Industrialisation: Economic development between 1783-1812

 General overview

The industrial revolution is said that it started around 1780 as the industries developed from small-scale production of goods that was mostly domestic, to much larger scale of production in factories and iron foundries in the City. This saw a large rise in the amount of exports and imports in the decades of 1780s and 1790s which increase the amount of economic activity. There was an unseen annual growth of industrial output of 3 to 4 percent. This shows that the decade of the 1780s was a turning point in Britain with the increase production of iron,coal and cotton. This made Britain famous for its quality and scale of manufacturing across the country. For example Cornwall was famous for tin mining used to manufacture many utensils and Birmingham who was famous for mining for coal ( that’s why it was called the black country) and for producing small metal goods. There was also a thriving overseas market with the major East India Company who was trading cotton,sugar,tobacco and slaves to the East Indies.

Population- In the year 1801 the first official census was conducted to find out what the population of Britain was and it was 10.5 million people. By the year 1811 the population had already grown to 12.6 million people only 10 years later and by 1821 the population was 14.1 million. This information shows that Britain was growing at an exponential rate. This was observed by a man called Arthur young who stated that ‘the flourishing state of our agriculture, our manufactures and commerce our general wealth’. There was many reasons for this with Agricultural improvements which increase food production with lower prices and leading to a better standard of living which allowed men to live more independently and marry to start a family. It is also the result of lots of young men and women heading for the city which led to more children being born.

Cotton industry- By 1783 the cotton industry was thriving and was in rapid growth. This was because before the making of clothes was a small scale operation that was done out of people’s houses and small workshops this is known as a domestic system of industry. But by the 1780s with the population rising there was an increase in the amount of clothes needed to provide for the population. This led to technology innovations in manufacturing making large scale factories and wit increase import of raw cotton from Africa and Carribean. Cotton was used widely due to it being cheaper and more comfortable than wool and linen garments. Cotton manufacturers were established in the North of England and in Lanarkshire in the south west..

Iron and Coal- During the 1780s the technological development in the manufacture in cotton also helped the Iron industry thrive. This is because the new technology meant that the new cotton mills needed to accommodate bigger and more complex machines and large water wheels to run them, this increased the demand for iron. Output of pig iron rose from 68,000 tons in 1788 to 250,000 tons in 1802. Iron foundries were built on the edge of coal field to access the fuel easily. The main areas for coal and iron industry was the Black country, South Wales, South Yorkshire and Clydesdale. There were people like John Wilkinson The increase in the Iron and Cotton industry was a result of coal as it was used to provide fuel to power steam engines in the factories. Output went from 7 million tonnes in 1780s to 14 million tons by 1812 of coal.

Canals were also very useful it was the main development in transport was the construction of networks canals in the 1780s. It was useful for transporting big and bulky goods that could be transported cheaper and easier than down a road or river. Also it was a safer way of transporting fragile pottery that breaks easily on a road. The canal era was short as it was nearly fully replaced in the early 1800s with the rise of the railway age that could transport more and faster.