T. C. Barker was a central figure of the postwar generation of social and economic historians, well known both within the academic profession and among the wider public. He taught Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Reviews of the first publication: “To all the questions which an economic historian would ask of a business history, Barker has provided the answer…Capital formation and growth, business organisation, technical development, raw materials, markets, competition, prices, profits, wages, and labour relations—all these topics are dealt with in expert fashion and are knit together to form a well-integrated and balanced whole of absorbing interest.” A. E. Musson, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 21, No. 2 “…the book shows many attractive traces of company support: an abundance of expensive plates, maps, genealogical charts, statistical tables and graphs, etc.” Jacob M. Price, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 34, No. 1