Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain

383 Pages·2022·12.897 MB·English

by  Amy Edwards

Are We Rich Yet?
Berkeley Series in British Studies
Edited by James Vernon
1. The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain, edited by Simon Gunn
and James Vernon
2. Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945–1975,
by Ian Hall
3. The Savage Visit: New World People and Popular Imperial Culture in Britain,
1710–1795, by Kate Fullagar
4. The Afterlife of Empire, by Jordanna Bailkin
5. Smyrna’s Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and the Birth of the Middle East,
by Michelle Tusan
6. Pathological Bodies: Medicine and Political Culture, by Corinna Wagner
7. A Problem of Great Importance: Population, Race, and Power in the British
Empire, 1918–1973, by Karl Ittmann
8. Liberalism in Empire: An Alternative History, by Andrew Sartori
9. Distant Strangers: How Britain Became Modern, by James Vernon
10. Edmund Burke and the Conservative Logic of Empire, by Daniel I. O’Neill
11. Governing Systems: Modernity and the Making of Public Health in England,
1830–1910, by Tom Crook
12. Barbed- Wire Imperialism: Britain’s Empire of Camps, 1976–1903,
by Aidan Forth
13. Aging in Twentieth- Century Britain, by Charlotte Greenhalgh
14. Thinking Black: Britain, 1964–1985, by Rob Waters
15. Black Handsworth: Race in 1980s Britain, by Kieran Connell
16. Last Weapons: Hunger Strikes and Fasts in the British Empire, 1890–1948,
by Kevin Grant
17. Serving a Wired World: London’s Telecommunications Workers and the Making
of an Information Capital, by Katie Hindmarch- Watson
18. Imperial Encore: The Cultural Project of the Late British Empire,
by Caroline Ritter
19. Saving the Children: Humanitarianism, Internationalism, and Empire,
by Emily Baughan
20. Cooperative Rule: Community Development in Britain’s Late Empire,
by Aaron Windel
21. Are We Rich Yet? The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary
Britain, by Amy Edwards
Are We Rich Yet?
The Rise of Mass Investment Culture
in Contemporary Britain
Amy Edwards
University of California Press
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2022 by Amy Edwards
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Edwards, Amy, 1989- author.
Title: Are we rich yet? : the rise of mass investment culture in
contemporary Britain / Amy Edwards.
Other titles: Berkeley series in British studies ; 21.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press,
[2022] | Series: Berkeley series in british studies ; 21 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2021056651 (print) | lCCn 2021056652 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520385467 (cloth) | isbn 9780520385474 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Investments—Great Britain—20th century. |
Finance—Great Britain—20th century. | Capitalism—Great
Britain—20th century. | Financial institutions—Great Britain—
20th century. | Great Britain—Economic conditions—20th
century. | BISAC: HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain /
20th Century | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate &
Business History
Classification: lCC hg5432 .e39 2022 (print) | lCC hg5432 (ebook)
| ddC 332.60941—dc23/eng/20220107
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056651
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056652
[Manufactured in the United States of America]
31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For mum and dad, because the eighties made you.

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
1. “A Wonderful Growth”: Investment Culture from
1840 to 1980 22
2. Over the Counter: Speculation and the Small Investor 55
3. Shopping for Shares: The Rise of Financial Consumerism 94
4. “The Moneymen’s Sunday Sermon”: The Making
of a Mass- Market Financial Advice Industry 136
5. Yuppies: Finance and Investment in Popular Culture 173
6. Are We Rich Yet? Investment Clubs and Investor Activism 209
Conclusion 241
Notes 247
Bibliography 313
Index 343

Illustrations
figUres
1. Lloyds Bank High Interest Cheque Account advertisement,
c. October 1987 / 2
2. Percentage of total market value of UK quoted shares
by sector of beneficial owner, 1963 to 2010 / 8
3. Single- capacity trading / 60
4. Dual- capacity trading / 61
5. Cartoon, “Beware of the high risks,” The Times,
April 1986 / 72
6. Halifax Instant Xtra advertisement, c. December 1987 / 118
7. Drawing by David Fernandez, Daily Mail,
February 1987 / 120
8. Drawing by Peter Maddocks, Daily Telegraph,
September 1985 / 121
9. Lloyds Bank High Interest Cheque Account advertisement,
c. October 1986 / 125
ix
x | Illustrations
10. Lloyds Bank Sharedeal advertisement, c. December 1986 / 126
11. and 12. Lloyds Bank Unit Trust Regular Savings Scheme
advertisement, c. November 1987 / 128
13. Halifax Instant Extra advertisement, c. October 1987 / 129
14. Abbey National Building Society advertisement,
c. October 1987 / 130
15. Cover of Tony Levene’s The Shares Game: How to Buy
and Sell Stocks and Shares / 162
16. Cover of Harold Baldwin’s Shares: A Beginners’ Guide
to Making Money / 163
17. Drawing by Kipper Williams, Daily Telegraph,
January 1988 / 170
18. Drawing by Christine Ellingham, Daily Mail,
August 1987 / 215
MaP
1. Locations of licensed dealers c. 1984 / 70