The Industrial revolution promoted the world's first industrial and consumer-oriented society in Britain. Pat Hudson looks at the forces that made Britain the workshop of the world and explains why this industrial dominance lasted such a short time.
By Professor Pat Hudson
Last updated 2011-03-29
The Industrial revolution promoted the world's first industrial and consumer-oriented society in Britain. Pat Hudson looks at the forces that made Britain the workshop of the world and explains why this industrial dominance lasted such a short time.
For a few decades in the 19th century British manufactured goods dominated world trade. Most mass manufactured items were produced more efficiently and competitively in Britain than elsewhere. She also had the commercial, financial and political power to edge out rivals at home and abroad. In some industries, most notably textiles, massive changes took place in technology and in the organisation of production causing dramatic productivity growth. This in turn brought a steep decline in prices. In many other sectors more modest organisational improvements coupled with greater specialisation and the employment of cheap labour brought similar, though less dramatic, results. An unprecedented range and variety of products thus came within the grasp of a new mass market both within Britain and overseas. No other country could at first compete so Britain became the workshop of the world.
For a few decades in the 19th century British manufactured goods dominated world trade.
The period from the late 18th century to the mid-Victorian years witnessed a major shake up and change in both the economy and society. This was seen in the organisation and finance of industry and commerce, the skills and work practices of production and technology, massive population growth and urbanisation and the development and disciplining of labour. Canal, river, road and sea transport were all greatly improved. From the 1840s, railways revolutionised the speed of communication and the transport of passengers and, more gradually, freight. The role of government on both national and local levels was considerably transformed. The dynamism of the economy shifted firmly from agriculture to industry and trade. Some regions, notably coalfield areas, rapidly industrialised. Others saw revolutionary change focused around the development of trade and ship building in port cities. Some regions concentrated on commercial agriculture and others stagnated. By the mid 19th century, industrialisation had altered the lives of women and children as much as those of men. Ideas of gender and ethnicity as well as class had changed. Industrialisation had affected consumption and commerce as much as industry, leisure as much as work. It involved shifts in motivations, aspirations, ideologies and aesthetics.
The extent of transformation of the economy in the 19th century can be overplayed, however. Many sectors and many regions changed only slowly. The growth of national income remained slow. It did not reach more than three per cent per annum until well into the Victorian period and then decelerated again from the third quarter of the 19th century. Britain's industrial supremacy involved the growth of some large firms with thousands of workers under one roof and employing powered machinery. However, these were exceptions, even in cotton manufacture. Typical firms in the mid century employed about 50 workers, most of whom were not machine operatives. Much industry remained small-scale and labour intensive, oriented towards niche rather than mass markets. Manufacturing, especially in the growing towns and cities, was founded on the proliferation of back street, unregulated workshops with a preponderance of cheap female labour. Small family firms dominated over large partnerships or shareholdings. Such firms drew upon trusted relatives and friends often within religious groupings. Non-conformists, Quakers and Jews in particular, were prominent amongst entrepreneurs. Personal loans and family finance were often more important than the formal institutions of the capital market, such as banks and mortgage brokers.
Demand for goods fuelled the Victorian economy. Though British manufactures dominated European and transatlantic markets, domestic demand provided a secure bedrock for mid-Victorian prosperity. Increased demand resulted from rising incomes particularly for the middle classes and for workers with particular skills such as engineering. Demand was also driven by the sheer increase in numbers of consumers. This was a product of the population explosion and coupled with greater wage dependency, landlessness and urbanisation. Increased wage earning opportunities for women and juveniles boosted family spending, notably in textile districts and in the towns. More people were buying a greater variety of textiles, clothing, shoes, household and domestic items - on their list was china, cutlery, mirrors, books, clocks, furniture, curtains and bedding, as well as a variety of small wares, such as buckles, ribbons, buttons, snuff boxes and other fancy goods. More beer, butter, bread, milk, meat, vegetables, fruit, fish and all other foodstuffs were now being bought rather than made or grown at home.
It has been argued that this 'consumer revolution' from the later 18th century and into the Victorian period was also driven by social emulation. This was where each social class aspired to the habits and patterns of consumption of their superiors. This is difficult to substantiate but in a period of social flux and transformation there is no doubt that clothing, personal and household possessions were important ways of communicating one's position in society. Ever-changing fashions and designs also stimulated demand whilst new forms of marketing and retailing made products more easily available to the consumer. This was manifest in the growth of urban and village shops, the use of shop window displays, the development of city department stores (from the 1880s), and the extension of newspaper and billboard advertising.
Until the 1840s the success of British industrial expansion rested largely on cotton and, to a lesser extent, wool textiles and a proliferation of smaller scale consumer goods. The economy flourished when cotton boomed and exports were high. However, when markets became overstocked and confidence was shaken, the economy went into recession. This pattern of boom and slump continued throughout the 19th century. However, the success of the economy came to rest on much broader foundations by the 1840s with the expansion of railway networks first at home then abroad. Furthermore, there was growing demand from other industrialising nations and the range of British manufactures was extended, particularly in iron and steel sectors and in engineering. Risks were great and bankruptcy rates were high but start up costs in most sectors were relatively low. Capital and credit were easily available and many individuals and families became wealthy and successful.
...British capital and British financial institutions dominated world trading.
