This thesis explores the late-nineteenth century partnership between Bradford worsted manufacturers the Briggs brothers and the German merchant Ernst Posselt, and their subsequent foreign direct investment in a modern factory and workers’ community at Marki, near Warsaw, in Russian Poland. Protectionism and increasing foreign competition are discussed, among many complex economic pressures on British industry, as likely catalysts for this enterprise and the general historiography of the Polish lands is explored to reveal a climate of extraordinary opportunity for well-capitalised foreign industrialists in this period. This thesis provides fresh perspective on the role of the consular service in facilitating British foreign enterprise and, in context of the Bradford partners’ strategy for local integration through social networking and religious affiliation, presents unique findings regarding the character and operations of Warsaw’s elite commercial community in the late-nineteenth century. Through the development and domination of market and raw materials sources, this venture is shown to have monopolised worsted manufacture in the Russian Empire, using state of the art technology to create, and modern marketing techniques to promote, its product range and evolving image. Aspects of British and Polish social history are compared to assess the efficacy of introducing the model-community concept, in combination with a radical employment policy, to less industrially-developed Russian Poland. The instrumentality of an expatriate community of skilled Yorkshire foremen in diffusing British industrial technology throughout the Russian Empire is described, against a backdrop of political instability and social upheaval which dramatically impacted on business behaviour after 1905.

This thesis explores the late-nineteenth century partnership between Bradford worsted manufacturers the Briggs brothers and the German merchant Ernst Posselt, and their subsequent foreign direct investment in a modern factory and workers’ community at Marki, near Warsaw, in Russian Poland. Protectionism and increasing foreign competition are discussed, among many complex economic pressures on British industry, as likely catalysts for this enterprise and the general historiography of the Polish lands is explored to reveal a climate of extraordinary opportunity for well-capitalised foreign industrialists in this period. This thesis provides fresh perspective on the role of the consular service in facilitating British foreign enterprise and, in context of the Bradford partners’ strategy for local integration through social networking and religious affiliation, presents unique findings regarding the character and operations of Warsaw’s elite commercial community in the late-nineteenth century. Through the development and domination of market and raw materials sources, this venture is shown to have monopolised worsted manufacture in the Russian Empire, using state of the art technology to create, and modern marketing techniques to promote, its product range and evolving image. Aspects of British and Polish social history are compared to assess the efficacy of introducing the model-community concept, in combination with a radical employment policy, to less industrially-developed Russian Poland. The instrumentality of an expatriate community of skilled Yorkshire foremen in diffusing British industrial technology throughout the Russian Empire is described, against a backdrop of political instability and social upheaval which dramatically impacted on business behaviour after 1905. / The full text was made available on 29th Nov 2017

En esta tesis se hace un estudio de las élites de poder en Caravaca durante la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVIII, tanto a nivel familiar, como a nivel de poder político y de la relación de este con su poder patrimonial. Se parte del análisis de las principales familias que configuran el poder local, y a partir de él, se procede a establecer los lazos de parentesco y matrimonios que se dan entre dichas élites. Pero el centro de la tesis lo constituye el estudio de los comerciantes desde dos vertientes: La primera como instrumento económico que va a favorecer el tráfico y comercio de la zona introduciéndola en las principales rutas interiores del comercio de la lana, mientras que la segunda vertiente hace referencia, a su influencia como poder político, a su introducción paulatina en los cargos del concejo y la ocupación de los puestos de mayor relevancia. / This thesis is intended as a study of power elites in Caravaca during the second half of the 18th century from the perspective of the families involved and the relationship between their political and patrimonial powers. The main families that shaped local power have been analysed and the bonds and marriages between their members have been brought to light. The core of the thesis, however, is the study of local merchants from a double perspective: (i) their role as economic agents that encouraged traffic and commerce in the area by introducing it in the main inland routes of wool trade; and (ii) the gradual increase of their political power, as shown by the fact that they tended to hold the most relevant posts in the local council.