In another chapter in the same book (David Jeremy (ed.) (1998)), W R Ward offers a reminder that Methodism as a religion might not have such a strong affinity with wealth-making as individual Methodists seem to have achieved. He says that Max Weber chose the worst possible example of a rational and hard-working individual succeeding in wealth accumulation when he picked out John Wesley as an ideal type. Wesley gave away nearly all the income that came his way and undertook an enormous amount of poor relief.
In ‘The Wiener thesis vindicated’ Douglas A Farnie in David Jeremy (ed.) (1998) looks at recent debate about the legacy of John Rylands (1801-88), a successful cotton merchant in Manchester. An argument in 1994 between academics raged about whether Britain has a latent streak of hostility towards business (an attitude which has been blamed in part for the decline of Britain’s economic and industrial power). Rylands was a devout Congregationalist with strong sympathies towards Baptist faith, and had an ecumenical mindset. He was hugely successful as a businessman. But as an employer he did not pay high wages: and his business suffered strikes on four occasions. The author nonetheless defends Rylands’ reputation against charges that he was ungenerous and made his money by exploiting workers as a matter of policy, saying he chose to pay more to warehousemen because they served customers directly and therefore were rewarded for contributing more to the business. Also he did not run his mills on short time in 1847 despite the depression that year, in order to keep up his workers’ income, although he did cut to part-time working during the Cotton Famine of 1861-65 (indeed only a dozen, mostly Dissenters, out of 2,000 mill owners kept working full time). He built an expensive fire-proof factory, the Gidlow Mill at Wigan in 1865 after a warehouse burned down – to safeguard both workers and the proprietor’s stake, according to Farnie. He also allowed 454 of the firm’s leading employees to buy shares in the company when it was incorporated in 1873. The firm’s profit margin was low, at an average of 3.6 per cent, paying no fees to directors but a dividend averaging 10 per cent, declining to 5.6 per cent during 1877-88. Instead he ploughed profits back into the business, building up a large reserve fund to safeguard against fluctuations in trade volumes. By 1888 he employed 12,000 people. In another interesting example of equal opportunities, he preferred to employ women as mule spinners, against the union’s preferences, a highly paid position.
The phenomenon of the Christian entrepreneur did not entirely disappear after the Victorian era, although as with the co-operative movement much of its rationale diminished with the development of trade unions, the introduction of workers’ rights and the establishment of the welfare system. One notable business leader whose faith has left a lasting mark on Britain is Joseph Arthur Rank (d. 1972). A devout Methodist and son of the flour mill owner Joseph Rank, he used his family wealth to invest in the film industry, in part to counter the domination of American features and in part to promote a Christian message. Having run into difficulty persuading cinemas to show his films, he bought up a large part of the film distribution and exhibition chain, including Odeon Cinemas, and invested in the Pinewood Film Studios. His lasting legacy on British Christianity continues through the work of The Rank Foundation, and the Arthur Rank Centre, which publishes Country Way, a Christian magazine, among other activities[10]. Michael Wakelin (1996) describes how Rank’s faith permeated his working relationships, nurturing a sense of trust that even extended to permitting employees to write their own contracts. Rank also claimed this level of trust between him and his workforce contributed to good industrial relations, citing the low incidence of strikes, particularly in his milling business (p. 130).
Despite the predominance of Non-Conformist business leaders, it should be noted that the phenomenon of Christian entrepreneurs is not exclusively Protestant or north European. Anthony Percy, in Philip Booth (ed.) (2007) looks at the role of ‘The Entrepreneur in the Life of the Church and Society’, and considers examples from the early church and Roman Catholic teaching. He says that the church is biased against consumerism, preferring instead to focus on the needs of the poor and hungry. But if wealth becomes a means to an end then there can be a role for a Christian entrepreneur. An entrepreneur has to have an interest in commerce but also needs to be creative and good with people, and a Christian entrepreneur needs to be conscious of the common good.