INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
I.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION C 1760-80 - 1880
A. DEFINITION & GENERAL REMARKS
1. 200 yrs ago
2. modern industrial society first took shape in Great Britain
3. changes industrialization brought so momentous that historians speak of them as
a. Industrial Revolution
4. in a broader sense, Ind Rev continues to this day
5. a long unfolding of new technologies & machinery that began being powered by steam
6. moved on to use of petroleum, electricity & nuclear for power to run other new machinery
7. steam-engine era of the 19th c. may look primitive from perspective of our age
a. of space exploration, electronics, & computer technology
8. but technological breakthroughs of 200 yrs ago crucial to all that has occurred since
9. Ind. Rev. process of society going from a rural agricultural & commercial society
10. to modern industrial society dependent on use of power machinery rather than man & animals
11. while process gradual & not sudden which word revolution suggests
12. economic, social & political results revolutionary
13. rural, handicraft economy of centuries
14. transformed to one dominated by urban workers
15. 1st stage of IR began slowly about 1760,
16. gathered momentum after 1815-30
17. by 1850 England workshop of world
18. only quite later did industrial revolution come to continent
19. some historians say
a. “most important event in world history”
II. CAUSES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
A. General Remarks
1. why did Industrial Revolution occur at this time?
2. & why did it occur 1st in England?
3. complex combination of events & elements unique to England caused Industrial Revolution
4. British had vigorous middle class including both skilled technicians & aggressive entrepreneurs
5. British had surplus labor produced by 18th c. Agricultural Revolution
6. they had immense amounts of capital from empire & trade & agricultural revolution
7. growing population at home & abroad to provide requisite demand
8. Britain had resources in iron & coal
9. Ind. Rev. began in textile manufacturing, notably new cotton industry
10. more willing to innovate than older, more hidebound wool industry
11. from textiles, new approach spread to heavy industry, transportation & other areas
12. & from Great Britain, new technology much later spread to western Europe, North America & on around
world
13. 11 causes that contributed to beginning of Industrial Revolution in England
1st B. NATURE OF MERCHANT CLASS
1. merchant class in England had long enjoyed acceptance and prestige
2. marriage between daughters of wealthy merchants and gentry had occurred since late middle ages
3. this upward mobility into modern times as well
4. pursuit of wealth acceptable
5. merchant class aggressive, inventive, ambitious
6. all characteristics acceptable to English
7. English society offered rewards to individuals for risk taking & innovation
2nd C. ENGLISH GOVERNMENT FAVORABLE TO BUSINESS & MERCHANT CLASS
1. generally adverse to war as offensive measure
2. govt & merchants partners in business
3. laws passed that aided & protected merchants
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3rd D.
4th E.
5th F.
6th G.
7th H.
8th I.
9th J.
4. Parliament established principle of limited liability
a. indicated by LTD.
b. applied first to railroads
c. and then to other companies
5. practice of limiting each shareholder's liability to value of his shares encouraged wider public investment
INCREASING MARKETS AT HOME & ABROAD
1. great economic growth of Europe in previous centuries
2. brought about by Age of Discovery & Exploration
a. colonies & empires of European nations
3. growth of British empire & trade after successful wars against France & others
a. India, Continent, Egypt
4. gave Britain a ready market for her goods
5. also, expanding home market for whatever goods manufactured
6. English avid consumers
7. by mid 18th c yearly fashions setting styles for rich & middle class alike
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND
1. production of food increased to feed growing population of cities
2. new crops such as potato, turnips, clover planted in rotation patterns
3. & land no longer lying fallow
4. more money to be made by farmers
5. with profits earned by agriculture excess capital went into industrial investment
6. new agricultural machinery developed simultaneously w/new factory machinery
SUFFICIENT CHEAP LABOR POOL IN ENGLAND
1. tremendous growth in total population
a. 1750 - 6 1/2 million
b. 1830 - 16 1/2 million
(1) 80% increase in 80 yrs
2. use of machinery on farms lessened demand for labor
3. freed up labor pool for towns
ENGLAND'S NAVY & MERCHANT MARINE FLEET
1. control of seas both in war and peace times
2. allowed great access to world markets
ENGLAND'S ABUNDANT RESOURCES of COAL & IRON
1. large quantities of coal & iron in fairly close proximity
2. coal & iron necessary to produce steam to run machinery
3. by 1800 9/10ths world's coal mined British Isles
SUFFICIENT CAPITAL & FAVORABLE BANKING POLICIES IN ENG.
