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The Trustee Savings Banks, 1817–1861

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  • Fishlow, Albert

Abstract

The economic historian is well aware of the philanthropic origins of savings banks. Both in Western Europe and the United States they were initially established by public spirited individuals as a depository for the funds of small savers. It is not so widely appreciated that such banks were encouraged officially as a part of social policy in England during the nineteenth century. In an age in which self-help and individual thrift were conceived as the only solutions for lower-class poverty and distress, a means of spreading such virtues was sure not to go unnoticed. Brought forward in those critical years at the end of the Napoleonic wars, “here was the first constructive and practical proposal for counteracting the growing pauperization of the community, restoring independence to the masses, stopping the growth of the poor rate, and giving the ordinary man and woman some interest in the financial stability of the country.”

Suggested Citation

  • Fishlow, Albert, 1961. "The Trustee Savings Banks, 1817–1861," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 26-40, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:21:y:1961:i:01:p:26-40_11
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2001. "An institutional import : Irish savings banks c. 1820-1860," Working Papers 200117, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    2. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2016. "Did Science Cause the Industrial Revolution?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 224-239, March.
    3. Simone A. Wegge & Tyler Anbinder & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2017. "Immigrants and savers: A rich new database on the Irish in 1850s New York," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 144-155, July.
    4. Martina Cioni & Govanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2018. "Ninety years of publications in Economic History: evidence from the top five field journals (1927-2017)," Department of Economics University of Siena 791, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    5. Alter, George & Goldin, Claudia & Rotella, Elyce, 1994. "The Savings of Ordinary Americans: The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(4), pages 735-767, December.
    6. Robert A. Margo, 2018. "The integration of economic history into economics," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 12(3), pages 377-406, September.
    7. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Maixe-Altes, J. Carles, 2009. "Managing technological change by committee: Adoption of computers in Spanish and British savings banks (circa 1960-1988)," MPRA Paper 27086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Maixe-Altes, J. Carles, 2008. "Organisational change and the computerisation of British and Spanish savings banks, circa 1965-1985," MPRA Paper 14479, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2003. "Financial Panic, Famine and Contagion - Ireland in the 1840s and 1850s," Working Papers 200316, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    10. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2020. "The long-term evolution of economic history: evidence from the top five field journals (1927–2017)," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 14(1), pages 1-39, January.
    11. Maltby, Josephine Anne, 2014. "Bringing back Thrift Week: Neo-liberalism and the rediscovery of thrift," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 115-127.
    12. McLaughlin, Eoin & Pecchenino, Rowena A., 2024. "Helping the poor help themselves: Social enterprise and Ireland's peculiar microfinance revolution, c. 1836-1845," Accountancy, Economics, and Finance Working Papers 2024-08, Heriot-Watt University, Department of Accountancy, Economics, and Finance.
    13. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2008. "How the poor (and not-so-poor) saved : savings banks in mid-Nineteenth Century Ireland and America," Working Papers 200822, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    14. Maixe-Altes, J. Carles, 2010. "Diverging Paths to a Network World: Computerizing Spanish and British Savings Banks, 1960-1990," MPRA Paper 25966, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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