Topic 2 - British industrialisation

Question 1

characteristics of the industrial revolution in Britain

Answer 1

*Growth in manufacturing industry, especially iron and cotton
*Innovation with productivity growth
*Considerable growth in capital per person
*Major transformation in agriculture, mining, transport, communications and baking
*Ongoing expansion in foreign trade
*Considerable social, demographic and political changes in Britain
*Sharp upturn in population growth
*Large migration of labour from the country to urban cities
*Emergency of the capitalist class and commodity labour
*Shift in power from land-owning to merchant/capitalist class

Question 2

dates of first industrial revolution

Answer 2

1780-1850

Question 3

average trend growth during industrial revolution

Answer 3

1.5% to 2%

Question 4

when was self-sustaining growth reached

Answer 4

not reached until the 1870s when the living standards of the mass population had considerably improved to generate the perpetual consumption for self-sustaining growth

Question 5

where do origins of industrial revolution lie?

Answer 5

revolution lie with the commercial revolution of the eighteenth century that developed under mercantilist policy
*By 1750, Britain was the dominant mercantile economy with the most powerful navy and largest merchant fleet, and London was the financial capital

Question 6

Effect of atlantic trade and re-exports on commercial revolution

Answer 6

*Enabled Britain to widen the range of products it could export to Europe to obtain imports such as timber, pitch and hemp and high-grade bar iron
*Plantations in the West Indies supplied sugar, tobacco, indigo, cotton and dyewoods for re-export

Question 7

how much did re-export trade increase in the first and second halves of the 18th century

Answer 7

90% in first half and twice that in second half

Question 8

the network of trade and role of slavery - commercial revolution

Answer 8

• Weapons, hardware, spirits and woollens from Britain and calicoes from India were shipped to West Africa in exchange for slaves, ivory and gold
• Slaves shipped to the West Indies to work in the plantations in exchange for sugar, dyestuffs, mahogany, logwood, tobacco and raw cotton
• Gold and ivory shipped to East for teas, silks, calicoes and spices which constituted re-exports to Europe so Britain could acquire Baltic timber, hemp, pitch, tar, Swedish and Russian iron, and grain

Question 9

when did north america assume greater importance in trade

Answer 9

second half of 18th century

Question 10

North America % of British exports in 1750 comapred to late 1790s

Answer 10

11% then 32%

Question 11

role of foreign trade in industrialisation

Answer 11

• Supplied raw materials for production, particularly manufacturing
• Widened the potential market for domestic products
  o Encouraged specialisation to reap cost efficiencies of large scale production

Question 12

role of the london financial market

Answer 12

• Bill of exchange was the chief financial instrument that facilitated Britain’s foreign and internal trade
• Bank of England created a liquid money market for the expansion of private credit

Question 13

overall effect of British mercantilist policy

Answer 13

to establish a national market in Britain.

Question 14

how did british government policies facilitate the establishment of a national market in Britain

Answer 14

• Protect key domestic industries from foreign competition and to secure foreign produced raw material inputs at cheapest cost
• Promote transport and communications infrastructure
• Remove feudal based obstacles to the internal mobility of labour and capital

Question 15

characteristics of modern manufacturing industry

Answer 15

large scale units of operation, labour-saving machinery and non-skilled labour regimented under a factory system

Question 16

what did the modern manufacturing industry do for industrialisation

Answer 16

• Enabled innovation to increase productivity through better machinery or organisation of the production process

Question 17

development of modern manufacturing industry

Answer 17

• Origins in the putting-out cottage industries in which urban entrepreneurs organised rural workers to produce textiles and other consumer products by supplying the raw materials and then marketing their output
• Evolved to specialists that enabled the adoption of labour-saving machinery harnessing water power and later steam power
• Evolvement to a factory system first occurred on a relatively small scale when production was reliant on water power or involved many stages of production

