Age of Industrialisation

Proto-industrialisation :
Proto-industrialisation was the phase of industrialisation that was not
based on the factory system. Before the coming of factories, there was
large-scale industrial production for an international market. This part of
industrial history is known as proto-industrialisation.
Features of proto-industrialization in Britain:

 The proto-industrial system was a network of commercial

exchanges. It was controlled by merchants.
 Goods were produced by peasants who worked within their
family farms and not in factories.
 The finished product passed through several stages and reached
the markets of London.
 From London, the products were supplied to the international
market.

Benefits of factories: The factories increased efficiency of workers.

Because of new machines a worker could produce better products in
much bigger quantities. Cotton textiles were the main area in which
industrialization happened. Managing and supervising the labour was
much easier in factories than it was in the countryside.

The pace of Industrial Change

 The cotton or metal industries could not set the change of pace in
the traditional industries. But the traditional industries experienced
many changes which were brought by small and apparently
ordinary innovations. Food processing, building, pottery,
 glasswork, tanning, furniture making and production of
implements were such industries.

 The new technology took a long time to spread across the

industrial landscape. High cost of machines and costly repair
scared the merchants and industrialists. The new machines were
not as effective as claimed by their inventors and manufacturers.
 Historians acknowledge the fact that the typical worker in the
mid-nineteenth century was not a machine operator but the
traditional craftsperson and labourer.

Hand Labour and Steam Power:

 Because of good supply of workers, there was no problem of
labour shortage or high wages. As a result, the merchants and
industrialists preferred to manage with human labour rather than
investing in costly machines.
 Machine-made goods were standardized and could not match the
high quality finish of hand-made goods. The people from the
upper classes preferred things produced by hand.
 The situation was different in nineteenth century America. There
was shortage of labour in America and hence mechanization was
the only way out in that part of the world.

Life of Workers
 People without existing social connections in the cities found it
difficult to find a job. Such people often had to spend nights on
bridges or in night shelters. Some private individuals set up
Night Refuges. The Poor Law authorities maintained Casual
Wards for such people.
  Many jobs were seasonal in nature. Once a busy season was
over, the poor were once again on the streets. During the periods
of economic slump, the unemployment increased anything
between 35 and 75%.
 Workers often turned hostile to new technology because of fear
of unemployment. For example; when Spinning Jenny was
introduced, women began to attack the new machines because
they survived on hand spinning.
 After the 1840s, construction activity increased in the cities.
This opened greater employment opportunities. The number of
workers in the transport industries doubled in the 1840s, and
doubled again in the subsequent 30 years.

The Age of Indian Textiles

 Once the East India Company established political power, it
began to assert its monopoly right to trade.
 The earlier centres of trade; like Surat and Hooghly; declined
during this period. The new centres; like Calcutta and Bombay
emerged.
 The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers
who were connected with the cloth trade
 It tried to establish a more direct control on the weavers. A paid
servant; called gomastha was appointed to supervise weavers,
collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth. the gomastha
was an outsider who had no social links with the villages. He used
to visit with sepoys and peons and punished weavers who could
not meet the deadline. The gomastha behaved arrogantly. There
were reports of clashes between weavers and gomasthas in many
villages.
  The new system of advances created many problems for the
weavers. Earlier, they used to grow some crops on their land
which took care of their family needs. Now, they had not time for
cultivation and they had to lease out their land.
 The system of advances resulted in many weavers falling in debt
trap. In many places in Carnatic and Bengal, weavers deserted
villages and migrated to other villages to set up looms. Many
weavers began to refuse loans, closed down their workshops and
took to farming.

Manchester comes to India

 By 1950s,the British government started pressurizing the East
India Company to sell British manufactured goods in Indian
markets
 The machine-made cotton was cheaper than hand-made cotton
piece-goods in India.
 The weavers thus lost a huge market share to imports from
Britain. By 1850s, most of the cotton producing centres in India
faced a steep decline.

