What was the most important factor in the process of industrialisation?
What was the most important factor in the process of industrialisation?
To attempt to answer the question of what was the most important factor in the process of industrialisation, it is necessary to look at each of the major factors in turn and try to assess their significance. I have identified six main factors and will consider them both on their own merits and on the ways they relate to each other. I will begin by looking at the issue of capital and the effects of a low rate of interest on industrialisation. Secondly, I will consider the development of agriculture and the land enclosures. I will proceed to discuss the impacts of the textile and coal mining industries and also look at the ways in which transport was revolutionised. The last factor which I will consider is the growth of the iron industry. The use of steam for industry and transportation will be discussed in the light of its association with all of the industries. I will then try to determine which, if any, of these factors is the most important.
One of the crucial factors in the process of industrialization was the availability of cheap capital. This was the result of the progressive lowering of the rate of interest until it reached 3% in the 1750s. In 1757 the 3% Consolidated Stock was introduced, bringing together several issues into one.1 This made borrowing cheaper and encouraged investment in industry. Combined with the development of local banking systems, which made the mobilization of savings more efficient, this enabled many entrepreneurs to purchase the equipment needed to go into business. As the initial outlay in many cases was not great, the careful 'recycling' of profits would soon facilitate expansion. The low cost of borrowing also resulted in the enlargement of estates by landowners, who raised money by mortgaging their properties. Where large areas of land were controlled by a single landowner, it was easier to bring about innovations in agricultural practice, which would lead to higher productivity.
Another significant factor was the progress made in agricultural methods, largely due to the practice of 'enclosure' (the fencing off of what had previously been common land). Although this was not a new practice (it had its roots in the 13th century), in the first half of the 18th century it was used by the landed aristocracy to enlarge their estates. Freeholders would be bought out and if they were unwilling, the large landowners were able to use Parliamentary powers to insist on their 'rights'. Peter Mathias notes that 'Seven million acres were covered by parliamentary enclosure awards between 1760 and 1815, with over 1,000 acts passed between1760 and 1800, and a further 800 between 1800 and 1815.'2 As mentioned previously, it was much easier to introduce innovations such as crop rotation, the planting of turnips and clover and the breeding of cattle rather than sheep, where large areas of land were in the hands of one owner rather than many small freeholders. These innovations resulted in higher food production and also provided a healthier diet. Wheat, potatoes and meat were now widely available, improving the health and life expectancy of the workers. The enclosures released or drove men from the land, according to your point of view. In any case, a work force was available for the nearby industrial centres.
Other innovations included new methods of drainage and more efficient ploughs and threshing machines. Even George III took a keen interest in agricultural improvement.3 Prizes were offered for new developments, by the Society of Arts, and journals such as the Farmers' Magazine and Farmers' Journal encouraged the spread of information.
No consideration of the important factors in the process of industrialization can ignore the Textile industry. The manufacture of woollen cloth, in Britain, had for centuries provided almost as much employment as had agriculture. In the early part of the 18th century, many of these workers operated ...
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Other innovations included new methods of drainage and more efficient ploughs and threshing machines. Even George III took a keen interest in agricultural improvement.3 Prizes were offered for new developments, by the Society of Arts, and journals such as the Farmers' Magazine and Farmers' Journal encouraged the spread of information.
No consideration of the important factors in the process of industrialization can ignore the Textile industry. The manufacture of woollen cloth, in Britain, had for centuries provided almost as much employment as had agriculture. In the early part of the 18th century, many of these workers operated with simple pieces of equipment, in their own homes, though processes such as dyeing required large vats and other equipment which could not be contained in a small cottage. Throughout this period, there were new developments being made with varying degrees of success. In 1733 the fly-shuttle, developed by John Kay, a clock maker, enabled a single man to produce a width of cloth which could only previously have been done by two men working together. However, this did not come into general use until 1760, because of resistance from the Lancashire weavers, and some technical problems.4
The greatest innovations in the Textile industry were more closely associated with cotton than with wool. The combination of James Hargreaves' spinning jenny and Richard Arkwrights' 'frame' enabled the production of cheap cotton calicoes, made up of the soft weft yarn produced by the jenny, and the coarse warp yarn that was produced by the frame. The frame could not be operated by human strength, so factories were soon set up. The power first supplied by horses and then by water mills, was to be transformed by the introduction of Watts' steam engine, though water was still used to drive the machines producing finer cloth, as they vibrated less than those driven by steam. The large factories which were built in towns multiplied. In Manchester there were two in 1782 and 52 in 1802.5 Such major innovations were not confined just to the initial production of the cloth. Bleaching, dyeing and printing of the calicoes were transformed by chemical and technical advances. All of these advances had a very significant impact on the success of the cotton trade. Hobsbawm states that 'the expansion of the cotton industry was so vast and its weight in the foreign trade of Britain so great, that it dominated the movements of the entire economy.'6
The coal mining industry did not see major innovations, but had undergone a gradual process of development and expansion, which had been stimulated by the growth of cities, especially London. These developments included the introduction of pit ponies in northern pits in the middle of the 18th century, which reduced costs, as most of the underground work could then be done by boys, rather than men. Also, the use of cast iron in the shafts meant that they could be sunk much deeper, and the wider spread use of longwall mining rather than the pillar and stall method, which left up to two-thirds of the coal to support the roof, meant that production was greatly increased. By 1800, Britain was producing around 90% of the total world production of coal, about ten million tons a year.7 They needed to use powerful steam engines to remove water from the pits and Thomas Newcomens' self-acting atmospheric engine had been used by about 100 mines in the Tyne and Wear by 1765. It was when required to repair such an engine, that James Watt came up with his own version, which after several modifications and developments, produced the rotative engine which was to transform many industrial processes and bring in the age of the railway. This in turn, had its own impact on the coal industry, which had suffered from the difficulties of transporting coal. The inland fields, in particular had relied on wagons travelling on badly made roads, or even panniers on horse back.8
The impact of the development of an efficient means of transport had a huge effect on industrialisation. Initially, the construction of canals made an important difference to the cost of delivering coal from the mines to the towns where it was needed for fuel and power. One of the most significant figures in the laying down of a network of canals was the Duke of Bridgewater, who began in 1759, with a canal from his own mines at Worsley to nearby Manchester. His ambition was to construct a route which would connect Lancashire and Liverpool, (the Grand Trunk) but this was not realised until 1777. At around the same time, the Wolverhampton Canal was completed. It ran from the Midland metal works to the Severn and had a junction with the Grand Trunk. There was now a continuous link between Bristol, Liverpool and Hull.9
Improvements were also being made to the road system. Whereas before 1750, regulations tended to apply to traffic, after this the focus was on making roads more suitable for heavy vehicles. The efforts of Thomas Telford and John Loudan Macadam, respectively, to improve the foundations and the surfaces of roads, improved travelling conditions immeasurably. This not only facilitated the transportation of goods, but also improved communications. Orders and payment could be transmitted with much greater ease and speed.
