What accounts for the fact that Britain was the richest country in Europe in the 1870 - 1914 period?

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What Accounts for the fact that Britain was the richest country in Europe in the 1870 - 1914 period?

"In the half century or so before the 1914 war . . . if any nation had truly made a bid for world power, it was Great Britain. In fact, it had more than made a bid for it. It had achieved it."1. By 1914, Britain was considered as the world's greatest power; it controlled the world's largest empire, a fifth of the world's land surface and a quarter of the world's population. The British navy was the worlds finest; it was even more powerful and larger than the next two navies combined. In its zenith, Britain was the manufacturing workshop of the world, with one third of all manufactured goods coming from her shores; it produced "two thirds of the worlds coal and half of the world's cotton, cloth and iron"2. From this position, it conducted over one quarter of the worlds trade and in 1914; the registered shipping tonnage was more than the whole world combined. Not only was Britain considered economically rich but also politically and socially, she had one of the world's highest living standards, healthiest