Managing the British Empire

The Crown Agents Office played a crucial role in colonial development. Acting in the United Kingdom as the commercial and financial agent for the crown colonies the Agency supplied all non-locally manufactured stores required by colonial governments issued their London loans managed their UK investments and supervised the construction of their railways harbours and other public works. In this important book the first in-depth investigation of the Agency David Sunderland examines each of these services in turn determining in each case whether the Crown Agents' performance benefited their clients the UK economy or themselves. His book is thus both an account of a remarkable and unique organisation and a fascinating examination of the nuts and bolts of nineteenth-century development.