Wooden rails had long been in use to move coal on wagons from mines to rivers and ports. Occasionally, cornerings of cast-iron had also been used. In 1767 a cast-iron rail track was constructed by Richard Reynolds from Coalbrookdale to the Severn, and some time later the design was modified so that the flange, instead of being on the rail, was on the wheel of the wagon. In 1801, the first railway that was not exclusively for the carriage of coal or iron, was constructed from Wandsworth to Croydon. This was the Surrey Iron Railway, which carried goods for the general public. All the wagons that ran on these early railroads were pulled by horses. Although the idea of powering carriages by steam had occurred to several people on both sides of the Channel, James Watt resisted the idea of steam locomotion. As a result, it was only when his patent expired at the beginning of the 19th century, that Richard Trevithicks steam carriage could be developed.10 Several further innovations were required before transport by steam engine finally got underway with its profound effects on industrialisation, economics and indeed, quality of life.
The railways could not have developed as they did without the innovations in the iron industry which supplied the materials for making the rails. Peter Mathias describes the 'circle' of innovations as a 'disequilibrium'. He writes 'When the general momentum for change is high, when the economy is on the move with self-sustained growth in progress ... then challenge can invoke the response of more innovation.'11 Thus it was with the iron industry, the railway and the coal industry. As one expanded it required more from the others. The iron industry had been growing as a result of the demand for munitions during the war of 1756-63. When Henry Cort developed his methods of 'puddling' and 'rolling' (reheating pig iron with coke, stirring with iron rods, then passing it between rollers to refine it), forges no longer needed to be sited near woodlands. They could be set up close to the coalfields where the furnaces were situated. The result, combined with the coinciding introduction of Watts' rotative engine, was a massive rise in iron ore production. This was the main stimulus for the use of steam power for transport.
Having looked at the main factors in the process of industrialisation in some detail, are we any closer to identifying the most important factor? The effect of cheap capital was very significant, but without specific areas of investment, this alone would have had little impact. The textile industry played a huge part, but without the power supplied by steam, its progress would have been much reduced. The developments in the use of steam, first in industry and then in transport, were profound in their effects, but without the stimulus of the expanding iron industry, maybe they would never have happened. All of these developments were facilitated by an agricultural system that was learning to produce more than it consumed, and therefore providing both capital and workers for industry. Alongside of all of these factors ran the human spirit of enquiry, that desire to do something better, faster, cheaper, without which, little would have been achieved. And once the process started, the 'disequilibrium' factor described by Mathias, (see page 6), that 'see-sawing' of connected industries ensured that it continued to accelerate. The question has something of the 'chicken and the egg' about it, and I would feel more confident about answering that question than about stating with any certainty, what the most important factor in the process of industrialisation actually was.
Bibliography
T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830. (London: Oxford University Press,1968).
D.N. Cannadine, 'The present and the past in the English industrial revolution', Past and Present, no.103 (1984).
E. Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution 1789-1848. (London: Abacus, 1962).
P. Mathias, The First Industrial Nation, (London: Methuen & Co. 1969).
P. Mathias & J. Davis (ed). The First Industrial Revolutions. (U.S.A.: Blackwell Publishers 1992).
P. O'Brien & R. Quinault (ed). The Industrial Revolution and British Society, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
E. Wrigley, Continuity, Chance and Change. The character of the industrial revolution in England. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1988).
T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution. p.8
2 P. Mathias, The First Industrial Nation. p.73
3 T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution p.51
4 T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution. P.26
5 T.S. Ashton The Industrial Revolution. p. 60
6 E. Hobsbawm, Age of Revolution. p. 54
7 E. Hobsbawm, Age of Revolution, p. 60
8 T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution. p.30
9 T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution. p.67
0 T.S Ashton, The Industrial Revolution. p. 70
1 P.Mathias, The First Industrial Nation. p.142
