Wyatt L.T. III The Industrial Revolution

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finishing. In 1700, little mechanization was available. One issue was

providing the weavers with a sufficient amount of yarn. Necessity and

demand drove the new developments. In the span of six decades a

number of machines appeared that would undermine the old cottage

industry approach and solve the problem of matching production

capability with demand. John Kay’s flying shuttle (1733) provided wea-

vers with increased speed, and Edmund Cartwright’s power loom

(1787) replaced the individual weaver at each loom with a number of

looms capable of being powered by steam or water; a variety of spin-

ning frames in the 1750s; Hargreaves’s spinning jenny in the 1760s,

which provided the single spinner the ability to spin multiple threads

simultaneously; Richard Arkwright’s water frame (1769) and Samuel

Crompton’s ‘‘mule’’ (1779), a hybrid of the water frame and jenny,

combined to facilitate the process through mechanization. These devi-

ces, primitive by later models, provided advantages of six to twenty-

four to one for a typical spinning jenny and perhaps 200 to one for the

frame, a ratio that made the old spinning wheel obsolete. Yet even the

most sophisticated eighty-spindle spinning jenny soon became incapa-

ble of competing with the steam power-driven mule that could operate

200 to 300 spindles.

James Watt’s steam engine was first applied to

cotton manufacture in 1785, and the boom began. The quantity of yarn

produced increased 12-fold by 1800 and stimulated enhancements in

the weaving process.

Ironically, despite the appearance of steam power driven machin-

ery, the prosperity and wages of spinners and hand-weavers actually

rose in the last two decades of the 18th century because of the insatia-

ble demand for cotton goods. The trend to mechanization, however,

became a substantial threat and sounded the eventual death knell for

this occupation. The power loom was the catalyst. The device operated

on par with the hand loom for several decades and had to overcome

the problem of breaking threads. Although a solution was found, the

disruption of the Napoleonic Wars and the trade restrictions placed on

Great Britain delayed its widespread adoption until the 1820s. By that

time one young boy operating two power looms could equal the output

of 15 hand weavers. A decade later, one man and one boy assistant

operating four looms produced twenty times that of the hand weaver.

The number of power looms proliferated in Great Britain: 2400 in

1813, 14,000 in 1820, 55,000 in 1829 100,000 in 1833, 250,000 in

1850, and 369,000 by 1857.

The number of hand weavers naturally

declined although not without great resistance. It is estimated that

some 250,000 hand weavers remained at work between the years 1810

and 1820, although the number fell dramatically to roughly 3,000 by

1850. Furthermore, the preliminary tasks in cotton textile production,

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

such as cleaning, carding, and roving, also lent themselves to mechani-

zation and thus added to the speed of the overall process.

That is not to say that the entire transition went smoothly. Lack

of uniformity in machines and the frequent early breakdowns in equip-

ment forced restarts and meant that much trial and error had to occur

before success could be assured. Once the flaws had been corrected,

British cotton production increased and exports soared. In 1800 Great

Britain’s export ratio to domestic consumption of cotton cloth stood at

four to three. By the late 1840s cotton made up about 50% of all British

exports. Initially, the continent was the main market for British cotton,

taking in one third of Britain’s exports, but increasingly Great Britain

cast a wider net for its export market. After the 1820s, Latin America

purchased one fourth as much cotton from Great Britain as Europe,

but that percentage rose to one half by the 1840s. As the British

advantage in machine production advanced steadily, it virtually

destroyed India and Southeast Asia’s hand labor ability to compete and

resulted in a 1,500% increase of British cotton exports to those areas in

the 1820s and 1830s. For example, in 1813 Great Britain imported

more than 2 million pounds of cotton cloth from Calcutta, India, but

by 1830 Britain was exporting that same amount to Calcutta. Africa

also felt the effect to a lesser degree, and only China resisted the British

juggernaut until after the Opium Wars.

