Key Economic Events in Britain From 1700
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1700 | Exports as %age of national output - 8.4%. Agriculture output (1815 prices) - £40 million. |
| 1706 | Act of Bankruptcy passed. |
| 1707 | Union of Scotland and England. |
| 1708 | English banks limited to small-scale partnerships. |
| 1714 | Accession of George I. |
| 1717 | Britain switches to Gold Standard. |
| 1720 | Note issue by Bank of England exceeds total of all goldsmith bankers Bubble Act. |
| 1721 - 1723 | South Sea Bubble Affair - unimportant in itself, the speculation involved in this Bubble is important for the long-lasting hostility it evoked towards the dealing in shares of companies. |
| 1732 | Act of Bankruptcy made permanent. |
| 1734 | Barnards Act prohibits dealings in options and forward contracts by stockbrokers on the London exchange. |
| 1736 - 1799 | 125 Municipal Improvement Acts passed. |
| 1750 | Manufactures as % of exports - 75.4%. Agricultural Output (1815 prices) - £59 million. |
| 1751 | Creation of Three Percent Consols. |
| 1752 | Adoption of Gregorian Calendar. |
| 1760 | Exports as a %age GNP - 14.6%. Accession of George III. |
| 1765 | American Stamp Act (repealed 1766). |
| 1770s | Canal links between major rivers begin to be established. |
| 1772 | Over 500 turnpike trusts established - turnpikes were monopolies granted by parliament for the running of private highways. |
| 1776 | United Stated of America declares Independence. |
| 1780 | Exports as a %age GNP - 9.4%. |
| 1780 - 1787 | Number of cotton mills increases eightfold. |
| 1783 | Recognition of American Independence. |
| 1784 | East India Company establishes Board of Control. |
| 1789 - 1815 | French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. |
| 1790s | Number of hours to spin 100lb of cotton falls to 300. Approximately 2500 steam engines in use. Development of gas lighting. |
| 1795 | Speenhamland system of Poor Relief introduced - part of the Poor Law introduced in 1790s. Not important in itself, but has come to be recognised as generous system of Poor Relief. |
| 1796 | Introduction of Smallpox Vaccine. |
| 1797 | Britain leaves Gold Standard |
| 1798 | Introduction of Income tax. Malthus' Essay on Population published. |
| 1799 - 1800 | Combination Acts suppressing Trade Unions. |
| 1800s | Average family income (1801-03) - £92. Agricultural Output in 1800 (1815 prices) - £88 million. Exports as a %age of GNP in 1801 - 15.7%. Manufactures as a %age of exports in 1800 - 87.2%. |
| 1801 | Union with Ireland. First Census of population. |
| 1802 | Peel introduces first factory legislation. |
| 1804 - 1824 | Latin America gains independence from European governments. |
| 1806 | Napoleon establishes Continental System prohibiting all trade with England. |
| 1807 | Abolition of Slave Trade. |
| 1811 - 1816 | Luddite riots - sign of economic downturn. |
| 1815 | Passage of Corn Laws - taxes charged on imported wheat and other grain - protectionist economic policy. End of Napoleonic War. |
| 1819 | Peterloo massacre. Passage of Six Acts - demonstration of harshness of Tory government as it suspended Habeus Corpus, enabling the government to put people in prison for no reason. Sign of unrest and poor economy. |
| 1821 | National Product (1865 prices) - £218 million. Formal resumption of Gold Standard. |
| 1822 onwards | Britain runs commodity trade deficit - greater imports than exports. |
| 1824, 1825 | Huskissons successful budgets provide for rationalisation of tariff structure. |
| 1825 | Banking Crisis. Legalisation of Trade Unions. |
| 1826 | Joint-stock banking allowed outside of London. |
| 1829 | Catholic Emancipation. Establishment of Metropolitan Police. |
| 1830 - 1832 | First major Cholera epidemic. |
| 1831 | "Captain Swing" riots against mechanisation of agriculture. |
| 1832 | First Great Reform Act. |
| 1833 | Factory Act limiting child labour. Abolition of slavery in British colonies. |
| 1834 | New Poor Law. Robert Owen found Grand National Consolidated Trade Union. |
| 1837 | Accession of Queen Victoria. |
| Late 1830s | Severe Recession. |
| 1840 | Introduction of Penny Post. |
| 1840s | National Product in 1841 (1865 prices) - £394 million. |
| 1842 | Peel becomes Prime Minister, reintroduces income tax. Lowest ebb of Manchester Trade Depression. |
| 1844 | Bank Charter Act. |
| 1844 - 1845 | Massive Railway building. |
| 1845 - 1847 | Irish Potato Famine. |
| 1846 | Repeal of the Corn Laws. |
| 1848 | Public Health Act. Publication of Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto. |
| 1850s | Agricultural Output in 1850 (1815 prices) - £135 million. Output growth rate (1856-73, constant factor cost) - 2.3% per annum. Growth of New Model Unions. |
