Capital investment in the western suburbs of Victorian London.

This thesis is concerned with an aspect of the suburban development of West London, mainly between the 1830s and l890s. It examines the economic behaviour of the personnel and institutions involved in making suburbs and providing opportunities for investment in transport, housing and other forms of social overhead capital. A first chapter describes the expansion of West London with the aid of maps and illustrations of the physical setting. Another five chapters attempt to analyse the process of investment by studying financial institutions, land and building development, local railway promotions, the provision of public works and the building of churches. The thesis illustrates how profits were made in suburban development and shows how a ready supply of finance enabled building production to expand. It argues that an important element in the process of capital formation was the accummulation of the savings of professional people and small capitalists in the commercial metropolis, including those engaged in land and building development. And it concludes that the growth of the London suburbs was not much dependent on external finance but was mainly a product of their own reinvestment. The thesis also contains a note on some recent approaches to English urhan history of the nineteenth century. There are several appendices on landowning, building estates, building societies, insurance investments, and the capital expenditure of local authorities in London. A select bibliography lists and comments on the main sources which have been used.