The British cotton industry experienced a major transition from

1750 to 1860 because of a number of factors. A growing consumer

market placed a new and rising demand for cotton textiles. A thriving

inventive spirit solved a number of problems that had created a bottle-

neck in the spinning and weaving processes. Entrepreneurs seized

upon these developments and with few constraints standing in the way

pushed for ever greater productivity using water and then steam

power. Thus, the older, more primitive small-scale cottage industries

could not compete with the new bustling factory enterprises emerging

in areas such as Lancashire. By 1857 the once idyllic rural landscape

had been transformed by the smoke belching from more than 2,200

cotton mills operating 33.5 million spindles and the growing number

of workers herded into factory towns.

These images became the testi-

mony to the fact that the cotton industry had achieved dominant status

and paved the way for the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.

Iron Industry

The 18th century also witnessed a revolution in technology asso-

ciated with iron production. Although this industry did not challenge

the dominance of the cotton industry, the advances in the smelting and

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

refining processes nonetheless did increase significantly the supply of

cheaper and more usable metal for a variety of purposes during the

Industrial Revolution. The developments in the chemical process of

metallurgy moved steadily to reduce iron in a compound form to a

pure form. Carbon and heat are required to achieve this end. Before

the 18th century, charcoal derived from wood had been used for smelt-

ing iron ore. However, the cost of wood had risen as Great Britain’s for-

ests became depleted. Great Britain’s seemingly endless abundance of

coal had been used for heating since the late Middle Ages, but the coke

produced from coal had more impurities than the charcoal produced

from wood. In 1709 Abraham Darby succeeded in coke-blasting iron

and began a long but steady process that resulted in the production of

wrought iron that had the malleable characteristics needed in industry.

For six decades after Darby’s breakthrough, coke supplies increased as

blast furnace design improved and size increased until steam blasting

brought the process to new heights. Because blast furnaces produced

pig iron, which was too hard to work with, it had to be poured into

cast molds to remove the remaining impurities. For decades this proc-

ess required the heating and reheating of the metal in charcoal fires to

get a workable metal, a long and expensive endeavor. Beginning in the

1730s new innovations appeared that ultimately led to Henry Cort’s fa-

mous ‘‘puddling’’ process in 1784 that saved fuel and ensured faster

production and increased the amount of usable iron by nearly 1,500%.

Steam power rolled the metal and quickly replaced hammering by

hand. As a result, Great Britain’s production of pig iron accelerated:

25,000 tons by the 1720s, 125,000 tons by 1740, 250,000 tons by

1804, 581,000 tons by 1825, and 2,700,000 tons by 1852.

Similar to

the developments in the cotton industry, the iron industry had its own

fits and starts with small gains at times and significant leaps at others.

The dramatic shift of fortunes can be demonstrated in other ways. In

the middle of the 18th century, Great Britain imported double the iron

it produced, but by the end of the Napoleonic Wars the nation

exported five times the amount imported. Britain’s exports of iron ore

increased twenty times from 57,000 tons in 1814 to more than one

million tons in 1852.

The improvement in iron production stimulated developments in

other industries such as beer-brewing, pottery making, glazing, print-

ing, commercial baking, but most significantly mining. The growing

demand for coal to be used in the smelting process created the need to

mine deeper as the surface veins became depleted. The penetration of

the water table then led to the problem of flooding of the mine shafts

similar to the dilemma faced by the tin, copper, and lead mines in the

early 18th century. The first response was the use of horsepower to

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

raise the water in buckets. In Warwickshire some 500 horses did the

labor, but fatigue and costs associated with food and housing the ani-

mals were a consideration. Captain Thomas Savery introduced steam

power to solve the problem with his device known as the ‘‘Miner’s

Friend’’ in the late 18th century. His engine was a tireless machine that

operated more efficiently than the horses and used a small amount of

the bountiful supply of coal being mined. His original patent lasted 14

years. Once it expired, a number of inventors seized the opportunity to

improve his original machine as the depletion of surface veins forced

mine shafts to go deeper for mineral resources. In 1800 Great Britain

used 11 million tons of coal annually. That amount increased two

times by 1830, doubled again by 1845, and doubled once more by

1870. The mining industry also employed iron rails to facilitate carts

of coal pulled by horses or people and after 1800 by steam powered

devices. In addition, iron producers shared knowledge with textile and

other industries regarding machine building and steam power. Again, a

lag occurred. For example, a dozen years passed from the appearance

of Watt’s steam engine in the mid-1760s to the construction of more

standardized cylinders for the engine.

