The Industrial Revolution in Britain

The rapid development of industry that occurred in Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries,
brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power,
the growth of factories and the mass production of manufactured goods.

Prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution, the pace of life in Britain was slow. Most people
lived in rural areas and were farmers or small scale (cottage) producers of goods. Travel was
limited, few good roads existed and most people grew up, lived in and knew only their own
districts.

Factors promoting the Industrial Revolution in Britain

The Industrial Revolution developed first in Britain for the following reasons.

1. Britain had large deposits of coal, which was to become the source of fuel for driving
engines, providing heat and play a role in the production of iron and steel.
2. Britain had large deposits of iron ore, the basic ingredient in making iron and steel.
3. Britain had many fast flowing and powerful rivers. These provided the first sources of
power for factories that developed along their banks. Water from these rivers was also
diverted into canals that were constructed throughout Britain. These canals helped to
improve transportation and move goods and raw materials more easily.
4. Britain had a number of colonies in North America and in the Caribbean that provided
raw materials (cotton, sugar, rum, rice and cocoa) for the factories in Britain.
Additionally, these colonies were important markets for the manufactured goods
produced in Britain.

The textile industry

Mechanization first occurred in this area. Before, the

making of thread and weaving of cloth was a slow
process carried out on a spinning loom, by rural women.
The thread was then sent to weavers who owned one or
more large hand looms.

Textile mills began to be built beside rivers and the

water turned a large mill wheel. This in turn worked
machines that spun and stretched threads ready for
weaving. These factories produced woollen, cotton or
silk material, starting from the original fibre and employed hundreds of people. The fact that
these mills depended on water power was a limiting factor however, in the location of the mills.
It was not until the introduction of steam power to turn machines that the textile industry really
grew and the factory age began.

Important inventions also lead to the development of the textile industry. In 1733 John Kay
invented the ‘Flying Shuttle’. This invention cut in half the time it took to turn yarn and thread
into cloth. In 1769 James Hargreaves invented the ‘Spinning Jenny’ which increased the rate at
which yarn and thread were spun. Also in 1769, Richard Arkwright invented the ‘Spinning
Frame’ (also known as the ‘Water Frame’), which produced a stronger thread than the ‘Spinning
Jenny’. Its large size meant it had to be based in a factory and it signalled the end of home
spinning. Samuel Crompton invented the ‘Spinning Mule’ in 1778, which combined the features
of both the water frame and the spinning jenny. Weaving and weavers did not become fully part
of the factory system until 1769, when Edmund Cartwright invented the ‘Power Loom’. This
machine replicated the actions of the old hand looms used in the cottage industry, but at a much
faster rate. This development made possible the full mechanization of the textile industry.

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 Important inventions of the textile industry

John Kay and the ‘flying shuttle’ Spinning Jenny

Samuel Crompton Spinning Mule

Power Loom Edmund Cartwright

Steam Power

Many inventors attempted to invent or improve on steam driven engines. In 1698 Thomas Savery
invented a steam driven pump, which removed water from the coal mines. It was inefficient and
consumed a lot of coal however. Thomas Newcomen made improvements to Savery’s pump in
1712 (‘Atmospheric Engine’) and it was widely used in mines throughout Britain. The biggest
improvement came in 1769 however, with James Watt’s steam engine. It was the most efficient
engine in its day and was smaller than previous models. In 1781 Watt adapted his engine so that
it could turn a wheel or shaft. This meant that steam power could be applied to any heavy piece
of machinery. It also meant that steam power could be used to drive ships and locomotives.

Thomas Savery Savery’s pump Newcomen’s engine Watt’s steam engine

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Many attempts at building a steam locomotive were made and by 1820, the possibilities of steam
locomotives had been realized. Early railway engines were used in coal mines to carry the coal to
the surface. In 1829 a competition was held for the best railway
engine to transport goods and passengers. The prize winning design
came from George Stephenson, whose ‘Rocket’ travelled at the
amazing speed of 48 kilometres per hour. Rail lines were
constructed all over Britain, linking towns with iron ore and coal
mining regions. These rail lines helped to move goods and people
more easily and contributed directly to the expansion of trade
internally. External trade developed further, as goods produced in
the interior of the country reached the port cities easily, because of
the railway.

The development of steam ships was a slower process. In the early 19th century steamboats were
built for use in canals and rivers, but they were unpopular as the paddles tore down the river
banks. The engines and coal took up a lot of the space on the boats and the vibrations from the
engines and paddles, loosened the wooden planks of the ships’ hulls. Also, the noise, smoke and
the fear of explosion made steamships unpopular with passengers.

The first completely iron ship was made in 1839. Iron ships lasted longer and gave less trouble
than wooden ships. By the end of the century, steel replaced iron as the construction material.
Many inventors tackled the problems of engine space. In the 1850s, screw propellers replaced
side paddles. In 1894 Charles Parsons invented a steam driven turbine engine. It was smaller and
more fuel efficient.

