But here is an opposing view of history expounded by Hilaire Belloc.

During the eighteenth century England came to be finally, though insecurely, established upon a proletarian basis, that is, it had already become a society of rich men possessed of the means of production on the one hand, and a majority dispossessed of those means upon the other. With the nineteenth century the evil plant had come to its maturity, and England had become before the close of that period a purely Capitalist State, the type and model of Capitalism for the whole world: with the means of production tightly held by a very small group of citizens, and the whole determining mass of the nation dispossessed of capital and land, and dispossessed, therefore, in all cases of security, and in many of sufficiency as well. The mass of English men, still possessed of political, lacked more and more the elements of economic, freedom, and were in a worse posture than free citizens have ever found themselves before in the history of Europe. . . .

In other words, by the first third of the seventeenth century, by 1630-40, the economic revolution was finally accomplished, and the new economic reality thrusting it self up on the old traditions of England was a powerful oligarchy of large owners over shadowing an impoverished and dwindled monarchy.

I am not really familiar with Hilarie Beloc, but I note from his Wikipedia biography that he was impecunious. Further he purchased an estate in England shortly after his marriage to an American. This suggests that he "married for money".

When this is coupled with early Marxist phraseology such as "the means of production", I become suspicious.

You may "speculate" as you wish. Speculation and inference are tools of the ignorant and prove nothing. So your speculations are worthless. Here is what the Encyclopedia Brittanica has to say about Hilaire Belloc:

Hilaire Belloc, in full Joseph-Hilaire-Pierre-René Belloc (b. July 27, 1870, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Fr.—d. July 16, 1953, Guildford, Surrey, Eng.), French-born poet, historian, and essayist who was among the most versatile English writers of the first quarter of the 20th century. He is most remembered for his light verse, particularly for children, and for the lucidity and easy grace of his essays, which could be delightfully about nothing or decisively about some of the key controversies of the Edwardian era.

Belloc was educated at the Oratory School, Birmingham, and then worked as a journalist. After military service, as a French citizen, he entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1894. He graduated with first-class honours in history, was president of the Union (debating society), and in 1896 married Elodie Hogan (1870–1914) of Napa, Calif. He became a naturalized British subject in 1902 and sat as a member of Parliament for Salford (1906–10), first as a Liberal and then as an Independent.

Verses and Sonnets (1895) and The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts (1896) launched Belloc on his literary career. Cautionary Tales, another book of humorous verse for children, which parodied some Victorian pomposities, appeared in 1907. His Danton (1899) and Robespierre (1901) proved his lively historical sense and powerful prose style. Lambkin’s Remains (1900) and Mr. Burden (1904) showed his mastery of satire and irony. In The Path to Rome (1902) he interspersed his account of a pilgrimage on foot from Toul to Rome with comments on the nature and history of Europe. Born and brought up a Roman Catholic, he showed in almost everything he wrote an ardent profession of his faith. This coloured with occasional inaccuracy and overemphasis most of his historical writing, which includes Europe and the Faith (1920), History of England, 4 vol. (1925–31), and a series of biographies ranging in period from James II (1928) to Wolsey (1930). But he had the power of bringing history to life.

The Four Men (1912) described a walk through Sussex, the county where he made his home, and his love of sailing was vividly illustrated in The Cruise of the “Nona” (1925). In political and economic matters Belloc was a follower of William Cobbett, English author, journalist, and radical influential in the early 19th century. Among Belloc’s volumes of lighter verse are The Modern Traveller (1898) and the Heroic Poem in Praise of Wine (1932). He also wrote a number of satiric novels, which were illustrated by his close friend, the novelist G.K. Chesterton.

Belloc engaged in much heated controversy, particularly with H.G. Wells, whose Outline of History he vigorously attacked, and with the Protestant scholar and historian G.C. Coulton. Belloc is one of the masters of modern English prose, a good poet, and a deeply interesting literary personality.