Victorian Pawnbrokers: Cancerous Worms of Ruin or the Poor Man’s Banker?

Craig McMahon ()
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Craig McMahon: Villanova University

Chapter Chapter 2 in Taming the Fringe, 2021, pp 17-56 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Victorian pawnbrokers and policymakers found themselves balancing competing priorities concerning small-time capitalism and financial regulation. Pawnbrokers had long sought societal acceptance as respectable businesspeople, detractors suggested they preyed on the irrational and immoral passions of the ‘degenerate’ poor. Others considered that pawn credit provided security from insufficient and irregular wages and encouraged parliament to free them from heavy-handed regulation. With loan volumes approaching 230 million annually, much was at stake. Whether they liked the industry or not, Parliamentarians of all stripes recognized that the poor had few other borrowing options. Since lawmakers were uninterested in dealing with the root causes of poverty, or offer an alternative lending source, they eased certain regulatory burdens to help ensure a viable and profitable pawnbroking market.

Keywords: Pawnbrokers; Trade associations; Urban poverty; Victorian regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psitcp:978-3-030-70615-9_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-70615-9_2

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