Charles Parsons and his steam turbine engine

Coal and Iron

Her large deposits of coal and iron ore made Britain the
largest producer of iron and steel in the 19th century. Coal
was essential as a fuel source in the process of making
iron in the foundries. It provided heat for domestic
purposes and was the primary fuel source in steam driven
machines. Iron was put to a wide variety of uses, from the
making of iron tools and equipment used in daily life, to
being the essential material in the steam driven machines
that were being built. Britain became such a large
producer of iron that she exported a range of iron
machines, equipment and consumer tools to her colonies,
Europe and the wider world.

The factory system

Before the Industrial Revolution, most items were produced in the homes of workers. Materials
were brought to their homes by the customer or the manufacturer. This system was slow and

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costly and the quality of the items produced could not be guaranteed. Manufacturers realised that
both money and time could be saved by bringing workers to a central place called a factory. In a
factory, workers, machines, raw materials and a source of power were all brought together to
produce a certain product.

The advent of the factory system changed the way people lived and worked. Workers were
required to operate in a highly supervised and controlled environment. Specific hours of work
were now set. The amount of work performed by a worker in a day now became measurable and
workers were paid accordingly. Workers were forced to live closer to their places of work, which
lead to the building of houses near to the factories. The houses were rented or sold to the
workers. The amount of time families spent together declined, as parents had to spend much of
their day away from their children. Even children were forced to work in the factories.

Factory interior Slum housing Child labour Child in coal mine

Engineering

As a result of the Industrial Revolution, men had to design and build canals, railways, bridges,
ships, roads, factories, factory machines, large shops, office blocks, houses and public buildings
for the growing cities. This need created the new profession of engineering. One of the greatest
engineers coming out of Britain during the 19th century was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His great
contributions to engineering included the ‘box’ tunnel, iron bridges, the viaduct, railway lines,
shipping docks and large ocean going steamships.

Isambard Brunel Saltash bridge

Effects of the Industrial Revolution in Britain

Positive effects Negative effects

1. Worker productivity increased
significantly.
2. Developed a greater level of interest in
science and technology.
3. Facilitated new inventions which
created other inventions in other fields.
4. Britain’s economy grew. Internal and
external trade developed rapidly.
5. Lead to the development of a new class
of industrial capitalists.
6. New professions developed.
7. Cities grew and became more modern.
8. There was a greater variety of goods for
consumption.
9. General quality of goods improved.
1. Most houses for workers were poorly
built.
2. Cities became overcrowded.
3. Sanitation was poor and diseases spread
quickly.
4. Factories were dirty and overcrowded.
5. Machines were large, noisy and
dangerous.
6. Few laws existed that regulated
working conditions in factories.
7. Wages were low.
8. Child labour was common.
9. Hours of work were long.
10. Workers injured on the job received no
compensation.

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 10. Increased employment. 11. Many traditional jobs disappeared,
11. Gave women a greater role in the creating unemployment.
workplace. 12. Pollution in the cities increased.
12. Lead to the introduction of universal
education.

The Industrial Revolution and the American hemisphere

Britain’s colonies in North America and in the Caribbean contributed to the growth and success
of the Industrial Revolution in two main ways. They provided a lot of the raw materials Britain
needed and consumed in her factories. Sugar, cotton and raw rum were imported cheaply from
the Caribbean, processed in Britain and then sold on the world market at high prices. From her
North American colonies (Canada and the Thirteen Colonies before 1776), Britain imported
cotton, rice, lumber and a wide range of food items (salted cod, for example) that were also used
in the industrial process and resold in Britain and the world market.

The colonies were important markets for the British made goods. They had to import what they
needed from Britain, under the colonial system called mercantilism. Thus Britain had a captive
market for her products. Cloth, machetes, chains, shackles, machinery used in the boiling houses
and mills, tools and even food were imported directly from Britain and used on the slave
plantations. Consumer goods that the free population in the colonies needed also came from
Britain. In many ways, the growth of the Industrial Revolution contributed to the expansion of
slavery in the Caribbean colonies.

The colonies did benefit from the Industrial Revolution however. Trains were introduced in some
of the Caribbean colonies, improving internal transportation. Jamaica was the first to open a
railway line between Spanish Town and Kingston in 1845. The introduction of steamships
improved communication between Britain and her colonies, as the travel time between both
places decreased. Even travel between the colonies benefitted from this. On the plantations,
steam powered machines were slowly introduced. Public infrastructure improved, with the
erection of iron bridges in the colonies. Jamaica was the first to have an iron bridge erected in the
Caribbean (Spanish Town). Indirectly, the slave trade and slavery eventually came to an end as a
result of the industrial capitalists in Britain. They argued to the government that slavery was
stifling the growth of their markets in the Caribbean and brought pressure for its end.