1. with excess capital from agricultural revolution
2. & profits from overseas trade
3. investors went into manufacturing fields
4. men began to lend to industries they knew little about
5. Bankers played such an nb role they became great powers in Europe
6. international house of Rothschild epitomizes this
7. English investments made in other countries w/assistance of these banking houses
a. eg. English capital constructed French & American railroads
8. cf this w/today's investments
a. British are biggest investors in America
b. Japanese next
9. banks decreased interest rates so money cheap to borrow
a. 5% - 1700
b. 3% - 1765
10. Banks further assisted economic expansion by promoting use of checks & paper money specie
TECHNOLOGICAL SKILL & INDUSTRIAL INVENTIONS OF BRITISH
1. wave of mechanical inventions made possible by discoveries of Sci. Revolution of 17 & 18th c.
2. inventions making industrialization possible few
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
yet revolutionized nature of labor
workers' brains more NB now than muscles
series of successful inventions in cotton textile industry began process
& became model for industrialization in other areas
by 1760's rising demand for cheap, comfortable cotton garments over-taxed prevailing domestic system
a. cotton cloth imported from India, no longer enough
b. cheaper than wool cloth - & could be washed
(1) wool cloth industry dated from middle ages
8. James Kay's invention of flying shuttle had so increased productivity of weavers
a. only 1 person needed now instead of 2
9. by 1730's real bottleneck as spinners could not produce enough thread to keep up w/weavers
10. various groups of merchants offered prizes for invention of machine to eliminate this bottleneck
K. 1765 James Hargreaves invented spinning jenny
a. initially machine could spin 16 spindles of thread at time
b. by end of 18th c. 120 spindles
2. spinning jenny broke bottleneck, but still piece of machine used in the cottage of workers
3. invention that took cotton textile manufacture out of home & into factory was
4. Richard Arkwright's water frame 1769
a. could spin more thread than spinning jenny
b. & spun tighter & finer thread
c. but needed more power
5. not until late 18th c. was steam engine perfected by James Watt, Scot
6. factories could be located in or near existing urban centers instead of by natural water supplies
7. steam power next employed in other industries
a. use of steam-driven bellows in blast furnaces helped ironmakers switch from charcoal to coke
8. but it was mechanization of textiles that served as model for other industries
10th L. ENGLISH TRANSPORTATION CHANGES & INVENTIONS
1. over course of 19th century series of inventions speeded up distribution of raw materials to factories
2. & distribution of finished goods to customers
3. CANALS
a. by 1815 3000 miles of canal built England
b. inexpensive Irish labor used
c. movement of goods easier & cheaper
d. now can take vacations on them in England & France
4. PORTS
a. beginning w/London & other English cities building new docks facilitated movement of goods
b. London now became greatest port in world
5. ROADS
a. 1815 Scotsman, McAdam - devised durable road surfacing
(1) granite fragments packed down
6. RAILROADS
a. next significant invention
b. from 1590's horse drawn trucks on rails
c. hauled coal from mines to river
d. need for cheap means of transporting ever-larger amounts of coal from mines to cities
e. led to experiments w/steam-powered rail travel
f. locomotive dev by George Stephenson in Eng in 1814
g. by 1825 1st railroad in operation
(1) The Rocket locomotive
(2) could go 15 MPH
h.1st viable commercial line Liverpool-Manchester 1830
i.1st used to move goods then passengers
j.1st & 2nd class carriages
(1)1st class looked like stagecoaches on wheels
(2)2nd class open cars
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k. later on railroad cars elegant
(1) as slide of pullman dining car
(2) & Queen Victoria's private car attest
l. England had 500 miles of track in 1838, 6600 miles in 1850 & 15,500 in 1870
m. w/in decade every major western country had short rail lines
n. much of RR development throughout continent & world financed by British
7. development of other means of transportation
a. early horse tram
(1) forerunner of modern bus
b. next steam driven trams
c. finally underground transportation in London developed
8. but what is most nb is RR accelerated pace & profitability of industrialization
11th M. COMMUNICATION CHANGES & INVENTIONS
1. 1840 Britain inaugurated penny post
2. to send letter from London to Edinburgh now only penny, less than 1/10th of old rate
3. electricity provided ultra-swift communications
a. 1st telegraph message 1844 Baltimore to Wash D.C.
