Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The research aimed to establish a database on inward investment into Britain between the 1850s and the 1960s. Research on secondary and primary sources was undertaken to collect accurate firm-level data on each foreign direct investment, with the aim of providing for the first time a reliable aggregate picture of the level, timing, industry distribution and nationality of foreign direct investors in Britain before the first official statistics were published in 1962.
Main Topics:

Multinationals; foreign direct investment.
Information has been collected on a total of 696 foreign companies which established 1007 subsidiaries in the UK to undertake manufacturing. There is also information on a smaller number of banks and retailers. The database contains information on the entry and exit of each subsidiary, the names and nationality of the inward investor, the type of investment, product description, mode of entry, and fate. For five benchmark years - 1885, 1907, 1935, 1955 and 1962 - there is a description of the stock of fdi's in existence in Britain, with details on head office location; Standard Industrial Classification product code; type of ownership; plants and their locations; employee numbers; management; whether the British subsidiary exported or imported; financial details; and whether the subsidiary had an r and d capacity.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.