Great Britain’s Transportation Revolution: Canals,

Roads, and Railroads

It is difficult to imagine an era before modern transportation

moved people and goods unimpeded at a steady pace over long distan-

ces. Prior to the late 18th century, only the royal court, aristocrats, sol-

diers, sailors, political adventurers, missionaries, and merchants

traveled freely. A sedentary society had a local orientation and for the

most part was held in check by physical impediments. Great Britain

experienced three important transportation developments in the first

century of the Industrial Revolution: canal construction, improve-

ments in road-building, and the appearance of the railroad.

The first leap in transportation came in the form of artificial water -

ways or canals. In 1692 the French constructed the first modern canal,

the Canal du Midi, connecting the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Origi-

nally built as part of Louis XIV’s grand military strategy, it soon led to

further canal building and boosted commerce. The implications of the

French canals did not escape the British. During the middle of the 18th

century, the Duke of Bridgewater traveled to France and Italy, where

canal construction had also begun. His experience led him to encourage

the introduction of canals into Lancashire in order to move coal quickly

from mines to the growing industrial town of Manchester. The result

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was the Bridgewater Canal, which opened in 1761. The effort required

river improvements. The duke’s dedicated approach ensured that a mar-

riage of public and private efforts succeeded in the canal’s construction.

Parliamentary legislation specified the routes, and private companies

purchased the land. The first canals were a product of an economy of

engineering, lined in clay to create a watertight seal, and could only sup-

port very narrow boats. Unlike later versions, the first canals generally

followed the contours of the landscape to avoid tunneling wherever pos-

sible. Brick and masonry aqueducts were constructed to cross rivers.

The men who designed and built the canals were truly remarka-

ble and inspired the development of modern engineering technology

in Great Britain. For example, the Duke of Bridgewater hired James

Brindley, a millwright, for three shillings a day to build a canal. Brind-

ley employed navies (a term referring to navigators or men who used

shovels and wheelbarrows to excavate earth). He was noted for his

tough, tenacious work ethic and possessed few social graces. Brindley

was articulate enough, however, to convince Parliament of the worthiness

of his projects. This initial effort resulted in a canal eighteen feet wide,

four and a half feet deep, and 10 miles long, which sliced in half the

expense of transporting coal to Manchester. The cost of the canal is

unknown, but its profits financed the duke’s next venture—a canal link-

ing the port city of Liverpool with Manchester. Brindley constructed the

canal along a valley to keep it level and then gently let it slope down

using a series of 10 locks. The canal is estimated to have cost about

225,000 pounds, but it also cut in half the cost of freight char ges between

Liverpool and Manchester. The economics were simple. Eight horses for-

merly were needed to haul a wagon weighing six and a half tons, whereas

a single horse walking along a towpath could move with little effort a

loaded barge weighing almost thirty tons.

Adam Smith observed the

success of the canal system and urged its expansion. Josiah Wedgewood

believed that Smith was correct, and he as well joined the canal building

craze. Previously Wedgewood had employed pack horses to bring in raw

materials to his potteries and to transport the fragile finished product.

The canal provided a cheaper and more reliable mode of trans-

portation. In less than a decade, between the years 1764 and 1772, pri-

vate enterprises pooled capital and financed the construction of canals

linking Great Britain’s major rivers. In 1790 alone nearly three million

pounds was spent on canals. By the 1830s the investment had swelled

to twenty million pounds. In 1800 some forty-two canals consisting of

1400 miles of waterways crisscrossed Great Britain. The result was a

boost in employment opportunities for the working classes. Josiah

Wedgewood’s potteries, for example, flourished with the construction

of the canals and increased his work force from 7,000 in 1760 to more

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

than 21,000 in 1786. As canal building increased, older canals were

enhanced through tunneling and improved embanking to straighten

the routes. By 1858 Great Britain had constructed 4250 miles of canals.

