- 著者
-
武内 達子
- 出版者
- 社会経済史学会
- 雑誌
- 社會經濟史學 (ISSN:00380113)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.46, no.3, pp.269-292, 375-374, 1980-09-15
An important problem of capital formation in the industrial revolution is to find the facts how the neccessary capital was financed in the various stages of the development of an industrial enterprise. Accepted theories of the financing of industrial enterprises in capital formation in Great Britain are : (1) Capital is mainly financed by the partners and the very high-rate of the growth of capital is realized by the reinvestment of the gross profit, and (2) Loans from individuals or banks were basically short-term credit for circulating capital. These assumptions, however, are seemed to be based in some fragmental evidences, and they must be tested in the actual state of financing of an industrial enterprise. The present paper makes an analysis of the original records of Newton Chambers, an ironworks in Sheffield founded in 1793. The facts obtained from the account books, such as great ledger, stock book, etc., between 1792 and 1806 are summarized as follows. Expenditure for "building and fixture" of the ironworks continued for the first eleven years, amounting to about £ 11,000. The sources of almost all capitals freshly supplied by the partners were an oversea-trade merchant in Sheffield and London merchants. The supply of the fresh capital continued also for the same early years, amounting to about £ 11,OOO. In the very early stage of the company, there were a lot of loans from individuals, industrialists and others, and from a bank in Sheffield and the neighbourhood. The former supplied about £ 2,500 as long-term credit and the latter £ 4,700 at the peak of overdraft as a kind of long-term credit. The overdraft after the first six years was only circulating capital fluctuating in one year cycle. The present study revealed the detailed complementary relationship between partners' capital and loans. The fact that, in the first five years, the total amount of long-term loans was greater than that of capital supplied by the partners is an evidence of the importance of loans in the industrial financing. Furthermore, it became clear that the very high-rate of the growth of capital in the early stage of the company's history was the result of both the reinvestment of the gross profit and the continuous supply of fresh capital from the partners.