A 'social evil': Liverpool moneylenders 1920s–1940s. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: FEARON, PETER
• Is Part Of: Urban history. Volume 42:Part 3(2015)
• Page Start: 440
• Page End: 462
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Cities and towns -- History -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- History -- Bibliography -- Periodicals; 909.09732
• DOI: 10.1017/S0963926814000777
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-9268

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>During the 1920s and 1930s many working-class families needed emergency credit. Their use of pawnbrokers is well documented but the presence of a network of moneylenders, most of whom were women operating from their own homes, is not. This article examines the background to and the impact of the Moneylenders Act (1927) which was designed to reduce the number of working-class lenders, widely perceived as disreputable, in order to protect vulnerable borrowers, most of whom were women. Using Liverpool as a case-study, I also examine the possible reasons for the dramatic decline in the number of licensed moneylenders and analyse the implications of this for the provision of working-class credit.</p> </abstract>