Professor Tony Webster

Tony's key publications include Gentlemen Capitalists: British Imperialism in Southeast Asia 1770-1890 (Tauris 1998); The Debate on the Rise of the British Empire (Manchester University Press 2006); The Richest East India Merchant: The Life and Business of John Palmer of Calcutta (Boydell 2007), The Empire in One City: Liverpool’s Inconvenient Past (Manchester University Press 2008 – edited with Nick White and Sheryllynne Haggerty), The Twilight of the East India Company: The Evolution of Anglo-Asian Commerce and Politics 1790-1860 (Boydell 2009), Commodities, Ports and Asian Maritime Trade since 1770 (Palgrave 2015 – edited with Ulbe Bosma), Mainstreaming Co-operation: An Alternative for the 21st Century (Manchester University Press 2016 – edited with Linda Shaw and Rachael Vorberg-Rugh). In 2005 he was awarded the Newcomen Prize for best article for that year in Enterprise & Society, for his article on John Palmer. With Professor John Wilson (Director of the Newcastle University Business School) and Rachael Vorberg-Rugh (the Co-operative College) he wrote Building Co-operation: A Business History of the Co-operative Group 1863-2013 (Oxford University Press 2013). The book formed the principal historical source used for the Kelly Report into the problems of the Co-operative Bank (2014), and Tony has presented his research at a Bank of England Seminar (2015). The project was supported by the British co-operative movement, with which Tony retains close links. Tony's principal latest publications are Co-operation and Globalisation (Routledge 2019) and (with Nick White) Singapore - Two Hundred Years of the Lion City (Routledge 2020). Tony's latest articles are “Commerce with a bit of ethics or ethics with a bit of commerce? The conundrum of British consumer co-operation 1863-1990" with J. Wilson & N. Wong. Journal of Management History (June 2020), at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMH-01-2020-0008/full/html and  “Local regeneration and community wealth building–place making: co-operatives as agents of change” with Olga Kuznetsova, Cilla Ross, Cécile Berranger, Michelle Booth, Temidayo Eseonu, Yaron Golan, Journal of Place Management and Development (December 2020) at https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1753-8335#earlycite

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Conclusion: Clues to a Co-operative Future?, Manley, J., Webster, T., Kuznetsova, O. 1 Nov 2023, Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st Century Europe, Bristol, Bristol University Press
• Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st-Century Europe, Manley, J., Webster, A., Kuznetsova, O. 27 Oct 2023
• Coping with crisis: Strategic renewal in The Co-operative Group, 2013-2023, Webster, A., Wilson, J. 1 Dec 2023, The Consumer Co-operative Sector, New York, Taylor & Francis
• Exploring the Role of Worker Co-operatives in the Co-creation of Meaningful Work, Webster, T., Langmead, K. 1 Nov 2023, Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st Century Europe, Bristol, Bristol University Press
• Introduction: European Co-operativism in a changing world, Manley, J., Webster, T., Kuznetsova, O. 1 Nov 2023, Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st Century Europe, Bristol, Bristol University Press
• Preface and acknowledgements, Wilson, J., Webster, A., Ekberg, E., Skurnik, S. 1 Dec 2023, The Consumer Co-operative Sector, New York, US, Taylor & Francis
• Strategic renewal in the consumer co-operative sector: An international study, Wilson, J., Webster, A., Ekberg, E., Skurnik, S. 1 Dec 2023, The Consumer Co-operative Sector, New York, Taylor & Francis
• The consumer co-operative sector: International perspectives on strategic renewal, Wilson, J., Webster, A., Ekberg, E., Skurnik, S. 1 Dec 2023
• Themes, lessons and further research, Wilson, J., Webster, A., Ekberg, E., Skurnik, S. 1 Dec 2023, The Consumer Co-operative Sector, New York, Taylor & Francis
• The Strange Death of Co-operative Britain? Comparing the Development of of British Co-operation with Wider European Trends and Emerging Strategies for a 21st Century Revival, Webster, T. 1 Nov 2023, Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st Century Europe, Bristol, Bristol University Press

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Other: Contribution to radio 4 programme: British socialism: The Grand Tour 2018
• Invited talk: “Entrepreneurship & Co-operation” 2016
• Invited talk: “The People’s Colossus: The CWS and the World 1863-1970” 29 October 2016 2016
• Invited talk: " The People’s Colossus: The CWS and the World 1863-1970” 2016
• Invited talk: “The Cooperative Movement - beyond repair or the answer to all our problems?” 2016
• Invited talk: The Co-operative Bank Crisis 2013: Origins and Lessons 2015
• Invited talk: “The Co-operative Movement in Britain: From Crisis to Renaissance 1950-2010” 2015
• Invited talk: ’Co-operative Tiggers’ 11 October 2014 2014
• Other: “Future of British Co-operatives Rests on Radical New Thinking” 2014
• Invited talk: “Building Co-operation: From CWS to Co-operative Group: 150 Years of a Co-operative Giant” (organised by the Co-operative Group Northern Ireland Region) 2013

• History DPhil December 06 1984
• Information not provided Royal Historical Society 2013
• Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2002