 The Civil War broke out in the US in 1860s. Due to that, the
cotton supply from the US to Britain was cut off. Britain turned
began to source cotton from India. This led to a huge shortage of
raw cotton for weavers in India.
 By the end of the nineteenth century, cotton factories began to
come up in India as well. This was the final blow for traditional
cotton textiles industry in India.
Factories Come Up
 The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in 1854 and it went
into production two years later. By 1862 four mills were in
operation.
 Jute mills also came up in Bengal around the same time.
 The Elgin Mill was started in Kanpur in the 1860s.
 In Ahmadabad, the first cotton mill was set up in the same
period.
 By 1874, the first cotton mill of Madras began production.
The Early Entrepreneurs
The British in India began to export opium to China and import tea
from there. Many Indians took active participation in this trade by
providing finance, procuring supplies and shipping consignments. Once
these businessmen earned enough, they dreamt of developing industrial
enterprises in India.
 Dwarknanath Tagore was among the pioneers to begin industries
in the 1830s and 1840s. Tagore’s enterprise sank during the
business crises of the 1840s. But in the later nineteenth century,
many businessmen became successful industrialists.
 In Bombay, Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee
Nusserwanjee Tata went on to build huge industrial empires.
Seth Hukumchand; a Marwari businessman; set up the first
Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917.
 The Birla Group was similarly started by successful traders from
China.
Where Did the Workers Come from?
In most of the industrial regions workers came from the surrounding
districts. Most of the workers were migrants from neighbouring
 villages. Getting a job was not easy. Industrialists usually employed a
jobber to hire new people. 
The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth
 European Managing Agencies were focused on tea and coffee
plantations, mining, indigo and jute. These products were mainly
required for export and were not meant for sale in India.
 The Indian businessmen avoided competing with Manchester
goods in the Indian market. For example; they produced coarse
cotton yarn which was used by handloom weavers or exported to
China.
 Industrial growth was slow till the First World War. The War
changed the situation. The British mills became busy in meeting
the needs of the army. This resulted in decline of imports to
India. This created a boom in industrial activities.
 After the war, Manchester could never recapture its lost position
in the Indian market. The British industry was no longer in a
position to compete with the US, Germany and Japan.
Small Scale Industries Predominate
 Small-scale production continued to prevail in the rest of the
country. Only a small portion of the industrial workforce worked
in registered factories. This share was just 5% in 1911 and 10%
in 1931.
 The handicrafts expanded in the twentieth century. The
handicrafts people adopted new technology. For example;
weavers started the use of fly shuttle in their looms.
 By 1941, more than 35% of handlooms in India were fitted with
fly shuttles. The percentage was 70 to 80 in major textile hubs;
like Travancore, Madras, Mysore, Cochin and Bengal.
Market for Goods
 The manufacturers practiced various ways to lure new
customers. Advertisement is one of the various ways to attract
new customers.
 The producers from Manchester labeled their products to show
the place of manufacture. The label ‘Made in Manchester’ was
considered to be the sign of good quality. The labels also carried
beautiful illustrations carried the images of Indian gods and
goddesses. This was a good attempt to develop a local connect
with the people.
 By the late nineteenth century, manufacturers began distributing
calendars to popularize their products. A calendar has a longer
shelf life than newspaper or magazines. It works as a constant
brand reminder throughout a year.
 The Indian manufacturers often highlighted nationalist messages
along with their advertisement; in an attempt to develop a better
connect with the potential customers.
 Write in brief
 Question 1. Explain the following:
 a) Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
 Answer:
 (a)Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny
because it speeded up the spinning process, and consequently,
reduced labour demand. This caused a valid fear of
unemployment among women working in the woollen industry.
Till date, they had survived on hand spinning, but this was placed
in peril by the new machine.
 b) In the seventeenth century merchants from towns in Europe
began employing
 peasants and artisans within the villages.
 Answer:
 (b)The trade and commerce guild controlled the market, raw
materials, employees, and also production of goods in the towns.
This created problems for merchants who wanted to increase
production by employing more men. Therefore, they turned to
peasants and artisans who lived in villages.
 c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
 Answer:
 (c)The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century
on account of the growing power of European companies in trade
with India. They secured many concessions from local courts as
well as the monopoly rights to trade. This led to a decline of the
old ports of Surat and Hoogly from where local merchants had
operated. Exports slowed and local banks here went bankrupt.
 d) The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise
weavers in India.
 Answer:
 (d)The English East India Company appointed Gomasthas for:
∙∙ To eliminate the existence of traders and brokers and establish a
direct control over theweavers.
∙∙ To eliminate weavers from dealing with other buyers by means
of advances and control.In this manner, weavers who took loans
and fees in advance were obligated to the British.