Question 18

key sectors of the industrial revolution

Answer 18

cotton textile
iron
agriculture
transport and communication

Question 19

what was the leading sector of the industrial revolution

Answer 19

cotton textile industry

Question 20

why was the cotton textile industry so important

Answer 20

• Income-elasticity for demand for cotton cloth was high
• Involved a manufacturing process that was highly conducive to innovation in production that improved its quality and lowered its price

Question 21

two factors that revolutionised Britain’s cotton industry

Answer 21

• Attainment of progressively larger quantities of cheaper raw cotton imported from the slave-based plantations of North America
• A series of important inventions that improved the quality and price of British cotton textiles

Question 22

important textile inventions + dates

Answer 22

o 1764 Hargreaves spinning jenny
o 1769 Arkwright’s water frame
o 1779 Crompton’s mule
o Power looms from 1820s onwards

Question 23

during what period did Britain become the dominant global producer of cotton textiles

Answer 23

1780s and 1830s

Question 24

by 1812, what % of national income was accounted for by cotton output

Answer 24

7-8%

Question 25

cotton total exports

Answer 25

1815 - 40% 1850 - 50%

Question 26

importance of iron industry

Answer 26

Was important to construction, engineering and the production of machinery, especially in the steam-powered age

Question 27

first major challenge for iron industry

Answer 27

shift from charcoal to coal

Question 28

constraint on iron industry

Answer 28

demand - couldn't develop until industrialisation process had already started

Question 29

when did demand for iron increase and in what sectors

Answer 29

* Demand increased in the last quarter of the 18th century for building and construction, shipping, mining, military, and machinery

Question 30

what development changed the iron industry

Answer 30

Steam engine in 1775

Question 31

pig iron output comparison

Answer 31

Output of pig-iron estimated at over 250,000 tons in the first decade of the 19th century compared to 30,000 tons in 1760

Question 32

iron exports as % industry output

Answer 32

* Iron exports reached over 40% of the industry output by the 1860s

Question 33

characteristics of revolution in agriculture

Answer 33

considerable increase in productivity per worker on large-scale and enclosed farming units

Question 34

between which years did population double

Answer 34

between 1751 and 1821

Question 35

developments that supported agricultural development

Answer 35

* Mixed farming rotation helped to fertilise soils and allowed farmers to diversify their output and reduce the risks of climate on farmer’s income * Enclosures by Act of Parliament or privately increased arable arming land at cost of rural poor * Entrepreneurial spirit engendered 18th century agriculture * Technological progress in agriculture contributed to lower prices of foodstuffs leading thereby to higher average income per capita

Question 36

transport and communication

Answer 36

* Transport and communication network allowed firms to sell their products in a national market * Britain had advantages in transport due to geographical factors – narrow and considerable inland rivers

Question 37

main revolution in transport

Answer 37

18th century - building of canals

Question 38

first canal name and year

Answer 38

* Duke of Bridgewater’s canal opened in 1761 – its success sparked a mania of building canals from the 1760s to 1790s which in turn reduced transport costs of coal and other bulk commodities

Question 39

Turnpike Acts

Answer 39

gave private contractors the task of repairing roads in return for the right to collect tolls from road users

Question 40

how many miles of rd controlled by turnpike acts

Answer 40

* By the 1830s, over 20,000 miles of road was controlled by Turnpike Trusts

Question 41

first major railway line

Answer 41

* First major line was the Stockton-Darlington Railway 1825

Question 42

first railway line to use locomotive power

Answer 42

* Opening of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway in 1830 first used locomotive power – its success sparked a railway investment boom

Question 43

how many new miles of railway sanctioned in 1830s

Answer 43

2200 miles of new railway sanctioned

Question 44

how many miles of railway sanctioned and constructed in 1840s

Answer 44

over 8200 miles sanctioned and over 6000 miles constructed

Question 45

peak of railway boom - years and figures

Answer 45

1844-46 when £207 million in capital was authorised

Question 46

investment into railways 1830-1860

Answer 46

over £200 million

Question 47

how many workers on constructing railways

Answer 47

1847 - employed 300,000 workers on construction, with 600,000 employed to run the network in 1850

