A Genius for Money Business, Art and the Morrisons Caroline Dakers

This is the spectacular rags-to-riches story of James Morrison (1789-1857), who began life humbly but through hard work and entrepreneurial brilliance acquired a fortune unequalled in nineteenth-century England. Using the extensive Morrison archive, Caroline Dakers presents the first substantial biography of the richest commoner in England, recounting the details of Morrison's personal life while also placing him in the Victorian age of enterprise that made his success possible. An affectionate husband and father of ten, Morrison made his first fortune in textiles, then a second in international finance. He invested in North American railways, was involved in global trade from Canton to Valparaiso, created hundreds of jobs, and relished the challenges of 'the science of business'. His success enabled him to acquire land, houses, and works of art on a scale to rival the grandest of aristocrats.

Extract

Read an extract from A Genius for Money by Caroline Dakers on Yale's blog

Carolyn Dakers is professor of cultural history, University of Arts London. She is the author of The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society and Clouds: Biography of a Country House, both published by Yale University Press. She lives in London.

"Caroline Dakers' well-referenced and intelligently illustrated biography of the 'Napoleon of shopkeepers' describes the life of a remarkable Victorian."—Martin Levy, Apollo Magazine

"His life-story, though, told in Caroline Dakers’ sprightly biography A Genius for Money, is not only fascinating in itself; it is an emblem of the 19th century story... This is an absolutely model biography."—AN Wilson, Financial Times

"A finely researched history."—Richard Ryder, The Spectator

"A sensitive and enlightening biography."—Stephen Lloyd, The Art Newspaper

"Yale University Press has done this collection proud in illustrating some of the most eminent of these and many other objets d’art…[a] good read...a fascinating revelation."—Margaret Storrie, Ileach

"Caroline Dakers is the first to mine the extensive family archives, still at Fonthill, and shows with great skill how this Napoleon of shopkeepers made his money, and kept hold of most of it, despite spending an awful lot along the way." David Waller, Times Literary Supplement

"The author is to be congratulated not just on the superb research behind this book but on her achievement in restoring James Morrison and his world to his countrymen." P.P.F. Contemporary Review

View extract

Related links