Forgotten Majority

Margrit Schulte Beerbuhl is Professor of Modern History of the University of Dusseldorf. Her publications include Spinning the Commercial Web (Frankfurt 2004, ed. with Jorg Voegele), Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain (Munchen 2007, ed. with Stefan Manz et al.), and Transnational Networks: German Migrants in the British Empire, 1670-1914 (Leiden 2012, ed. with Stefan Manz et al.).

"This is undoubtedly an important piece of work. It brings together a wide range of archival data and secondary material (in both English and German) to provide an innovative and incisive analysis of the role of nationalized German-born merchants in London between the mid-seventeenth century and the end of the Napoleonic Wars - [It] represents an important contribution to existing scholarship relating to the rise of British trading interests and the development of London as the focal point for international trade, commerce, and banking." * Robert Lee, University of Liverpool "Without question, Margrit Schulte Beerbuhl's work is a pathbreaking contribution to the study of international (or transnational) merchant networks." * Andreas Fahrmeir, Goethe University "This is an extremely important book - It helps us to reinterpret British economic growth and trade - gives a deep rooting to those interested in the migration of those with middle class backgrounds to Britain today - points to the longevity and the fundamental importance of migration in British history - [and] is also a highly original contribution to the history of naturalization in Britain." * Panikos Panayi, De Montfort University

• List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Sources and Outline Chapter 1. Naturalizing Newcomers for Prosperity (1660-1818) Early Modern English Naturalization Law Naturalized Subjects: Their Numbers and Native Lands The Occupations of German Immigrants who became English Subjects Chapter 2. Furthering Anglo-German Trade in the Seventeenth Century Reorganizing Anglo-German Trade during the 1600s London's German Merchants after 1660 Lack of Trust and Understanding: Challenges for Both Sides German Merchant Trade in London Trading Regions and Commodities Late-Seventeenth-Century German Trade Networks German Merchants and London Trade Companies Fighting Regulated Companies Politics and Commerce Chapter 3. Eighteenth-Century German Houses and Trade London's German Trade Houses Starting out in London: The Way to Independence Trade Houses and Partners Chain Migration, Successors, and Transnational Alliances A German Perspective on the Development of Bilateral Trade The Rise and Organization of Early "Merchant Empires" Connecting Colonial Empires Early Merchant Empires - flexible and vulnerable Chapter 4. German Merchants in the Levant and Russia Companies British Trade with Russia and the Levant Naturalized Merchants in the Levant Company Naturalized Merchants in the Russia Company The Russia Company's Struggle with Naturalization Practices Naturalized Citizens and the Russia Company's Office in St. Petersburg The Bank of Scotland's Right to Naturalize Chapter 5. Favorable Markets and Bankruptcy Insurance and Trade at London's German Trade Houses London's Early Insurance Business Networking Europe with the Americas and Asia The Bankruptcy Trend and the Naturalized Subjects' Bankruptcies Waves of Bankruptcy during the Coalition Wars The Size of Failed Trade Houses during the Era of the Coalition Wars Muilman & Nantes Theophilus Blanckenhagen Persent & Bodecker Oom, Hoolboom, Knoblock & Co. and Hippius & Co. Estates of the Failed Certificate of Conformity and Brokering Commodities: Starting all over Commodity Brokers and the Freedom of the City Conclusion Historical Sources Bibliography Index