| 1851 | Great Exhibition. |
| 1854 - 1856 | Crimean War. |
| 1855 | Palmerstone becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1856 | Joint-Stock Companies Act provides for general limited liability. |
| 1857 | Indian Mutiny. |
| 1860s | National product of Great Britain in 1861 (1865 prices) - £565 million Export growth rate (1866-72) - 6.12% per annum. |
| 1860 | Cobden-Chevalier Treaty - Gladstones budget codify principles of Free Trade. |
| 1861 - 1865 | American Civil War |
| 1867 | Second Great Reform Act. |
| 1869 | Opening of Suez Canal - allows much quicker passage to India. |
| 1870s | Output growth rate (1873-13, constant factor prices) - 1.9% per annum. Agricultural Output in 1870-6 - £195 million. Export Growth Rate in 1878-81 - 2.43% per annum. Prices (1873-96) - GDP deflator falls 20% |
| 1870 | First Irish Land Act - gave compensation to evicted tenants. Education Act. |
| 1871 | Trade Unions Act legalises unions giving them protection of the courts. |
| 1872 | Lincoln Bank self-imposes first stated reserve asset ratio. Secret Ballot introduced. |
| 1874 | Removal of sugar tariffs. |
| 1875 | Unions allowed to picket. Britain acquires controlling interest in Suez Canal. |
| 1878 | City of Glasgow Bank fails. |
| 1878 - 1881 | Years of bad harvests and low prices. |
| 1880s | National Product in 1881 (1865 prices) - £1079 million. Output Growth Rate (1881-91) - 1.73%. Export Growth Rate (1881-89) - 2.33% per annum. |
| 1882 | Peak in industrial production. |
| 1884 | Third Reform Act reforming the franchise. |
| 1886 | Gold found in Transvaal. |
| 1889 | Peak in industrial production. London Dockers strike. |
| 1890s | Export Growth Rate (1889-99) - 1.19% per annum. Prices (1896-1914) - GDP deflator increases 17.6%. |
| 1893 | Brooklands Agreement between employers and unions in cotton industry - fixed piece rates for spinners. Founding of Independent Labour Party. |
| 1897 - 1898 | Engineering lockout. |
| 1899 | Crown Colonies Loan Act. USA proposes Open Door policy in Far East. |
| 1899 - 1902 | Anglo-Boer War. |
| 1900s | Agricultural Output (1904-10) - £155.2 million per annum Export growth rate (1899-1907) - 3.99% per annum. |
| 1900 | Formation of Labour Representation Committee by Trades Union Congress. |
| 1901 | Death of Victoria. Accession of Edward VII. |
| 1903 - 1906 | Chamberlains Campaign for Tariff Reform. |
| 1905 | Revolution in Russia. |
| 1906 | Labour Party returns 29 MPs to parliament. |
| 1908 | Old Age Pensions Plan introduced. |
| 1910s | Output Growth Rate (1907-13) - 1.72% per annum. Agriculture - more than 50% of British food imported. Export Growth Rate (1907-13) - 2.79% per annum |
| 1911 - 1913 | Railway and Mining strikes. |
| 1911 | National Insurance Act provides unemployment benefits and health care. |
| 1913 | Peak in industrial production. |
| 1913 - 1919 | Trade Union membership doubles from 4 to 8 million. |
| 1914 | Suspension of Gold Standard. |
| 1913 - 1918 | First World War. |
| 1916 | Founding of federation of British industries. |
| 1917 | Russian Revolution. |
| 1918 | Representation of the People Act extends franchise to women over 30. |
| 1919 | Irish Independence. Treaty of Versailles. Soviet Russia founds Comintern. Publication of Keynes' Economic Consequences of Peace |
| 1919 - 1920 | Post-war boom. |
| 1920s | Output rate of growth (1924-37, constant factor cost) - 2.20% per annum. |
| 1920 - 1922 | Steep recession. |
| 1921 | Major strikes by "Triple Alliance" - miners, dock workers, railway workers. Lenin outlines New Economic Policy (NEP) |
| 1923 | Hyperinflation in Weimar Republic - first sign of economic depression. |
| 1924 | Ramsay Macdonald leads first Labour government. Dawes Plan. |
| 1925 | Britain resumes Gold Standard at pre-war parity. |
| 1926 | General Strike. |
| 1928 | Stalin issues first Five-Year Plan |
| 1929 | Wall Street Crash leads to worldwide economic depression. Beginning of Soviet Collectivisation of agriculture. |
| 1930s | Output rate of growth (1937-51) - 1.26% per annum. |
| Early 1930s | International depression. Unemployment in Britain above 15%. |
| 1931 | Britain abandons Gold Standard. |
| 1932 | Parliament passes General Tariff - 10% import tax on all goods except raw materials. Ottawa conference on Imperial Trade. |
| 1932 - 1939 | Managed currency float under Exchange Equalisation Account; emergence of sterling area. |
| 1932 - 1937 | Upswing in national economic performance. |
| 1933 | Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. |
| 1935 | Rearmament begins. Passage of Nuremberg Laws. |
| 1936 | Publication of Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. |
