Private property, public interest, and the role of the state in nineteenth-century britain: The case of the lighthouses

Historical Journal

Volumn 44, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 749-771

  Taylor, James ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KENT   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 85006549665     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X01001832     Document Type: Article

References (118)

1. This reform has received little attention. For exceptions see Roger Prouty, The transformation of the board of trade (London, 1957), pp. 46–49
2. R. H. Coase, ‘The lighthouse in economics’, Journal of Law and Economics, 17 (1974), pp. 357–376
3. Douglas B. Hague and Rosemary Christie, Lighthouses: their architecture, history and archaeology (Dyfed, 1975), pp. 42–60.
4. Richard Tompson, The charity commission and the age of reform (London, 1979).
5. John Cannon, Parliamentary reform, 1640–1832 (Cambridge, 1973), pp. 209–210
6. J. R. M. Butler, The passing of the great reform bill (London, 1914), p. 247.
7. Izhak Gross, ‘The abolition of negro slavery and British parliamentary politics, 1832–1833’, Historical Journal, 23 (1980), pp. 63–85.
8. C. H. Philips, The East India Company, 1784–1834 (Manchester, 1961), pp. 287–298
9. Timothy L. Alborn, Conceiving companies: joint-stock politics in Victorian England (London, 1998), pp. 36–38.
10. W. Ivor Jennings, ‘The municipal revolution’, in Harold J. Laski et al., eds., A century of municipal progress - the last hundred years (London, 1935), p. 55
11. K. B. Smellie, A history of local government (London, 1946)
12. Derek Fraser, ed., Municipal reform and the industrial city (Leicester, 1982).
13. Eric J. Evans, The contentious tithe: the tithe problem and English agriculture, 1750–1850 (London, 1976), pp. 115–160.
14. R. W. Kostal, Law and English railway capitalism (Oxford, 1994), p. 144.
15. ‘State and prospects of the country’, Quarterly Review, 78 (Apr. 1829), p. 517
16. probably written by Robert Southey, The Wellesley index to Victorian periodicals, 1824–1900 (Toronto, 1966), 1, p. 708.
17. See for example ‘a true tory’, ‘On the innovations of Lord Brougham’, Fraser's Magazine, 19 (Aug. 1831).
18. George Poulett Scrope, ‘The rights of industry and the banking system’, Quarterly Review, 94 (July 1832), p. 415.
19. Elie Halévy, A history of the English people, 1815–1830 (London, 1926), pp. 116–23, 194–201
20. David Roberts, Victorian origins of the British welfare state (New Haven, 1960), p. 35
21. Philip Harling and Peter Mandler, ‘From “fiscal-military” state to laissez-faire state, 1760–1850’, Journal of British Studies, 32 (1993), pp. 44–70
22. Philip Harling, The waning of old corruption: the politics of economical reform in Britain, 1779–1846 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 136–196.
23. This was first noted by Coase, ‘The lighthouse in economics’, pp. 357–360.
24. J. R. McCulloch, ‘On the frequency of shipwrecks’, Edinburgh Review, 60 (Jan. 1835), p. 348.
25. John Stuart Mill, Principles of political economy (Harmondsworth, 1970), pp. 342–343.
26. G. G. Harris, The Trinity House of Deptford, 1514–1660 (London, 1969), pp. 180–181.
27. The Trinity House of Deptford, pp. 19–23.
28. Reasons may have included the desire to protect the skill of pilotage, reluctance to risk the charitable fund on speculative lighthouse construction, and the fear that illuminating the coastline would jeopardize national security by guiding enemy fleets into harbour. The Trinity House of Deptford, pp. 213–214.
29. Select committee [hereafter SC] appointed to inquire into the state and management of lighthouses (Parliamentary Papers (PP), 1834, xii), p. 60.
30. Select committee [hereafter SC] appointed to inquire into the state and management of lighthouses Parliamentary Papers (PP), pp. 70–71.
31. Select committee [hereafter SC] appointed to inquire into the state and management of lighthouses Parliamentary Papers (PP), pp. 24–6, 249.
32. Accounts relating to the Trinity-House of Deptford-Strond, 1805–1815 (PP, 1816, xix), pp. 2–3.
33. SC appointed to consider means of maintaining and improving the foreign trade of the country, as far as relates to lights, harbour dues, and pilotage (PP, 1822, v), pp. 340–3, 394.
34. SC appointed to consider means of maintaining and improving the foreign trade of the country, as far as relates to lights, harbour dues, and pilotage PP, pp. 340–343.
35. House of Commons Journals, 76, p. 100, 22 Feb. 1821
36. House of Commons Journals, 77, pp. 230–1, 3 May 1822.
37. PP, 1820, II.
38. SC … [on] foreign trade (PP, 1822, v), p. 3.
39. PP, p. 8.
40. Accounts relating to Trinity-House (PP, 1816, xix), pp. 2–7.
41. SC … [on] foreign trade (PP, 1822, v), p. 19.
42. 3 Geo. IV c. III.
43. SC appointed to inquire into the state and management of lighthouses (PP, 1845, ix), p. 3.
44. 4 Geo. IV c. 77.
45. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), p. 20.
