In the early 1800s, Exeter continued to benefit from wealth generated by the wool trade. The period was characterised by a ‘spirit of improvement’ when the implications of science, reason and the Enlightenment began to be felt. William Carss Pollard, son of Thomas, completed his own training in 1812 and was able to establish William Pollard & Co a little later. He was an original ‘subscriber’ of the Devon and Exeter Institution (DEI) where new ideas were recorded, shared and debated. Early books printed by Pollards are still preserved there.