The full original title of the novel is Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation. The business of the firm of Dombey and Son is never outlined in detail, but it is presumably a shipping and export business of some prestige. Part of the firm’s holdings include offices in Barbados, in the West Indies, to which Walter Gay is sent. Barbados was an English colony from the 1620s until the 1960s, and as well as producing sugar, principally on plantations that relied on the labor of enslaved persons, the island was an important part of the transatlantic trade route. Part of Britain’s rule of the seas in the 19th century depended on the power of its military, especially its naval might—Major Bagstock and Captain Cuttle are both examples of this—as well as the sophistication of nautical instruments, which is what Solomon Gills sells in his shop.

That Dombey’s shipping business is profitable is demonstrated by the awe and respect which residents of the City accord him. The firm was established by Dombey’s father, and Dombey learned the trade and inherited the business. Running a business as a family enterprise was common for British merchants, retailers, and tradesmen. The central area of London known as the City was, in 19th century Britain, the financial and commercial hub of the metropolis, which is why the offices of Dombey and Son are located there. While Dombey’s grand home is located outside the City, Solomon’s arrangement of having living quarters above his shop was still a common practice in Victorian England.

The counting house mentioned in the novel refers to the office where accounting is done and financial records are kept. Walter’s career trajectory, to begin as an apprentice or junior clerk and work his way up to positions of greater accountability and authority, are standard practice for the time. The firm likely owned its own ships like the Son and Heir (the name of which reflects Dombey’s central preoccupation); it was also common practice to insure ships and their valuable cargo against damage or loss. Walter is at one of the many London docks along the River Thames inquiring after the progress of unloading a shipment when young Florence, after being robbed by Mrs. Brown, comes upon him. Later, Walter’s position is described as the supercargo—the official responsible for the ship’s cargo, overseeing sales, acquisitions, and financial records during the voyage.

In addition to business in the Americas, a substantial portion of British international trade took place with India, which had been increasingly invaded by the British East India Company since the 17th century. The Company had its own armies which it used to subdue territories and demand trade concessions. The British Raj—direct governmental control of India, replacing the East India Company—began in 1858, after the novel’s publication. The two chief exports of Indian territories were cotton and opium, which were brought back to England and traded with China for the exchange of tea, silks, and porcelain. The Chinese resistance to trade in opium led the British to wage the Opium Wars, the first of which (not mentioned in the novel) took place between 1839 and 1842. British victory in this war won concessions from China including British possession of Hong Kong and access to several important ports. Before the introduction of the clipper ship in the later 1840s, the sea journey from England to China took at minimum five months, which is why a year or more elapses between Florence’s marriage and her return to London with a child.

The steam locomotive had been in development since the late 18th century in Britain, and railways began to open to public passengers in the 1820s. The 1840s witnessed a record interest in and expansion of the railway system, known as “Railway Mania,” until a national network emerged, transporting goods and people at hitherto unimaginable speeds in steam locomotives fueled by coal. In Dickens’s novel, stoking the engine is Mr. Toodle’s job, which puts him below Mr. Dombey in class, but is a dangerous and demanding enough job to explain why the rail company would offer him his own housing to keep him as an employee. The Victorian Web estimates that 6000 miles of railway track were laid between 1840 and 1850 in the UK (Hobsbawm, Eric. “The Growth of Victorian Railways.” The Victorian Web, Feb 2014). The railways marked the transformation of Britain to an industrial society, one that introduced standardized time, facilitated exchanges of goods, and cemented an awe for technological innovation in the public consciousness and visions of unlimited economic growth in the minds of capitalists and investors.