Profile Major Works Resources

William James Ashley, 1860-1927.

English economic historian.

From humble roots in working-class London, William J. Ashley managed to study under difficult circumstances and secure a rare scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, to study history. He came under the influence of historians Benjamin Jowett and Arnold Toynbee and read Schmoller around this time.  After the young Toynbee's demise, Ashley helped edit the lecture notes that went to form Toynbee's Lectures.  Although Ahshley earned a first in history in 1881, he had to wait for some time to find an Oxford college to accept him as fellow (Ashley finally became a fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford in 1885).

In 1886, William J. Ashley helped found the Oxford Economic Society, composed young scholars, like Langford L. Price and Arthur Ball, dedicated to the Historicist method.   It was around this time that Ashley emerged as one of the leading English historicists, perhaps the English thinker closest to the German Historicists,  Ashley attacked the universalism and abstractionism of Classical and Neoclassical theory. An opponent of laissez-faire, he was also a proponent of imperialism and state-industry-labor corporatism.

Nonetheless, Ashley was unable to find his footing in class-conscious Oxbridge, so he decided to try overseas.  In 1888, Ashley became a professor of economics and constitutional history at the University of Toronto. And, in 1892, was appointed the first professor of economic history at Harvard University in the US,  where he proved highly influential.  It was during his time that Ashley transformed his old Oxford lecture notes into his magnum opus, Introduction to English Economic History and Theory (1888 & 1893).

Around 1900, Ashley returned to England, to take the first chair of Commerce at the University of  Birmingham, where he would remain for much of the rest of his life. 

In 1903, W.J. Ashley participated in the protectionist tide and his Tariff History (1903) provided much of the source material to help support Chamberlain's movement to reintroduce a protective tariff system.  His 1914 Economic Organization of England has become a classic textbook.  Among his other tireless activities, Ashley translated Schmoller and Turgot and provided new edition of J.S. Mill in 1909, and numerous readers and selections for students and wider audiences. 

William J. Ashley was made the first president of the Economic History Society in 1926.

 

  

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Major Works of William J. Ashley