b. 1st submarine cable under English Channel 1851
c. 1st transatlantic cable 1866
d. 1st telephone 1876
N. GREAT EXHIBITION 1851 LONDON
1. on May 1, 1851 in London, Queen Victoria opened the "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All
Nations"
a. 1st of many world's fairs
2. this international exposition displayed latest mechanical marvels
3. in its own setting marvel of engineering
a. Crystal Palace
b. structure of iron & glass stretching like a mammoth greenhouse for more than a 1/3 of a mile in Hyde
Park
4. to visitors evident Britain workshop of world
III. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ON CONTINENT
A. SEE TEXT FOR GOOD EXPLANATION
IV. ORGANIZATION OF FACTORIES & INDUSTRIES
A. FACTORY & INDUSTRIAL OWNERS
1. early industrialists came from a variety of backgrounds
2. many from well-established merchant families
3. others of modest means, especially in early days
4. first factories developed by Arkwright to put water frames in them
5. & he found that a small factory could be started for £2000 or less
6. artisans & skilled workmen of exceptional ability had unparalleled opportunities
B. FACTORY & INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
1. who were factory workers?
2. in beginning mostly abandoned & pauper children
3. & then women
4. men refused to work initially in factories
5. because of the monotonous & long arduous hours
6. men had been used to working only Wednesday through Saturdays when they got paid
7. & then would go out & get drunk
8. & start work week again by Tuesday or Wednesday when sober
9. but working along side the men had been the wives & children
a. called cottage industries
b. entire family participated in the family economy
10. so illegitimate children & orphans were hired by factory owners
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11. living in workhouses they were farmed out at 5 or 6 or 7 to work in factories
a. work 12-15 hrs day 6 days week
(1) or as long as could stay awake
12. but children could not provide enough workers for factories
13. people came from all over to work in cities
a. Ireland, Scotland, Wales
14. as factory workers & as laborers, builders & domestic servants
15. but they came as family united
16. continuation of the family work pattern - cottage system - of early centuries on farms
C. FACTORY & INDUSTRIAL WORKING CONDITIONS
1. what were working conditions?