Napoleon’s campaigns forced the British to pour resources into military

channels and resulted in an interruption of canal building. At the con-

clusion of the Napoleonic Wars, railroad construction was set to com-

mence, a sign that the canal age was ending.

Road building also garnered additional interest in the late 18th

century. However, this endeavor had to overcome significant obstacles.

Overland transportation was extremely difficult, as road arteries had

improved only slightly over Roman times. Much of the year roads were

streams of mud and frequently impassable for wheeled traffic. The

resources for road building and improvement differed from the canals.

The effort was initially sporadic and uneven because local areas had the

responsibility for construction and upkeep. In the first half of the 18th

century, Parliament passed an average of eight turnpike acts a year. How-

ever, the growing demand placed on transportation infrastructure to keep

pace with the nation’s economic growth soon led to further road develop-

ments. These efforts were boosted with the creation of turnpike trusts

that were joint enterprises of landowners and entrepreneurs who could

pool their capital for infrastructure improvements. The initial efforts

were small but steady and gained momentum with the efforts of several

men who changed the actual complexion of the roadbeds. The Scotsman

Thomas Telford (see Biographies) developed a heavy foundation roadbed

using seven inches of crushed stone over a sublayer of soft soil and cover-

ing it with a two-inch layer of gravel. As wheeled vehicles traveled over

the road they solidified the base layer so that the road became even more

viable over time. His most important road project was the 300-mile thor-

oughfare linking London and Holyhead, Wales, which lessened the travel

time between the two cities by 32% from 41 to 28 days.

However, Telford’s approach proved more expensive than some

turnpike trusts could afford. Thus, the next major enhancement in

Great Britain’s roads occurred with the work of another Scotsman,

John L. McAdam, whose approach was simpler and less expensive than

Telford’s heavy foundation. McAdam, working in conjunction with his

three sons, devised a method to ensure that the subsoil drained readily

so that the surface would remain dry and firm and thus eliminate the

need for Telford’s deep foundation. He placed a thin layer of fine gravel

over a carefully surveyed and well-drained foundation. The elastic sur-

face became tightly packed as vehicles passed over it and did not dete-

riorate or have potholes or ruts appear as quickly as the Telford model.

It is estimated that by the early 1820s several thousand miles of roads

had been constructed according to the macadam method. The

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

improved road standards in the 18th and 19th centuries reduced travel

time significantly. In 1745 the trip from London to Edinburgh took

almost two weeks. Fifty years later that same journey had been

reduced to less than three days. By 1830 it had been trimmed almost in

half again. The journey from London to Bristol, formerly two days by

coach, was only 19 hours by the 1780s. In 1756 only one stagecoach a

day made the journey from London to Brighton. By 1811 that number

had increased to eleven. And, in 1820, 1500 stagecoaches departed

London daily pointed in all directions in the country. The replication

of these ‘‘macadamized’’ roads eventually became the goal of all Euro-

pean nations and the United States.

Safety in travel also improved, and more frequent and comforta-

ble inn accommodations sprang up along Great Britain’s growing road

network. More people were on the move and doing so more frequently.

However, the cost of transporting people and goods overland by roads

remained an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Mule trains

continued to be the principal means for moving cargo and were a com-

mon sight in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The real revolution

came with the appearance of the railroads.

Although the railroads were a 19th-century innovation, in some

respects they were not new. The Romans had used grooves or ruts in

their roads to fit a common wheelbase, and the Chinese had employed

a similar technique in the 3rd century

BC. By the 16th century the min-

ing industry in Great Britain and areas on the continent such as Tran-

sylvania had developed wooden tramways over which trucks pulled by

horses would haul ore. Wood quickly rotted. By the 18th century iron

rails, some covering distance up to ten miles, had appeared at several

mining areas in Great Britain. By the early 19th century Richard Trevi-

thick (see Biographies) had developed a device or locomotive powered

by steam to carry passengers or cargo at a pace of five miles per hour.