 Question 2. Write True or False against each statement:
 a) At the end of the nineteenth century, 80 per cent of the total
workforce in
 Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial
sector.
 Answer: False
 b) The international market for fine textiles was dominated by
India till the
 eighteenth century.
 Answer: True
 c) The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton
exports from India.
 Answer: False
 d) The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled handloom workers
to improve their productivity.
 Answer: true

 Question 3. Explain what is meant by proto-industrialisation
 Answer: Proto-industrialisation is the phase of industrialisation
that was not based on the factory system. Before the coming of
factories, there was large-scale industrial production for an
international market. This part of industrial history is known as
proto-industrialisation.

Questions with answers

 Question 1.Why did some industrialists in nineteenth-century

Europe prefer hand labour over machines?
 Answer:
 Some industrialists in nineteenth-century Europe prefer hand
labour over machines because:
 ∙∙ Machines were costly, ineffective, difficult to repair, and
needed huge capital investments.
∙∙ Labour was available at low wages at that period of time.
∙∙ In seasonal industries only seasonal labour was required.
∙∙ Market demands of variety of designs and colour and specific
type could not be fulfilled by machine made clothes. Intricate
designs and colours could be done by human-skills only.
∙∙ In Victorian age, the aristocrats and other upper class people
preferred articles made by hand only.

 Question 2. How did the East India Company procure regular

supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers?
 Answer:
The English East India Company used different means to procure
silk and cotton from theweavers:
∙∙ Appointment of paid supervisors called Gomasthas. They also
collected supplies andexamined cloth quality of the weavers.
∙∙ Prevention of Company weavers from dealing with other buyers
through a system ofadvances and loans.

 Question 3. Imagine that you have been asked to write an article
for an encyclopaedia on Britain and them history of cotton. Write
your piece using information from the entire chapter.
 Answer:
 Britain and the History of Cotton
 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants
would trade with rural people in textile production. A clothier
would buy wool from a wool stapler, carry it to the spinners, and
then, take the yarn to the weavers, fuller and dyers for further
levels of production. London was the finishing centre for these
goods. This phase in British manufacturing history is known as
proto-industrialisation. In this phase, factories were not an
essential part of industry. What was present instead was a
network of commercial exchanges.
 The first symbol of the new era of factories was cotton. Its
production increased rapidly in the late nineteenth century.
Imports of raw cotton sky-rocketed from 2.5 million pounds in
1760 to 22 million pounds in 1787. This happened because of the
invention of the cotton mill and new machines, and better
management under one roof. Till 1840, cotton was the leading
sector in the first stage of industrialization.
 Most inventions in the textile production sector were met with
disregard and hatred by the workers because machines implied
less hand labour and lower employment needs. The Spinning
Jenny was one such invention. Women in the woollen industry
 opposed and sought to destroy it because it was taking over their
place in the labour market.
 Before such technological advancements, Britain imported silk
and cotton goods from India in vast numbers. Fine textiles from
India were in high demand in England. When the East India
Company attained political power, they exploited the weavers and
textile industry in India to its full potential, often by force, for the
benefit of Britain. Later, Manchester became the hub of cotton
production. Subsequently, India was turned into the major buyer
of British cotton goods.
 During the First World War, British factories were too busy
providing for war needs. Hence, demand for Indian textiles rose
once again. The history of cotton in Britain is replete with such
fluctuations of demand and supply.
 Question 4.Why did industrial production in India increase
during the First World War?
 Answer: India witnessed increased industrial production during
the First World War due to following reasons:
∙∙ British industries became busy in producing and supplying war-
needs. Hence, they stopped exporting British goods or clothes for
colonial markets like that in India.
∙∙ It was a good opportunity for Indian industries to fill in empty
Indian markets with their products. It was done so. Therefore,
industrial production in India increased.
∙∙ Also the British colonial government asked Indian factories to
supply the war needs like – jute bags, cloth or army uniforms,
tents and leather boots, horse and mule saddle, etc.
∙∙ The increased demands of variety of products led to the setting
up of new factories and old ones increased their production.
∙∙ Many new workers were employed and everyone was made to
work longer hours.
