Without shareholders the Somersetshire Coal Canal would never have been built; nor would many of the other English canals. The system of shareholding was the key to many of England’s major industrial advances of the 18th and 19th centuries. By the time the idea of building the S.C.C. was put forward, the system of shareholding was well established in this country.

The Background

In earlier days, major works had been financed by a single wealthy entrepreneur, but it was realised that even greater projects could be undertaken if large numbers of moderately rich people pooled their resources to raise the huge capital sums which these works required. Not only that, but the risk was spread so that a single individual was not bankrupted if the project failed.

So that the shareholders didn’t have to find all the money at once, a system of ‘calls’ was developed. An initial down- payment was needed to get the project under way and further funds were pledged to be paid into the kitty at various stages. As the building work progressed, the funds were ‘ called’ on as they were needed.

Act of Parliament

At the core of the planning process were Acts of Parliament, which had to be passed in order to allow the canal to be built. The first Act, of 1794, states: “And whereas the Several Persons herein-after named are willing and desirous, at their own Expense, to make and maintain the Said Canal and other Works, but the same cannot be effected without the Authority of Parliament; May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted…”

There then follows an alphabetical list of the initial shareholders, or “Proprietors of the Company” as they were described, which is reproduced below. Other shareholders joined at a later date, but information about them is harder to come by. These Proprietors are the key to understanding the thinking behind the canal construction; a study of their lives and their connections with other projects gives a fascinating insight into the social history of the time.

Bibliography:

J. R. Ward, “The Finance of Canal Building in Eighteenth-Century England” (Oxford University Press) ISBN 0 19 821853 2

THE COMPANY OF PROPRIETORS of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Navigation