Several independent efforts began to appear simultaneously, but it took

the work of George Stephenson (see Biographies) to bring the railroad

into the forefront of British transportation. Stephenson’s improvements

included strengthening the tracks, adopting the latest developments in

steam power for his locomotive, and establishing a standard gauge for

the tracks. After his successful Stockton to Darlington run in 1825 and

win over the competition in 1829 for the rights to the Liverpool to

Manchester railway line (see Document 2), passenger and freight serv-

ice began on a regular basis, marking the onset of the railroad age in

Great Britain.

Mainline construction began immediately in the

1830s. By 1847 a quarter of a million navies were employed in railroad

construction, and more than 2400 miles of railway were in operation

carrying 30 million passengers at a dizzying pace of 60 miles per hour

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

across the country. That mileage had climbed to 6,800 miles in 1851.

The railroads required constant attention to ensure that proper signal-

ing devices and safety regulations kept pace with more efficient

and powerful locomotives. Professional organizations for mechanical

and civil engineers appeared, and constant training in maintenance and

railroad operations became essential for all employees. This model was

adopted later by other transportation industries such as automobile

and airplane manufacturing. The appetite for railroad expansion was

insatiable. The railways not only moved people but also reduced trans-

port time for goods, thereby lowering transport costs and thus stimu-

lating investment. Other benefits arose from the railway age. Postal

service received a real stimulus. In addition, reduced travel time com-

pressed the nation and changed the concept of time and turned peo-

ple’s attention from being exclusively local to an understanding and

appreciation for larger national concerns. As more and more railway lines

crisscrossed the nation, the old concept of local time evaporated. The

development of strict timetables and regularly scheduled service by the

railroads led to successful lobbying of Parliament to abolish local times

and establish a national concept of time in 1845. In 1851 a large per cent-

age of the nearly 6 million people who visited the Great Exhibition trav-

eled to the event by rail. Queen Victoria first traveled by train in June

1841 and was a frequent passenger on the railroad. It not only provided

a fast and efficient means to travel but also pr ovided additional opportu-

nities for the royal family to be seen by the British people. Between the

years 1861 and 1868 mileage increased more than 80% and passenger

traffic moved 180%.

The railway age also resulted in more people tak-

ing excursions and the concept of the vacation, heretofor e an impossible

thought in the lives of ordinary folk, became a reality for millions. The

first holiday package offered by a railroad occurred in 1841. The initial

fear of railway travel soon became a thing of the past. Statistics for the

years 1870 to 1873 indicate that 397 million journeys were taken in

Great Britain. The total number of railway accidents from all causes in

that period was 59, with an annual fatality rate of 35 or one death per

every 11 million trips.

Henry Booth perhaps captured the spirit of this

dramatic change best: ‘‘What was slow is now quick; what was distant is

now near; and this change in our ideas pervades society at lar ge.’ ’

The Price of Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution had a dramatic impact on the life of

Great Britain. Although evidence of industrialization had appeared on

a wide scale, it should be remembered that Great Britain was still

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

basically a rural country in 1800. Agriculture dominated the economic

life of the nation, and the fastest thing one could observe was a gallop-

ing horse, which at best could cover 30 to 100 miles a day. London was

a faraway place for most of the British people, and even the concept of

time was irregular as people relied on when the sun rose and set in

their particular locality to judge the progress of the day. Yet, if one had

been born in the early 1800s, that world had disappeared almost

entirely by the end of the century. The country manners of Jane Aus-

ten’s novels in the early 19th century had given way to the harsh urban

realities of Charles Dickens characters in the mid-19th century and

finally the wild notion of time travel in the work of H. G. Wells by the

end of the century.

