1. The Making of the Modern World
The Industrial Revolution
Capitalism in Britain
Dr James Poskett

2. Wealth inequality in Britain, 1710-2010
Source: Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Harvard, 2014)

3. ‘Coalbrookdale by Night’ (1801) by Philip James de Loutherbourg

4. Lecture Structure and Argument
Macroeconomics cannot account for the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution needs to be understood in social and cultural terms as much as economic.

5. Economic History: The Productivity Debate
Deane and Cole, British Economic Growth (1962)

6. Economic History: The Productivity Debate
Crafts, British Economic Growth (1985)

7. Economic History: From Agriculture to Industry
George Lambert, ‘A View of Box Hill, Surrey’, 1733

8. Economic History: From Agriculture to Industry
Edward Skinner, ‘Making Bessemer Steel, Sheffield’, 1917

9. Economic History: From Rural to Urban
Floud and Johnson (eds), Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain (2008)

10. Economic History: Women and Children
Floud and Johnson (eds), Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain (2008)

11. Economic History: Women and Children
Cotton Factory, c. 1830, Engraving by T Allom.

12. Economic History: The Standards of Living Debate
Britain
1760
1820
Working Week
49 hours
64 hours
Income per capita*
$1,803
$2,099
Life Expectancy
34.2 years
39.2 years
Height (male adult)
171 cm
167 cm
Literacy Rate
48%
54%
Total Population
6.3 million
11.4 million
Floud and Johnson (eds), Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain (2008)
* Note: Converted to purchasing power of 1992 US dollar

13. A People’s History of the Industrial Revolution
I’m a four loom weaver, as many a one knows,
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out m’ clothes
M’ clogs are all broken, and stockings I’ve none.
Thee’d scarcely gimme tuppence for all I’ve gotten on.
Old Billy O’ Bent, he kept telling us long
We mayn't had better times if I’d nobbut held m’ tongue.
Well, I held m’ tongue til I near lost m’ breath,
And I feel in m’ heart that I’II soon clem to death
I’m a four loom weaver, as many a one knows.
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out m’ clothes.
Old Billy were right, but he ne’er were clemmed,
And he ne’er picked o’er in his lie.
Four Loom Weaver
Industrial folk song performed by Maddy Prior & June Tabor

14. Social and Cultural History: Factory Discipline
Singer Sewing Machine Factory, Clydebank, Scotland, c.1900

15. Social and Cultural History: Factory Discipline
Spinning mule, Manchester, lithography, c.1830

16. Social and Cultural History: Factory Discipline
Q. Is 10 hours’ labour now at cotton spinning in a factory any more intense than 10 hours’ labour was within your recollection?
A. A great deal more so. 10 hours now would be sorer on the operative than 12 would have been in the year 1827, or 1828, or thereabouts.
Q. That is brought about by the increased speed of the machinery?
A. Yes.

Q. That requires increased exertions on the part of all engaged in that machinery, in order to effect that purpose?
A. Yes.
Dunn, Factories ( )

17. Social and Cultural History: Women and Children
“In an instant the poor girl was drawn by an irresistible force and dashed on the floor. She uttered the most heart rending shrieks… saw her whirled round and round with the shaft – heard the bones of her arms, legs, &c. successively snap asunder, crushed, seemingly, to atoms, as the machinery whirled her round… her blood was scattered over the frame and streamed upon the floor, her head appeared dashed to pieces.”
John Brown, A Memoir of Robert Blincoe (1832)
Photograph of girl in cotton factory, c.1910

18. Social and Cultural History: Women and Children
“M. H., twenty years old, has two children, the youngest a baby that is tended by the other, a little older. The mother goes to the mill shortly after five o’clock in the morning, and comes home at eight at night; all day the milk pours from her breasts, so that her clothing drips with it.”
She said: “My breasts have given me the most frightful pain, and I have been dripping wet with milk.”
Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845)
Power Loom Weaving, engraving by T. Allom,
c.1830

19. Tomorrow: A Global History of Industrialisation
Conclusions
Macroeconomics cannot account for the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution needs to be understood in social and cultural terms as much as economic.
Tomorrow: A Global History of Industrialisation

20. Questions and Contact
Dr James Poskett
If you have any questions about this topic, please either me or your seminar tutor.