Merchants and the Military in Eighteenth-Century Britain - British Army Contracts and Domestic Supply, 1739-1763 (Hardcover)

Bannerman investigates the contract sector of the British Army during the long eighteenth century. He argues that this group of financiers, private merchants, businessmen and farmers represented a vital interest group which was at the nexus of the fiscal-military structure. Contracted expertise in remittance, catering and domestic work was important in a period when armies were becoming larger, and military operations extended to distant regions of the globe. This important new monograph is based on extensive primary research. Bannerman draws on papers from the War Office, the Treasury and the Audit Office which are now in the National Archives, as well as documents from private archives across the UK.