The Industrial History Of Dean

"An unprecedented historical account of the destruction of Brazil's Atlantic Forest, a required reading for those committed to its preservation, written with genuine love and knowledge."—José Roberto Borges, Brazil Program Director, Rainforest Action Network "After reading this volume, no one could fail to realize the uniqueness and importance of these coastal forests, which have played such a fascinating role in the history of Brazil."—Ghillean T. Prance, Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

A stranger to Dean could hardly suspect that less than a century ago the Forest was a center of industry. Mining, quarrying, smelting, iron, tinplate, engineering, and other works thrived, but within boundaries so quartered by hill and woodland, that solitude was never far away. Of this, but little remains. Business of a different kind has grown, and the old sites have in great measure been swept clear, regardless of anything noble or worthy of remark that might stand amid the general ruin. Perhaps, in answer to the worst of the Industrial Revolution, such a reaction was inevitable.

What role did the parish play in people's lives in England and Wales between 1700 and the mid-twentieth century? By comparison with globalisation and its dislocating effects, the book stresses how important parochial belonging once was. Professor Snell discusses themes such as settlement law and practice, marriage patterns, cultures of local xenophobia, the continuance of out-door relief in people's own parishes under the new poor law, the many new parishes of the period and their effects upon people's local attachments. The book highlights the continuing vitality of the parish as a unit in people's lives, and the administration associated with it. It employs a variety of historical methods, and makes important contributions to the history of welfare, community identity and belonging. It is highly relevant to the modern themes of globalisation, de-localisation, and the decline of community, helping to set such changes and their consequences into local historical perspective.

James Teague (1750-1818) was born in Ruardean parish in Gloucester, England. He was the son of James and Hannah Teague, and grandson of Edward and Eleanor Teague, all of Ruardean. Ruardean was a parish on the edge of the ancient Forest of Dean. In 1774-75 he married Hannah Blanch (d. 1790). In 1791 he married Mary Birt (1769-1798) and upon her death he married Sarah Birt (1779-1842). The family became very prosperous and well known in the areas of coal mining, iron-ore mining, iron making, and furnace building. Most descendants mentioned remained in the area of Forest of Dean, and some in Wales, near Neath.

The dean of business historians continues his masterful chronicle of the transforming revolutions of the twentieth century begun in Inventing the Electronic Century. Alfred Chandler argues that only with consistent attention to research and development and an emphasis on long-term corporate strategies could firms remain successful over time. He details these processes for nearly every major chemical and pharmaceutical firm, demonstrating why some companies forged ahead while others failed. By the end of World War II, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were transformed by the commercializing of new learning, the petrochemical and the antibiotic revolutions. But by the 1970s, chemical science was no longer providing the new learning necessary to commercialize more products, although new directions flourished in the pharmaceutical industries. In the 1980s, major drug companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Schering Plough, commercialized the first biotechnology products, and as the twenty-first century began, the infrastructure of this biotechnology revolution was comparable to that of the second industrial revolution just before World War I and the information revolution of the 1960s. Shaping the Industrial Century is a major contribution to our understanding of the most dynamic industries of the modern era.