| 1937 | Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister |
| 1938 | Munich Conference and partitioning of Czechoslovakia. |
| 1939 | Nazi-Soviet Pact |
| 1939 - 1945 | Second World War. |
| 1940s | Inflation (1945-50) at 4.3% per annum. |
| 1945 | Britains current account deficit at 1/6th of national income. Anglo American Financial Agreement where UK commits to Convertibility by 1947. End of Second World War. Formation of United Nations. |
| 1945 - 1951 | Labour government under Atlee. |
| 1946 | Nationalisation of Coal, Bank of England. |
| 1947 | Convertibility crisis Nationalisation of Transport, Electrical Power. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Independence of India and Pakistan. Truman doctrine. |
| 1948 | Nationalisation of Health Service begins. |
| 1948 - 1949 | Berlin Blockade. |
| 1948 - 1950 | Marshall Plan aid to UK. |
| 1948 - 1949 | Israeli war of independence. |
| 1949 | Pound devalued 30% against the dollar. Nationalisation of Iron and Steel. Formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Formation of Council of Mutual Assistance (COMECON) between Soviet Union and its satellite states of Eastern Europe. |
| 1950s | Output growth rate (1951-73, constant factor cost) - 2.8% per annum. Inflation (1950-67) - 3.8% per annum. |
| 1950 | Public expenditure exceeds 39% of GDP. Rearmament begins. |
| 1950 - 1953 | Korean War. |
| 1951 - 1964 | Conservative governments of Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home. |
| 1953 - 1955 | Steel privatised. |
| 1954 | De facto free convertibility of pound to dollar. |
| 1955 | Formation of Warsaw Pact. |
| 1956 | Suez Crisis |
| 1957 | Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (EEC). USSR launches Sputnik. |
| 1958 | General convertibility of European currencies. |
| 1959 | Formation of European Free Trade Area. |
| 1960s | Inflation (1968-73) - 7.5% per annum. |
| 1961 | First use of "tax regulator" - Chancellor of the Exchequer could change indirect taxation between budgets. Erection of Berlin Wall. |
| 1962 | Cuban Missile Crisis. |
| 1963 | France vetoes UK membership of EEC. Nuclear Test-Ban treaty. |
| 1965 | Monopolies and Mergers Act. Establishment of National Board for Prices and Steel. |
| 1966 | Seamens strike. England wins the World Cup final. |
| 1967 | Devaluation of pound from $2.80 to $2.40. Steel nationalised again. |
| 1969 | First landing on the moon. |
| 1970s | Inflation (1974-80) - 15.9% per annum. |
| 1970 | Public expenditure exceeds 47% of GDP. |
| 1972 | First National Coal Strike since 1926. Britain floats Pound. Britain begins direct government of Northern Ireland. |
| 1972 - 1973 | Prices and Wages frozen. |
| 1972 - 1974 | Watergate crisis in US. |
| 1973 | UK enters EEC. |
| 1973 - 1974 | International Oil Crisis. |
| 1974 | Election of Labour government. Coal Strike. Government takes majority shareholding in British Leyland (until 1988). |
| 1975 | Establishment of state-owned National Enterprise Board. |
| Late 1970s | North Sea Oil comes on-line. |
| 1979 | Election of Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher. Privatisation of British Petroleum. |
| 1979 - 1982 | Major recession. |
| 1980 - 1992 | Inflation (1980-87) - 6.9% per annum. Inflation (1988-90) - 7.4% per annum. |
| 1980 | Public expenditure exceeds 50% of GDP. |
| 1980 - 1983 | Recession. |
| 1982 | Falklands War. |
| 1983 - 1989 | Recovery. |
| Early 1980s | Britain becomes net importer of manufactures. |
| 1984 - 1985 | Miners strike. |
| 1986 | Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Channel Tunnel treaty signed with France. |
| 1988 | Steel privatised again. |
| 1989 | Fall of the Berlin Wall. Revolutions in Eastern Europe. |
| 1990 | Privatisation of electricity. Britain joins European Monetary Union (EMU). Reunification of Germany. Public expenditure down to 37% of GDP. Gulf War. |
| 1991 | Maastricht treaty signed. British Telecom privatised. Gulf War. |
| 1992 | Conservative Government under Major. "Black Wednesday" (16th September 1992) led to UK departing EMU. |
| 1992 - 1999 | Inflation at approximately 3% per annum. |
| 1997 | New Labour Government under Blair. Bank of England gains operational independence for first time. Halifax first building society to become a bank. Minimum wage bill went to parliament. Came into effect 1st April 1999. Min. wage £3.60 for adults, £3.20 aged 18 to 21. |
| 1997 - 1999 | Financial Crisis in Asia; caused stock markets worldwide to crash in October 1997. |
Note: The Labour party, for much of the period above, was known to nationalise important British industries whilst the Conservative Party tended to privatise them.