  • James and Philip von Artevelde, 1883 [bk, av] (Lothian prize essay)
  • (Editor) Edward III and his Wars, 1327-1360, 1887 [bk, av]
  • "Feudalism", 1887, in H.O. Wakeman and A. Hassall, eds, Essays Introductory to the study of English Constitutional History, p.45 [1891 2nd ed, p.45]
  • "The Early History of the English Woollen Industry", 1887 Pub AEA (Sep), p.296 [js] [offprint: The Early History of the English Woollen Industry, 1887 [bk, av]
  • What is Political Science?, 1888 [bk, av] (inaugural lecture at Toronto)
  • An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory: Part I, the Middle Ages, 1888  [bk, av], [1892 2nd ed; 1894 3rd ed, av; 1909 4th ed, av, 1911 repr, av; 1913 repr, 1919 repr, av] [pdf] [1896 German trans] 
  • "Introduction", 1889, in J.M. McEvoy, Ontario Township, p.5 [av]
  • "James E. Thorold Rogers", 1889, PSQ (Sep) p.381 [js] [av]
  • "Review of Montague's Arnold Toynbee", 1889, PSQ (Sep), p.531 [js]
  • "Review of Jusserand's English Wayfaring Life", 1889, PSQ (Dec),  p.685 [js]
  • "Review of Denton's England in the Fifeteenth Century", 1889, PSQ (Dec), p.687 [js]
  • Nine Lectures on the Earlier Constitutional History of Canada, 1889.[bk, av]
  • "The Canadian Sugar Combine", 1890, Toronto Univ Quart Rev, p.361
  • "Review of Ritchie's Darwinism and Politics", 1890, PSQ (June) p.339 [js]
  • "Booth's East London",1890, PSQ (Sep), p.507 [js]
  • "Cunningham's Growth of English Industry", 1891, PSQ (Mar), p.152 [js]
  • "Montchretien", 1891, EJ, [repr in 1900 Surveys, p.263]
  • "The English Manor", 1891, in Fustel de Coulanges, The Origin of Property in Land, p.7 [av]
  • "The Rehabilitation of Ricardo", 1891, EJ
  • "The Destruction of the Village Community", 1891, Econ Rev, p.358
  • "General Booth's Panacea", 1891, PSQ (Sep) p.537 [js]
  • "Review of Gross's Gild Merchant", 1891, PSQ (Sep), p.565 [js]
  • "Review of Brentano's Relation of Labor to the Law", 1891, PSQ (Dec),  p.750 [js]
  •  "Review of Booth's Labour and Life of the People", 1892, PSQ (Mar),  p.149 [js]
  •  "Review of Simmons's Notes on Land Tenure in Old Japan", 1892, PSQ (Mar), p.170 [js]
  • "Review of Pringsheim's Wirtschaftlichen Entwickelungsgeschichte der Vereinigten Niederlande", 1892, PSQ (Jun), p.345 [js]
  • "Review of Lambert's Two Thousand Years of Gild Life", 1892, PSQ (Sep), p.553 [js]
  • "Review of Creighton's Epidemics in Britain", 1892, PSQ (Sep), p.565 [js]
  • "Review of WF Allen's Monographs and Essays", 1892, PSQ (Dec), p.729 [js]
  • "Review of Grossman's Ueber die Gutsherrlich-Baerlichen Rechtsverhaltnisse in der Mark Brandenburg", 1892, PSQ (Dec), p.757 [js]
  • "Methods of Industrial Peace", 1892, Econ Rev, p.297
  • "On the Study of Economic History", 1893, QJE [repr in 1900 Surveys, p.1]
  • "The character of villein tenure", 1893, AAPSS
  • "The History of English Serfdom", 1893, Econ Review (Apr) [repr in 1900 Surveys, p.39]
  • An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory: Part II, the End of the Middle Ages, 1893 [bk, av] [1893 2nd ed, 1898 3rd ed, av; 1906 4th ed, av, 1909 repr, av, 1912 repr, av, 1914 repr] [pdf] [1896 German trans]
  • "Roscher's Program of 1843", 1894, QJE  [av], [repr in 1900 Surveys, p.31]
  • "The Anglo-Saxon Township", 1894, QJE (Apr), [repr in 1900 Surveys, p.61]
  • "Discussion of A.W. Small's Relation of Sociology to Economics", 1895, Pub AEA (Mar-Supp), p.116 [js] (also Patten, Giddings, Ward)
  • "The Historical School, a Retrospect (abstract)", 1895, Pub AEA (Mar-Supp),  p.117 [js]
  • "The Railroad Strike of 1894", 1895, Pub of Church Social Union (Apr 15), [bk, av]
  • "Seebhom's Tribal System in Wales", 1896, PSQ [offpr]
  • "The Beginnings of Town Life in the Middle Ages", 1896, QJE (Jul), [av]
  • "Jowett and the Universal Ideal", 1897, Atlantic Monthly (Jul)
  • "The Tory Origin of Free Trade Policy", 1897, QJE (Jul)- [offpr] [av] [McM]
  • "Gournay", 1898 PSQ
  • "Professor Hildenbrand's Law and Custom", 1898, PSQ
  • "Professor Knapp's Lectures", 1899, EJ
  • "On the Study of Economic History, After Seven Years", 1899, in 1900 Surveys, p.22.
  • "The Commercial Legislation of England and her American Colonies, 1660-1760", 1899, QJE (Nov)
  • "American Trusts", 1899, EJ
  • "Cooperative Production in England", 1899, Nation
  • "Economic Atmosphere of America", 1899 (pub.1900)
  • Surveys: Historic and Economic, 1900 [bk, av]
  • The Tariff Problem, 1903 [bk, av], [1904 2nd ed, av, 1911 3rd ed, av]
  • "Preface", 1903 in W.J. Ashley, editor, British Industries, p.v [1907 ed., av]
  • "The Universities and Commercial Education", 1903, NAR, p.31 [js] [av]
  • The Adjustment of Wages: A study in the coal and iron industries of Britain and America, 1903 [bk, av]
  • The Progress of the German Working Classes in the Last Quarter-Century, 1904 [bk, av] [1906 German trans]
  • "Political Economy and the Tariff Problem", 1905, Compatriots' Club Lectures,  p.233 [av]
  • "The Present Position of Political Economy", 1907, EJ
  • "Comparative Economic History and the English Landlord", EJ
  • "Introduction", 1909, to new edition of J.S. Mill's Principles of Political Economy, p.v [av]
  • "Preface" (p.v) and "Appendix: Statistics of the Self-Governing Dominions and of the West Indies" (p.261), 1911, in W.J. Ashley, editor, British dominions: their present commercial and industrial condition [av]
  • Gold and Prices, 1912 [bk, av]
  • "The Rise in Prices and the Cost of Living: an enquiry into its extent and causes", 1910, London Evening News (Oct 3-7) [1912 offprint: av]
  • "Preface", 1912, in E. Cadbury, Experiments in Industrial Organization, [av]
  • "Germany's Food Supply, 1913, QR (Ocf) [av]
  • The War and Its Economic Aspects, 1914 [av]
  • Industrial Unrest: a practical solution, report of the Unionist Social Reform Committee (with J.W. Hills and M. Woods), 1914 [av]
  • The Economic Organization of England: an outline history, 1914 [bk, av] [1916 repr, av; 1922 repr, av]
  • "Introduction", 1916, in F. Naumann's Central Europe, p.v [av]
  • Scientific Management and the Engineering Situation, 1922 [bk]
  • The Bread of our Fore-Fathers: inquiry into economic history, 1928
  • William James Ashley: A life, 1932
HET
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Resources on W.J. Ashley

  • Testimonials in favour of W.J. Ashley M.A., a candidate for professorship of political science in the University of Toronto, 1888 [av]
  • Testimonials in favour of W.J. Ashley M.A., a candidate for the Drummond professorship of political economy at the University of  Oxford,  1890 [av]
  • "Review of Ashley's Early History of English Woollen Industry", by E.R.A. Seligman,1888, PSQ (Mar), p.176 [js]
  • "Review of WJ Ashley's English Economic History" by E.G. Bourne,1889, PSQ (Mar), p.173 [js]
  • "Review of Ashley's What is Political Science", by Gustav Schmoller, 1889, SchmJGVV, p.682
  • "Review of Ashley's Introduction and Early History" by R, Oldenberg, 1889, SchmJGVV, p.423
  •  "Review of Fustel de Coulanges's The Origin of Property in Land (ed. W. J. Ashley)" by Charles M. Andrews, 1891, PSQ (Dec), p.734 [js]
  • Classified list of printed original materials for English manorial and agrarian history during the middle ages, by Francis Gardiner Davenport, prepared under direction of WJ Ashley, 1894 [av]
  • "One Hundred Years from Now: W.J.Ashley and the Tariff Problem", by G. Moore, 2003, History of Economics Review (PDF)
  • W.J. Ashley at McMaster 
  • W.J. Ashley at Akamac
  • Wiki

 

 
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