2015
Michael Watson receiving award on behalf of Professor John Turner
Professor John Turner, Head of Queen’s Management School has received the BAC Wadsworth Prize for Business History 2015 for his book “Banking in Crisis”. The award which celebrates outstanding contribution to the history of British business was presented at a BAC (Business Archives Council) event on Tuesday 10th November 2015 at Lloyds Banking Group, London. Professor Turner received the award in absentia due to being in China on university business however thanked Michael Watson from Cambridge University Press for receiving the award on his behalf.
The prize is the equivalent to the Oscars for the business history world, it is a testament to the consistent quality of the judging process that over three decades the Wadsworth Prize has been awarded to what would probably be widely accepted as the best books and the leading authors in the discipline.
Professor’s Turner’s book “Banking in Crisis: The Rise and Fall of British Banking Stability, 1800 to the Present” tells the story of the rise and fall of British banking stability over the past two centuries, shedding new light on why banking systems crash and on the factors underpinning banking stability. John Turner shows that there have only been two major banking crises in Britain during this time - the crises of 1825–6 and 2007–8. Although there were episodic bouts of instability in the interim, the banking system was crisis free. Why was the British banking system stable for such a long time? And, why did the British banking system implode in 2008? In answering these questions, the book explores the long-run evolution of bank regulation, the role of the Bank of England, bank rescues and the need to hold shareholders to account.
Richard S. Grossman, Wesleyan University, Connecticut review of the book stated, 'Banking in Crisis combines the very best of serious academic scholarship and keen policy analysis. It should be required reading for anyone - expert and non-expert alike - who is interested in the past, present, and future of British banking.'