What help have the banks given British industry? Some evidence on bank lending in the Midlands in the late nineteenth century

Abstract

Controversies over the role of banks in industrial finance have concentrated on aggregate lending and barely encompassed any investigation of how individual firms fared as loan applicants. This study begins to remedy this deficiency by examining the overdraft books of the Leicestershire Banking Company, which reveal the experience of several thousand borrowers in the 1890s. These records indicate the importance of industrial lending relative to the service sector, agriculture and private individuals. They show that overdraft limits were often repeatedly renewed. The bank tried to accommodate all reasonable requests, while going to considerable lengths to minimize the risk of non-repayment.