Conclusion

The British Trade Corporation was established during the First World War on the recommendation of an official committee investigating the future of Britain’s trade relations after the war. It received a Royal Charter of Incorporation on 21 April 1917. While its aims were certainly ambitious, it faced many new realities in the post-war world. While the corporation had invested in some of the most unstable regions of the world, its relatively short history reflected Britain’s continuing imperialistic ambitions after the First World War, including some misjudged and sometimes duplicitous foreign policy decisions that seriously damaged British trade. There was also a gradual realisation that Britain’s economy was generally in poor shape and was unable to sustain costly overseas military commitments. By 1926 the Bank of England arranged a merger between the British Trade Corporation and the Anglo-Austrian Bank, which marked the end of the British Trade Corporation’s independent existence.