Industrial Revolution Essay:The Creation of Labour
...ovided an essential material, wool, that was used to make clothing. The women who worked with wool textiles at home primarily manufactured for their families, but as farmers learned new techniques in animal breeding and food production, additional produce was sold locally. The high output generated by families during the pre-industrial era, initiated a home based manufacturing economy and saw the change from family based production to factory production, artisans and their families eventually left the home and changed the family structure forever. Cottage Industry and Agriculture A concrete date, commencing Britain’s industrial revolution is highly debateable and one precise year can not be specified. It was during the early half of 1770 when the transformation of society changed production of an agriculturally supported market and shifted towards an industrial one. The growth of industry associated with the industrial revolution occurred predominantly in Lancashire, England where commercial cotton products were produced. The increase in the industrial sector of growing cities, such as London and Lancashire, demanded for high amounts of labourers to supply the growing labour force. This was achieved in two ways; the movement of textile production from cottage to factory and by the reduction of arable land worked by poor farmers. In general, people were compelled to move away from the humble responsibilities of the farm to the subservient responsibilities of the factory. The transformation in textile production and shortage of cheap farming land had negative effects on family’s financial situations but created a surplus of workers fit for employment in emerging factories. It is easy then to argue that in the early stages of the industrial revolution, the transition from cottage industry to mechanical industry and subsistence agriculture to mechanized agriculture practices created a considerably poor labouring class. The poor labourers of eighteenth century Britain were the product of factory based production and loss of agricultural land, both circumstances driven by technological advances and entrepreneurial control. The traditional cottage industry was well established and was relatively simplistic, it involved families working together to produce sellable hand made goods. A town merchant would purchase raw materials from the countryside and distribute them to local farm families who would convert them in to marketable goods. These goods would then be sold by the merchant on a larger market for export and to the wealthy who could afford the hand made goods that took extensive time to produce. This idea embraced the notion of a putting out system that was advantageous for farmers, who made goods to support themselves in the winter when little farming could be done. This method of making and selling goods was also called the domestic system. The domestic system changed the nature of the countryside and altered the primarily agriculture sector to one that focused on both farming and industry. It created industrial hamlets that made use vacant land, and changed the balance of population by filling up areas which had previously been empty. One drawback of the cottage industry was the amount of goods that could be produced, as families received little return on their produce. Therefore the standard of living was low and families relied on farming as a second form of income. The transition from a cottage industry to a factory based manufacturing system certainly did not occur abruptly. The necessary framework of cottage based production was fundamental to support a new economy that was based on textile production outside of the home bound industry. Historians King and Timmins argue that cotton was the key factor in raising the national income after 1750. Their claim is accurate, along with cotton manufacturing, potteries and metal ware trades were concentrated industries that emerged at the same time. The cotton industry, in particular, had become concentrated in Lancashire where the city was at the heart at the domestic cotton landscape. The introduction of new technologies such as James Kay’s flying shuttle in 1733, improved cotton weaving by producing wider cloth in less amount of time. In 1775 Richard Arkwright’s invention of the spinning frame and James Hargreaves’ spinning jenny produced around 1765 required mechanical power that could not be found at home . Many larger machines also required steam power to operate which could only be utilized efficiently in factory settings. Technological innovation gave rise to factory production, away from hand tool technology to machine technology. As multi-thread spinning machines and larger weavers were often still hand powered, they were somewhat expensive for a cottage based manufacturer and were generally factory machines, and as Timmins suggests “(the) jenny spinners were far more productive than traditional hand spinners, who, at best, only had single-spindle wheels at their disposal.” The introduction of these machines helped transfer cottage work to factory work, where workers could spin under one roof to produce cotton textiles. Sheds or cottages were constructed to house looms thus creating a centralized production facility. As King and Timmins propose, those who ran the handloom weaving sheds “might have wished to move away from domestic production, say, to improve quality control or impose greater discipline amongst their workers, the latter (workers) had no option but to work from centralized premises at the outset.” The production of cotton textiles allowed Britain to strengthen it’s secure partnerships in international trade. Cottage industry attributed to trade, as goods were traded globally by England therefore partnerships with other trading countries were established, before the industrial revolution was in full swing. What the industrial system did was create the need for a labour force to feed the supply and demand of cotton and other textile product production. To do this, mills were built and filled with looms and spinning machines. In the beginning, vagrant labour was common in factories and industrialists had a hard time obtaining labourers. As the industrial system of production phased out the domestic system of fabrication, many people were displaced as power looms and spinning equipment replaced hand tool and manual work. The mid-eighteenth century domestic industry was the starting point for further advance in textile production. Cotton and other textiles that had once been indubitably produced in cottages moved to factories and mills where former domestic industrialists found employment, perhaps not by choice but by circumstance. Known as the proto-industrialisation phase, the transition from commercial home based manufacturing to mercantile production became ideal for its efficiency and volume of output. Proto-industrialisation signified the importance of the domestic system of output as an active force that pushed British economy towards industrialization. Proto-industry was a labour intensive system that took advantage of the industrialization process by employing more workers or having the same workers work harder. Proto-industrialisation, a term coined in 1972, alleged that specialization in skill and manufacturing occurred in internally integrated regions in Britain, later to become major centers of industrial activity. However agriculture was not forgotten all together, “at this early stage of industrial development, textile production was strongly linked with agricultural activity ;…( those) who produced textile goods also farmed, mainly raising animals rather than crops…some appearing to have been specialists, or near specialists, in industrial occupations.” Agriculture was an essential factor in the development of human labour. Between 1650 and 1750 low cereal prices in Europe were to blame for low incomes for farmers. As a result agricultural land was turned into pasture, animal husbandry became more popular than vegetable agriculture and many farmers supported themselves with textile production to supplement their income. The British agriculture sector appeared exhausted by the low cereal prices; the price for bread buyers was high while farmers received little money for their efforts. While food and farm prices declined, textile manufacturing in-home became a way to offset poor returns from farming. In spite of thi...