The forces that had begun to churn in the late 18th century—

agricultural reform, population increase, and the emergence of machines

British population stood at 9 million, increased to 21 million in 1851,

and stood at 37 million at the turn of the 20th century. The age of the

city and the factory had arrived. In the late 18th century a typical tex-

tile mill might be valued at three to four thousand pounds, while a ba-

sic hand loom might cost twenty-five pounds. In 1788 the first

recorded multi-story factory enterprise had a value of 13,000 pounds

and its steam engine alone cost 1,500. Operations related to mining

and metallurgy had even higher values. In order to operate on this

grand scale, partnerships formed to accumulate greater sums of capital

and bargain for new credit arrangements to facilitate investment. These

larger entities required a new organization to ensure the highest degree

of productivity. In many respects, however, the pace of industrializa-

tion progressed slowly and unevenly. The typical cotton mill in 1850

had 50 workers, most of whom did not operate machinery, although

some enterprises boasted 1,000 or more employees.

Thus, much

manufacturing remained on a small scale, and family firms financed

through personal loans outnumbered large partnerships that drew

upon the resources of banks and financial institutions. This mixed na-

ture of industrialization should not lead one to surmise that the impact

of the new economy was neither dramatic nor far-reaching. Indeed, by

the middle of the 19th century, Great Britain had more than lived up to

its moniker as ‘‘the workshop of the world.’’

Almost from its inception, the factory or mill required a new

work ethic from its employees. Life on the farm had been a family and

community endeavor. However, the hum of activity in the factory

demanded a discipline and behavior that operated at a tempo and

speed not previously experienced by the ordinary working man. In the

initial stages, this regimentation was foreign to individuals who were

The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

used to the more irregular and leisurely pace on the farm. Even those

workers who engaged in cottage industry pursuits of weaving and

spinning in their domiciles could perform their tasks on a surge basis

and then have time off. The machines operated by the workers, how-

ever, were expensive and could not remain inactive. Factory owners

had to dictate a strict system of time-work in which employees labored

in shifts for set hours and performed a specified number of tasks in a

repetitive manner to obtain maximum output from the machines.

Some owners sought shortcuts by hiring orphans from London and

other cities and bringing them to the northern textile mills with the

promise of wages, food, and housing. Women and children appeared

in greater numbers in the factories, not a new phenomenon as they

had worked on the farm, but their presence held down overall factory

wages at times. The old practice of St. Monday when no work was

done gave way to a week in which work of twelve to sixteen hours a

day stopped at either midday or the end of the day on Saturday. Over

time this distinct break between work and leisure time would change

the nature and style of activities pursued by the working classes. By

the later 19th century some of these new interests became spectator

sports, such as cricket and football, and music hall entertainment. The

comfort of the former rural, close-knit community no longer existed.

Even the church could not fill the vacuum. Church attendance

declined rapidly as evidenced by the 1851 Census Sunday Report that

only 50% of the population attended a church service. The Anglican

Church with its ritual and formalism suffered the most from the chang-

ing social dynamics in Great Britain. Methodism, on the other hand,

took heartily to the new spirit of the age that the Lord watched over

those persons who take care of themselves. Methodism’s emphasis on

honest, hard work and self-discipline meshed neatly with the mores of

the era.

Mature workers faced a litany of fines and punishments if they

did not perform according to the factory owner’s standards. These

shortcomings might include tardiness or slovenly behavior such as

drunkenness, an extremely serious infraction that employers viewed as

having a negative influence on the work force. Adults might be given a

reduction in pay or outright dismissal. Children, often prized by fac-

tory owners because they could be easily disciplined for the arduous

work, often received beatings to enforce the rules. At times the condi-

tions under which the labor force toiled played havoc with the work-

ers. The many physical dangers inherent in the early factories might

include working in mills with temperatures of more than 80 degrees,

inhaling dust from the textile fibers, and injury or death from fast-

moving, unsafe machinery. The mines might have cave-ins, explosions,

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION