The growth of cotton and other industries

Question 1

What was a magnate?

Answer 1

A person of rank, wealth or power

Question 2

What did john H Plumb say about the development of the cotton industry?

Answer 2

Pockets of old-fashioned industrial methods still lingered alongside the new. For every one succesful capitalist, there were 50 smaller masters. Great fortunes were made by industrialists who adopted most completely the new methods, and this was obvious to their contemporaries

Question 3

How are the growth of the cotton industry and the slave trade linked?

Answer 3

The increased production of cotton clothing was only possible because of the vast numbers of slaves, transported from Africa, who worked on cotton plantations in the British West Indies

Question 4

What was the cottage industry?

Answer 4

The domestic production of cotton

Question 5

What was the problem with the cottage industry?

Answer 5

Processes were slow and lacked quality control, and production was limited, which allowed little prospect of expansion

Question 6

Wich two things chaned the cotton industry?

Answer 6

• The incresed import of raw cotton
• The population rise meant an increase in demand for clothing and textiles

Question 7

Why was cotton clothing better than linen and wool garments?

Answer 7

It was cheaper, more comfortable and easier to wash

Question 8

In which two areas did cotton production take off and why?

Answer 8

Lancashire and Lanarkshire as there were fast flowing rivers from which power could be harnessed to turn machines, and they were close to major sea ports in Liverpool and Glasgow

Question 9

What was the relevance of the canal system to the cotton industry?

Answer 9

Canals connected cotton factories to the ports and other towns for redistribution

Question 10

Which invention heralded the start of the factory system and revolutionised the industry?

Answer 10

The development of Arkwright’s water frame in 1769

Question 11

What was Samuel Crompton’s Mule?

Answer 11

Invented in 1779. It was a cross between the water frame and Hargreaves’ spinning jenny. It produced high quality yarn that was strong and fine

Question 12

What was the problem with the mechanisation of the spinning process, and how was this rectified?

Answer 12

It left the weaving process behind, and the industry could not function efficiently while this inbalance persisted. In 1789, Catwright designed a power loom that was opearted by steam power, which allowed the cotton industry to become fully mechanised and a balance to be established between spinning and weaving

Question 13

Define spinning

Answer 13

The process that converts raw cotton to yarn

Question 14

Define weaving

Answer 14

The process of using yarn to create cloth

Question 15

What did the development of the cotton industry give a vital boost to?

Answer 15

The iron industry, as new cotton mills were built to accommodate larger and more sophisticated machines, and massive water wheels were designed to generate the power to run them, demand for iron increased`

Question 16

What happened to the output of pig iron between 1788-1804?

Answer 16

Rose from 68,000 tons to 250,000 tons

Question 17

Why were iron foundries built on the edge of coal fields?

Answer 17

To access their essential source of fuel cheaply and easily

Question 18

Why did the development of the cotton and iron industries depend on coal?

Answer 18

Coal replaced wood as the fuel in iron smelting and was mined in huge quantities to provde the fuel to power steam engines in the factories. Coal became essential to the process of industrialisation as it provided cheap fuel for any manufacturing processes that required heat. Output rose form an estimated 7,000,000 tonnes in the 1780s to around 14,000,000 tonnes by 1812

Question 19

Why were canals essential for continued industrial growth?

Answer 19

They were an efficient means of transporting raw materials to factories and maufactured goods to a wide market

Question 20

Which decade saw the height of the ‘canal era’

Answer 20

1780s

Question 21

What were the advantages of canals?

Answer 21

• Heavy and bulky goods could be transported more chepaly and easily than by road or river
• They allowed new areas to be opened up
• Allowed industrial centres to be linked to raw materials, markets and sea ports
• Canal companies provided attractive investment opportunities

Question 22

State the shortcomings of their canals?

Answer 22

• They were difficult and expensive to construct
• They could only follow limited routes
• They froze up in the winter and were slow to operate
• The canal era was short lived and quickly superseded by the railway age in the early 19th century

Question 23

Describe James Watt

Answer 23

One of the most brilliant technological innovators of this period. Developed ideas for a new, more efficient, machine while repairing an early steam engine. It took 20 years and near bankrupcy for him to find commercial success through his partnership with Boulton

Question 24

What problems was the steam engine originally invented to tackle?

Answer 24

Haulage and flooding in coal mines

Question 25

What did Watt do to improve the steam engine?

Answer 25

Created an engine with a separate condenser, to cool the steam and make the engine more efficient. He circumvented the defects of earlier attempts and made the concept commercially viable

Question 26

Why was Watt’s invention of rotary motion in 1781 also an important development?

Answer 26

Allowed entire mills to be driven by steam power and allowed it to become prominent in the production of industrial power

Question 27

What was crucial about Boulton?

Answer 27

He was a bold and far-sighted Birmingham businessman who financed the enterprise, allowing Watt to build his new steam engine. By 1800, Boulton and watt had hundreds of engines in operation throughout Britain.

Question 28

What statistic indicated that steam power was revoltionising several industries after its introduction?

Answer 28

Less than 1/3 of the steam engines in use were in the cotton industry

Question 29

In which industries were Watt’s steam engine used?

Answer 29

tin and coal mines, ironworks, breweries and distilleries

Question 30

What did historian C.P Mill say about the invention of the steam engine’

Answer 30

It ‘extended the range of man’s economic activities’

Question 31

How did the development of the steam engine improve life in Britain?

Answer 31

• It brought a cheap and plentiful supply of iron and coal
• It brought cheap and plentiful clothimg in the textile industry
• It revolutionised the speed and accessability of transport
• Brought about the development of the railway and engineering as a highly skilled industry in the 19th century