1. The Industrial Revolution
Changes in the Textile Industry

2. The Domestic System
Before the Industrial Revolution, the production of Woollen Cloth was Britain’s most important manufacturing industry
Cloth making was centred in areas where sheep farming was common: Yorkshire, the Cotswolds, Devon …
The main processes – carding, spinning and weaving were carried out in the cottages of workers
This was known as the domestic system or cottage industry
Carding
Spinning
Weaving

3. How did the Domestic System work?
A merchant delivered wool to the workers’ homes
Children carded (untangled) the wool
Women and girls spun the wool into yarn using a spinning wheel
Men wove the yarn into cloth on a loom
The merchant took the cloth to other workers for stretching, dyeing, and cropping

4. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Domestic System
It was convenient for workers who could stay at home, work at their own pace and mind the children
Their earnings from spinning and weaving were extra to the living they were making from working the land (open field system)
Some workers were quite skilled and produced a good quality product
Disadvantages
The quality of cloth varied from worker to worker
The system wasted the merchant’s time
Production was slow
Workers could cheat the merchant
The merchant could cheat the workers
“Piece-rates” could be very low
Cottages were often dirty, badly-lit and poorly ventilated

5. Why was there a Revolution in the textile industry?
The population was growing rapidly
There was an increase in the demand for better quality cloth
The price of raw cotton fell as more was imported from the slave plantations of USA (after 1776)
New machines were invented which speeded up the working of cotton

6. New Technology Weaving Hand power Spinning
1764 James Hargreaves invented “Spinning Jenny”
1769 Sir Richard Arkwright invented “Water Frame”
1779 Samuel Crompton invented “Spinning Mule” (so-called because it combined the best of the Jenny and the Frame) – became the most important spinning machine
Weaving
1733 John Kay invented “Flying Shuttle”
Hand power
Water power – leads to building of first mills or “Factories”
James Watt’s Steam Engine- form 1770s…
1785 Edmund Cartwright
invented “Power Loom”

7. James Hargreaves and the Spinning Jenny 1764
This was the first of the new spinning machines
The first models produced thread on 8 spindles at once (instead of 1)
Probably called “Jenny” meaning “Gin”,or “Ginny” short for engine (not after his wife!)
Angry spinners smashed up Hargreaves’ home in Blackburn
Designed for use in domestic system

8. Sir Richard Arkwright 1732-92
One of the great entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution
His “Water Frame”was the first machine to be designed as a “factory” machine – driven by water power
The “Factory Age” began with Arkwright’s mill at Cromford, Derbyshire
He devised the “Factory System”
Employed thousands of workers
Patented his machine
Made a huge fortune

9. The Factory System
Other entrepreneurs were quick to copy Arkwright’s system
Many spinning factories were built
For a while weaving remained a domestic craft
The wages of hand loom weavers soared as great quantities of spun yarn were produced
However, by the 1820s Power Looms were being introduced and weavers incomes fell

10. The Luddites Many skilled craftsmen lost out to the new machines
The first“Luddites” were croppers in Yorkshire
They formed a secret society and smashed machines
The mill owners and the government reacted strongly
Britain was at war with France
Luddites were captured by use of spies
Several machine-breakers were hanged, others transported

11. The Importance of Manchester (and Southern Lancashire)
Manchester and Southern Lancashire became the main location for the Cotton Industry because:-
The climate was damp – ideal for working cotton
It was close to the port of Liverpool – the main port for trade with the USA and imports of raw cotton
There were skilled spinners and weavers just across the Pennines in the Yorkshire woollen industry
The Pennines supplied fast-flowing streams for water power
There was a local coalfield for steam power

12. Conclusions
The development of the Factory System massively increased the amount of cotton cloth produced
A new class of “entrepreneurs” made great fortunes
Towns and cities grew up around the new factories – the process of “Urbanisation”- living conditions and public health worsened
Working conditions were very different in the factories to the old Domestic System – child labour, long hours, harsh discipline…