Question 48

how did railways contribute to industrialisation and economic development

Answer 48

* Reduced the cost of freight transport and its speed of delivery * Reduced cost of passenger transport and increased labour mobility * Provided the basis of branch banking by joint stock deposit banks along the network that greatly increased capital mobility as well as the regional security of English banking * also opened up new markets for investment by linking cities and towns, n exploiting resources and through lower freight costs for goods * contributed to a larger national market and ensure Britain was the most competitive producer until late in the 19th century

Question 49

% of national income from ag over time

Answer 49

* Pre-industrial revolution, 40% of national income came from agricultural, in 1801 it had fallen to 32%, 20% in 1851 and 8% in 1901

Question 50

structural change as a result of industrialisation

Answer 50

Manufacturing and mining grew relatively to agricultural and made a greater contribution to income

Question 51

% of labour employed by ag over time

Answer 51

* Ag industry employed 46% of total labour in 1801, fell to 22% in 1851 and 6% in 1901

Question 52

manufacturing and mining % of income and % of labour over time

Answer 52

* Manufacturing and mining in 1801 contributed 30% to national income and employed 23% of total labour, grew to 43% and 34% in 1851 and 46% and 40% in 1901

Question 53

role of technological progress

Answer 53

* Overcoming resource constraints and producing new or better products at a lower cost * Technology to shift from charcoal to coal in heating and generating energy * Development of steam engine

Question 54

why was industry so receptive to new developments

Answer 54

* Enlightenment thought in which people believed their actions could change their destiny and that of society * Greater scientific awareness * Production progressively organised along factory system * Oncoming capitalism in which innovation could be rewarded with high profits while the inability to adapt led to failure

Question 55

pessimistic argument on living standards

Answer 55

industrialisation brought affluence to some but led to a deterioration in living standards of the labouring poor.

Question 56

optimistic argument on living standards

Answer 56

most workers were better off because of more regular employment and wider earning opportunities.

Question 57

living standards from 1740s

Answer 57

evidence suggests did increase

Question 58

real income changes 1780 to 1820

Answer 58

not certain whether the real income of the mass population did increase o Growth of output certainly increased, but so did population and inflation followed by severe post-war depression and high unemployment keeping living standards down

Question 59

on balance conclusion about living standards

Answer 59

the evidence suggests there was a slight increase in real income from 1820 to 1840, but this was associated with a decline in the very poorest of the labouring class * stronger evidence of healthy growth in average real income from the 1840s onwards

Question 60

population growth in Britain

Answer 60

* Population growth of Britain accelerated in the early stages of the industrialisation from the 1740s and markedly from the 1780s until the 1820s * Decline in death rate due to better living conditions and diet was an underlying factor as well as increase in birth rate

Question 61

government liberal reforms of 19th century

Answer 61

* Repealed Elizabethan ‘Statute of Apprenticeships’ 1814 * Repealed Combination Acts 1824 * Repealed a host of out-dated feudal industry regulations affecting production 1820s * Bank Charter of 1833 permitted the Bank of England to disregard Usury Laws (imposing 5% maximum discount rate) * Restrictions on joint-stock banking and branch banking were removed in 1830s * New Poor Laws introduced by Act in 1834 o Government taking responsibility for social welfare * Removal and reduction of custom duties in 1820s that was resumed by Gladstone in 1850s * Removal of Corn Laws in 1846 * Navigation Acts repealed in 1849 * Joint Stock Company Act of 1844 enabled private corporations to be freely established and issue stocks on exchange; with limited liability for directors/owners under the Limited Liability Act of 1855

Question 62

when did britain adopt freer trade

Answer 62

from early 1820s

Question 63

key reform for free trade

Answer 63

repeal of corn laws which protected agriculture

Question 64

when did Britain probably achieve self-sustaining growth?

Answer 64

1870s