Why The Industrial Revolution Was Great Britain

The era known as the Industrial Revolution was known to be the change from the use of hand methods of manufacturing to machine methods. This revolutionary change began in England around 1750 and later spread to other countries. Ultimately, it brought vast changes in the lifestyle of workmen. Farming such as agriculture which was the main source of jobs was replaced by large scale of mechanized manufacturing. Progress in industrial and technology development has been continuous since the Industrial Revolution began. Since World War II, industry and technology have advanced at an ever increasing rate. The revolution moved from a commercial and agricultural economy to an industrial one and this process was completed in England around 1850. Ultimately,

the writer seeks to discuss the reasons why the revolution occurred in England and its causes.

According to R.

C. Allen in his article “Why the industrial revolutions was British”, he noted that Britain had a unique wage and price structure and that they were exceptionally high compared with wages in other parts of Europe and in Asia, while prices of capital and energy were exceptionally low. England excelled in the making of woolen and cotton cloth. The new demand at home as well as in the colonies caused steady growth of English textile manufacturing. The cottage, domestic, or putting out, system of the Industrial Revolution largely replaced the guild system of the Middle Ages.

By the 18th century the cottage system began to disappear as a result of a series of important inventions. Hand equipments couldn’t compete with machines which were operated and installed in factories. Spinners and weavers were hired to work in factories instead of at home. With the means of production owned by persons who hired workers, the factory system of capitalism was thus

developing.

According to J. L. Hammond, the effects of the Industrial Revolution brought masses of people from the rural centers to the city urban centers. It led to higher standards of living, as inexpensive manufactured goods came on the market. It increased trade between nations. On the other hand, the revolution, in its early days, brought exploitation of workers. There were overcrowding that led to diseases which were the 1st time England had experienced this. There were slums and great suffering as a result of periodic unemployment. The wonders of modern science are a result of the Industrial Revolution, but so are the horrors of modern war. In economics, the revolution brought on the rise of capitalism and also of socialism and communism between Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Labour unions, social legislation, government regulation were all outgrowths of the Industrial Revolution.

Arnold Toynbee whose book “The Industrial Revolution” noted that base on Industrialization in England, the first of the developments that revolutionized the textile industry was the invention of the flying shuttle by John Kay in 1733. Weaving was so much faster on looms with flying shuttles that a yarn shortage soon developed. The spinning wheel in use at that time turned only a single spindle but inventors started designing machines to replace the spinning wheel. In 1764 James Hargreaves introduced the spinning jenny that turned several spindles at the same time. Yarn spun with a jenny was fine but weak. Richard Arkwright’s Water Frame was invented in 1769 which was powered by water spinning 100 cotton spindles at once.

The textile factories employed mostly women and children, who could easily handle the machines and would work for very low pay.

There were no laws controlling wages, hours, or working conditions. The working day might be 16 hours long. Orphans and children of the poor were often apprenticed to the textile manufacturers, and were sometimes chained to their machines. The factories were drafty and insanitary. When workers became ill or were injured by a machine, they received no pay. Their earnings barely kept them alive. Fearing the loss of their hold on the textile market, England made it illegal for workers to leave the country with their knowledge of how the machines worked to prevent countries from running competition with them. Steam power was first used in industry when the steam pump was introduced in the early 18th century to remove water from mines. It was improved by James Watt in 1776. Working conditions in coal mines were even worse than in factories, because of the low height of the mind galleries, women and teenagers were often employed to pull the coal carts while small children were used as door tenders. It became less dangerous with the invention of the miner’s safety lamp by Sir Humphry Davy in

1815.

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