This article investigates the central role played by Quakers in the industrial and urban growth of Darlington, focusing in particular upon family and business connections with Friends in the City of London. From the launch of the town\u27s famous first railway, to the ensuing arrival of heavy industry in the 1850s and 1860s, Quakers were at the forefront of industrial and urban developments. While Quaker entrepreneurs possessed advantages in business deriving from their access to finance and advice, and from their reputation for probity, the idea that they also had special talents for foresight, innovation and management, is not borne out by the evidence