2. Many factory owners hard taskmasters
3. most laid down strict rules for their workers
4. factory workmen regularly stood for 14 hrs or more in overheated rooms
5. coming to work 10 minutes late meant loss of half a day's pay
6. workers could be fired w/o pretext or notice
7. workers such as spinners in Manchester were fined as much as 1-6 shillings for:
a. opening their window
b. washing themselves
c. conversing
d. singing or whistling
8. many workers killed or disabled by crippling effects of hazardous working conditions or materials
9. workers in iron, tin & lead & lead paint risked severe pulmonary infections from fumes & chemical
solvents
10. conditions in brickyards in 19th c. as bad as in mines & worst factories
11. glaziers & pewterers susceptible to palsy
12. lacemakers rarely kept their sight unimpaired for more than a few years
a. many went blind
13. cf w/todays problems such as asbestos
14. mine cave-ins common
15. lives of lower class women & children most effected by working conditions of Industrial Revolution
16. few families could survive w/o wages of women & children
17. even though paid less then men
18. families initially not against their children working in factories
19. as they able to discipline & control themselves
20. but once factories organized in more modern format
21. when managers & foremen took over control that parents protested inhuman conditions their children
were enduring
22. not until 1819 illegal to employ children under 9 in cotton-mills
a. & illegal to keep older children at work for more than 12 hours a day
23. even then law easily & frequently evaded as no factory inspectors
24. women's endurance & docility prized by factory overseerers
25. as well as fact she would work for less than men
26. in mines women did worst tasks
27. mine work allotted to children equally severe
28. even before worked in factories, children of working mothers suffered occupational handicaps
29. as infants, regularly dosed w/"Godfrey's cordial"
a. opium mixed w/molasses to keep in a constant stupor
30.many found employment as chimney sweepers
a.boys were burned & suffocated
D. CONTEMPORARY LEGISLATION TO ALLEVIATE PROBLEMS OF WORKING CONDITIONS
1. from 1760-1830's saw increased concern for human misery especially young
2. regulation of factories through series of acts
3. 1st major accomplishment for reformers Factory Act of 1833
a. limited workday for children between 9-13 to 8 hrs
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b.
c.
d.
e.
adolescents between 14-18, 12 hours per day
law prohibited children under 9 to work
even then law easily & frequently evaded as no factory inspectors
those under 9 were to be enrolled in elementary schools factory owners required to establish
V. DEBATE BETWEEN CRITICS & PROPONENTS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
A. CONTEMPORARY CRITICS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND
1. earliest critics romantic poets, physicians & middle class reformers
2. 1 of most famous was Friedrich Engels
3. his famous study
a. The Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844
b. describes factory conditions in northern England
4. referred to situation of industrial poor
a. "an ever spreading pool of misery & desolation."
5. blamed wretchedness of workers on bourgeois greed
6. yet ironically, throughout the yrs of his collaboration w/Karl Marx, Engels capitalist
a. managing Manchester factory of his family's mfg firm for 20 yrs.
7. Engel's book 1 of dozens of private & parliamentary reports drawn up
8. investigating factory & other working conditions in 1830-40's
9. although other books did not always join Engels in blaming wretchedness on bourgeois greed
10. they were unanimous in deploring industries which forced their workers to labor endlessly
B. LUDDITE RIOTS
1. handloom weavers, hard hit by competition from power looms began great loom-breaking
2. called Luddite Riots after General Lud
3. underground revolutionary movement w/a definite, if unsystematic program of action
4. workshops & knitting frames of good & honest employers left untouched
5. these acts of vandalism, although directed at new labor-saving machines that had robbed many of them of
their livelihood
6. were also inspired by discontent over living conditions & inflationary prices
7. while children of the poor were taught to venerate Gen. Ludd and to remember him in their prayers
8. this Luddite movement reached its climax in 1826
9. when factory owner Cartwright successfully drove off a luddite attack by placing a vat of concentrated
sulfuric acid at top of stairs to tip on heads of attackers
10. thereafter no mill or frame was smashed
11. but within a decade after the first Luddite riot, trade unions formed to redress workers' grievances
12. workers eventually organized, established labor unions to improve their conditions
C. CONTEMPORARY PROPONENTS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1. many believed living conditions were improving for working classes due to the Industrial Revolution
2. people could buy more materials goods
3. foreign visitors to England in mid 18th c repeatedly stressed comfortable circumstances in which most
people seemed to be placed
4. & qualities of goods did not seem to lessen w/Ind. Rev.