So superior in terms of competitiveness and pricing were most British manufactures of the mid 19th century, that the extension of free trade created a further positive dynamic. Even the much debated repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, which were laws preventing the importation of foreign grains until domestic prices reached very high levels, did not have the disastrous impact predicted by the agricultural lobby. This was because raised investment in the sector, growing specialisation and rising urban demands for foodstuffs ushered in a period of 'High Farming' and general profitability. Not only British products but British ships, British capital and British financial institutions dominated world trading.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 marked the peak of British economic dominance. A huge range of British products were displayed for foreign and domestic visitors in the monumental visionary architectural achievement of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. However, the storm clouds were already gathering. Other countries, particularly Germany, and the United States were catching Britain up. They had more abundant and cheaper supplies of energy and raw materials. Railways would soon open up the great granaries of the world in Russia, and north America flooding Europe with cheap grain. The way ahead lay in retreat into the unprotected and more easily exploitable markets of the Empire. Growth in the economy was decelerating from the 1870s. Some sectors, notably arable farming, textiles, iron and steel, engineering and several consumer goods were entering a more difficult phase. Entirely new industries such as chemicals were to be pioneered elsewhere, notably in Germany.
It has been argued that Britain experienced a very incomplete transition to industrial society and that this was responsible for the loss of British economic supremacy from the later 19th century. The aristocratic land-owning class continued to dominate in government. Financial and rentier interests, rather than the new industrial entrepreneurs, tended to guide national economic policy, often at the expense of industry. Industrial magnates themselves frequently aspired to landed lifestyles. Second and third generations of industrial dynasties were often sent for classical training at public schools and sought careers in law or imperial administration rather than in business. It has been suggested that such gentlemanly and half-hearted attitudes towards industrialism were the Achilles heel of British success. This is an interesting idea but can be misleading. The rentier and industrial élite were by no means as separate as the notion of gentlemanly capitalism suggests. The deceleration of growth of the economy in the late Victorian period and the growing rivalry from competitors can be seen as the inevitable price to be paid for early pioneering of new and untried technologies. Rival industrialisers could learn from British mistakes and often received more state assistance, protection and finance. The conscious policy of following Britain's lead generally made their industrialisation more forceful and speeded the catch up process.
...entrepreneurial figures gained control of local and municipal government and had a major impact on urban and regional politics.
Industrial and commercial entrepreneurs may not have been dominant in central government but their influence was keenly felt. This was particularly so in calls for social and political reform such as with the new poor law of 1834, with suffrage extension and with free trade. By the 1830s and 40s, in most major industrial towns and cities, entrepreneurial figures gained control of local and municipal government and had a major impact on urban and regional politics. In the industrial and social unrest of the 19th century, struggles occurred between the growing force of industrial employers and the working classes over their working and living conditions. Karl Marx exaggerated when he saw British society of the mid 19th century riven along class lines. Paternalism and deference were strong but it was certainly the case that class tensions between workers and employers frequently conditioned social and political relationships and economic and social policies. The success of the Victorian economy was accompanied by high unemployment, poverty, urban squalor and harsh working and living conditions.
Books
The Industrial Revolution by Pat Hudson (Edward Arnold, 1992) - Useful on the roots and nature of industrialisation. Particularly strong on how the industrial revolution has and might be interpreted.
Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700-1850 by M. J. Daunton (Oxford University Press, 1995) - The most up to date textbook on the economic history of the period.
British Society, 1680-1880 by Richard Price (Cambridge University Press, 1999) - A novel view about how the political and social history, as well as the economic history, of the Victorian period should be viewed in the context of changes since the 1680s.
The Factory Question and Industrial England, 1830-60 by Robert Gray (Cambridge University Press, 1996) - Excellent use of variety of sources to contemplate the coming of the factory and the extension of waged work. Particularly good on shifting constructions of class and gender on regional variations.
Visit an industrial museum There are a large number of industrial museums containing machinery from the industrialisation period. Amongst the most interesting for the Victorian period are: the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester; the complex of museums at Ironbridge Gorge near Telford; Quarry Bank Mill at Styal near Stockport, Cheshire; the Open Air Museum at Beamish, Northumberland; the National Railway Museum at York; and the Piece Hall Museum in Halifax West Yorkshire.
Visit a local history library Most larger town and county libraries have a local history section, often very extensive. Here can be found books about the history of the area, including the period of industrialisation. Such libraries also often contain microfilm or microfiche copies of some primary source materials such as Census returns for the 19th century (detailing the residents of all households) and local newspapers (try reading these to get a flavour of the period and its concerns from business and politics to crime and poverty). Sometimes such libraries also have printed primary sources such as trade directories (listing all firms in a town or region - these often date from the later 18th century, becoming more frequent in the 19th century).
Visit an archive The most easily accessible, important and varied archive collections are housed in County Record Offices. These contain most local government deposits from medieval times, Parish records, estate papers, business records, maps and plans and much more of interest and use in studying the Victorian period. The main archive for national records is the Public Record Office at Kew. Much the material is available online http://www.pro.gov.uk.
Do some industrial archaeology You can learn a lot about the Victorian period simply by studying what remains of the period on the ground. It is fairly easy to date buildings from architectural features and from old maps and plans (copies of which can often be obtained at local history libraries) and from old photographs (there are now many published collections).
It's fun to look out particularly for industrial premises and warehouses and to see what function they serve these days. Using trade directors it's possible to match premises which survive today to their residents in the 19th century. Much Victorian housing remains, though increasingly this is middle and upper class housing as back to backs, tenements and courts have been bulldozed to make way for new developments. By using the Census Enumerators Books it's possible to have some fun matching a substantially unaltered Victorian house or street to its residents in the period 1841 to 1891.
Pat Hudson is Professor of History in the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University. She specialises in the impact of economic and social change within different local and regional, economic, social and cultural settings. Her books include The Industrial Revolution (London, 1992).
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