46. The cost to the government of reciprocity payments, 1823–44 was £ 503,766. Sarah Palmer, Politics, shipping and the repeal of the navigation laws (Manchester, 1990), p. 51.
47. Papers relating to the Trinity House light dues (PP, 1833, xxxiii).
48. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), pp. 46–54.
49. lighthouses PP, pp. 11–12.
50. SC appointed to inquire into the present state of manufactures, commerce, and shipping in the United Kingdom (PP, 1833, vi),q. 6227.
51. SC appointed to inquire into the present state of manufactures, commerce, and shipping in the United Kingdom (PP, qq. 6677, 8116, and 8229.
52. Hansard, 3rd ser., xv, 1069–70 (21 Feb. 1833).
53. Hansard, xxvii, 247 (25 Mar. 1835).
54. Brewster, a fellow of the Royal Society and a pioneer in the field of optics and light who applied his findings to lighthouses, was a regular contributor to the Edinburgh Review. Dictionary of national biography (DNB), 11 (Oxford, 1921–1922), pp. 1207–1211.
55. Brewster, ‘British lighthouse system’, Edinburgh Review, 57 (Apr. 1833)
56. idem, ‘Parliamentary report on lighthouses’, Edinburgh Review, 61 (Apr. 1835), p. 221.
57. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), p. 4.
58. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxxi, 167 (8 Feb. 1836).
59. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), p. 56.
60. lighthouses (PP, p. 23).
61. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxvii, 246–263.
62. Trinity House itself was not enthusiastic about absorbing the other two lighthouse authorities. Observations addressed to the lords of the Treasury by the corporation of Trinity House, on the report of the select committee of the House of Commons on lighthouses (PP, 1835, xlviii), p. 2.
63. 6 & 7 Will. IV c. 79.
64. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1845, ix), p. 7. The purchase was facilitated by £150,000 of government money in the form of a Treasury loan. The rest of the money came from Trinity House's reserves, and from a loan raised by the corporation by the issue of 4 per cent bonds.
65. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxvii, 247.
66. Hansard, xv, 1072.
67. Brewster, ‘Parliamentary report’, p. 222.
68. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxvii, 252.
69. Hansard, XV, 1075.
70. Hansard, 1073.
71. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), p. 57.
72. Hansard, 3rd ser., xv, 1074.
73. Hume, Hansard, xxvii, 247.
74. Hume, Hansard, xxxi, 167.
75. Hume, Hansard, xxvii, 248.
76. Brewster, ‘Parliamentary report’, p. 224.
77. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1845, ix), p. 19.
78. David Ricardo, On the principles of political economy and taxation (Harmondsworth, 1971), pp. 173–174.
79. Brewster, ‘Parliamentary report’, p. 229.
80. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), q. 2629.
81. Hume, Hansard, 3rd ser., xxvii, 251–252.
82. Hume, Hansard, xxxi, 167.
83. Christopher Fitzsimon, Hansard, xxvii, 262.
84. Retaining private property in lighthouses would also have thwarted that other central aim of reformers, uniformity of management. See the memorial of the General Shipowners' Society to the 1834 select committee, SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1834, xii), p. 225.
85. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxxi, 167
86. Hansard, xxvii, 249–250.
87. Hansard, xxvii, 260.
88. Hansard, 257.
89. These petitions were received on 19 Aug. 1835, and on 2 Mar., 7 July, 12 July, 25 July, and 26 July 1836: House of Commons Journals, 90, p. 569
90. House of Commons Journals, 91, pp. 104, 634, and 652
91. House of Lords Journals, 68, pp. 741 and 747.
92. Times, 22 May 1816, p. 2, col. c.
93. Times, 7 Jan. 1823, p. 2, col. d.
94. Times.
95. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxxv, 139–40 (12 July 1836)
96. Brewster, ‘British lighthouse system’, pp. 172–174.
97. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxxi, 166–168.
98. Hansard, xxxv, 146.
99. Hansard, XXVII, 253.
100. Two notable supporters were Poulett Thomson and Peel: Hansard, 3rd ser., xxxv, 141 and 144.
101. Alborn, Conceiving companies, pp. 1–8.
102. Conceiving companies, p. 7.
103. John Wilson, ‘Northern lighthouses’, Blackwood's Magazine, 34 (Sept. 1833), p. 364.
104. Hansard, 3rd ser., xxvii, 259.
105. Hansard, xxxi, 173.
106. Hansard, 175.
107. Hansard, XXXV, 139.
108. Hansard, XXVII, 262.
109. See also the similar argument of Thomas Wyse, Hansard, 260–261.
110. Hansard, 263.
111. Hansard, section ix.
112. Hansard, section vii.
113. SC … [on] lighthouses (PP, 1845, ix), p. 6.
114. Royal commission on the condition and management of lights, buoys, and beacons (PP, 1861, xxv), p. 105
115. Return showing the total amount received for light dues in the United Kingdom for the years 1856–1861 (PP, 1862, LIV), p. 1.
116. Letter from his royal highness Prince Albert to the right hon. Edward Cardwell (PP, 1852–1853, xcviii), p. 2.
117. Representation from the corporation of the Trinity House to her majesty in council (PP, 1852–3, xcviii), p. 3.
118. Representation from the corporation of the Trinity House to her majesty in council, pp. 5–6.