of eighteenth-century bankruptcy.

The conclusions in the last chapter were necessarily tentative. Explanations of the patterns of levels and rates of bankruptcy were more in the form of hypotheses than statements of fact. Such uncertainties can be partly dealt with by looking at trend movements in the sectoral composition of bankruptcy and at differential rates of bankruptcy between parts of the eighteenth-century business world. For if it is true that high trend levels and rates of bankruptcy are associated with opportunities and buoyancy and low levels and rates with certainty, stagnation and lack of enterprise, then the composition of bankruptcy should tie up with what historians know about the structural realignments taking place before and during early industrialisation. Prospering parts of the economy such as the Lancashire cotton industry, or declining areas like the Devon woollen trade, should be associated with high and low levels and rates of bankruptcy respectively. Moreover, it has become possible to appreciate better the extent of restructuring within eighteenth-century England following the new and vigorous impetus of the arguments of Crafts and others. Answers to questions such as ‘What share of the business community that went bankrupt was involved in overseas trade or textiles?’ should help confirm perceptions of the relative weights to be attached to the various sectors of the economy at the time. THE OCCUPATIONS OF BANKRUPTS To help identify bankrupts both the London Gazette and the Docket Books gave occupational descriptions of everyone listed. Such evidence has to be handled cautiously for a number of reasons. Some descriptions were very broad, such as ‘merchant’, or had different meanings depending on the social and economic context of the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]