5. Even French impressed with quality of workers & goods English produced
D. MODERN OPINIONS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND
1. whether Industrial Revolution beneficial or not beneficial to society has long been hotly debated by
historians
2. originally first modern historians of IR mostly socialists
3. & were very pessimistic of the IR
4. others said IR provided better life style for people
5. after doing more statistical research than contemporaries of the Industrial Revolution
6. historians such as T.S. Ashton Industrial Revolution 1960's
a. found positive conclusions re IR
(1) longer life expectancy
(2) less infant mortality
(3) better food
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7. it has been concluded with exception ofwartime period when England fighting with Napoleon & French
8. industrialization probably brought more material benefits to people than any other historical innovation
9. but does it improve quality of life & happiness
VI. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A COUNTRY DID NOT INDUSTRIALIZE
A. IRISH POTATO FAMINE OF MID-19TH CENTURY
1. Ireland did not go through an industrial revolution like England and Continent did in the 19th century
2. event known as Irish Potato Famine gives us a chance to look at area that did not go through
industrialization process
3. the great mass of Irish Catholic peasants
4. they rented their land from English Anglican Protestants
a. many of their landlords did not reside in Ireland
5. English landlords did not participate in the new ideas of the Agricultural Revolution
6. by 1800 Irish peasants living in abject poverty
7. yet even in these poverty areas, Irish kept multiplying population growth sped onward
8. the 4 million of 1780 reached 8 million in 1840
a. doubled in 60 years
9. during this same time nearly 25% of them (1 3/4 million people) left Ireland for Britain and America
10. potato was 1st introduced into Ireland in late 16th c.
11. by end of 18th c. principal food of Irish peasants
12. 1 acre of land planted in potatoes fed family of 6 for entire year
13. cf w/2-4 acres of grain/pastures needed
14. 10 lbs per person per day, fed the Irish & their animals
15. actually potato together w/milk gives all necessary amino acids, etc.
16. w/only need to supplement w/green vegetables for complete diet
17. peasants had no incentive to make permanent improvements on land as any increase in profits went to
landlord
18. early marriages occurred as easy to get 1 acre & throw up a sod or stone house
19. they had lots of children
20. as they were an insurance policy; social security
21. an aged or infirm person's best hope of escaping starvation was a dutiful son or daughter
22. but potato harvest had failed often & threat of widespread famine accepted part of life
23. regional famines beginning in 1830`s reached proportions of catastrophe when in 1845, 1846 and again in
1848 and 1851, the potato crop failed in Ireland
a. & throughout much of Europe
24. 3 out of 4 acres got potato blight
25. by spring of 1847, 15,000 Irish dying of starvation every day
26. people ate anything to keep alive
a. grass, other humans
27. for a few months govt in Eng kept nearly a million of 8 million Irish alive through jobs on public works
projects
28. but local English landlords reacted w/ terrifying inhumanity
29. families too weak to work were driven off their holdings
30. houses & barns were burned
31. little or nothing done by Parliament to restrain such destruction
B. CONSEQUENCES OF FAMINE FOR IRELAND
1. total losses were staggering
2. at least 1-1.5 million died
3. in face of disaster, Irish flocked to port towns & bought passage for America or Canada
4. berth in the stinking hold of a "coffin ship” could be bought for £5
5. by law penniless emigrants had to be given enough food to stay alive until reached New World
6. average of 1 in 6 perished at sea
7. on arriving Emigrants' first task was to dig a mass grave for those who had succumbed to diarrhea,
tuberculosis & ship's fever.
8. consequences,
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10.
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14.
15.
16.
a. more Irish in America than in Ireland today
Alone among nations of Europe, Ireland’s population declined to nearly 1/2 of its former numbers
as result it became a land of late marriages
widespread celibacy
& cattle & sheep raising instead of the potato
in Central Russia, western Germany & southern Italy saw rapid population growth without
industrialization as in Ireland
acute poverty and crucial role of potato that supplemented meat occurred here also
the standard of living was declining in these areas like in Ireland
cf w/modern 3rd world nations that have not industrialized