The Blacketts (Paperback)

Greg Finch

ISBN 10: 1838280995 / ISBN 13: 9781838280994

Published by Newcastle Libraries & Information Service, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2022

About this Item

Paperback. The Blacketts have cast long shadows over the region's history as Newcastle merchants, miners, the builders of Wallington Hall and political figures in the 1600s and 1700s. Yet historians over the years have previously found it hard to get out from those shadows and to see more than the silhouettes of myth. Greg Finch's flowing account of the first three Sir William Blacketts, based on extensive new research, now dispels those myths. He reveals a vivid story of a dramatic rise from modest origins, the opening up of the regional lead industry, the creation and operation of a huge business and the crises that followed during a turbulent century of conflict and progress. The Blacketts have cast long shadows over the region's history as Newcastle merchants, miners, the builders of Wallington Hall and political figures in the 1600s and 1700s. Greg Finch's flowing account of the first three Sir William Blacketts is based on extensive new research. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781838280994

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Blacketts (Paperback)
• Publisher: Newcastle Libraries & Information Service, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1838280995
• ISBN 13: 9781838280994
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

'The depth and breadth of Greg Finch's scholarship is extraordinary: he finds, interprets and explains exactly what was going on in a dynasty of extraordinary entrepreneurs in North-east England on the brink of the industrial revolution. But this is no dry, scholarly tome: he tells the tale with the pen of a poet.' Matt Ridley
 
In 1636 15-year-old William Blackett crossed the River Tyne from his modest home to start his apprenticeship in Newcastle. A devastating plague had just taken hold of the town, and the storm clouds of civil war were gathering. Yet within forty years he was a knight, MP, civic leader and the city's wealthiest merchant.
 
Based on meticulous new research, Greg Finch's flowing account of Blackett's life and times charts his dramatic rise, the opening up of the North Pennines lead industry, the creation of a huge business based on coal and lead - and what the next three generations did with it. The bold ambition, brilliance, rivalry and incompetence of colourful personalities all played their part in the management of an important dynastic concern.
 
This is a compelling story of one of Britain's leading ports, its mining and farming hinterland, sea-faring economy, politics, commercial culture and influential place in the nation during a turbulent century of change.
 
2022 winner of the Business Archives Council's Wadsworth Prize for outstanding contribution to British business history.
 
'the style is fluent and the characters well evoked ... impeccably researched' Northern History
 
'an incisive insight ... challenging others to match the meticulous and thoughtful way that he has written a family business history.' Business History