Summary History: Rapid industrialisation in Britain after 1780
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A fully summarised document of section 1.2 of the Industrial Revolution.
The summary highlights key points and dates and is easy to follow.
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Why was there a rapid growth of industrialisation after 1780?
§ The decades after 1780 saw real acceleration in the
industrialisation process.
§ Productivity in all areas of manufacturing soared.
§ A large number of interconnected factors influenced the
changes. included:
1. high levels of demand both at home and abroad for British
manufactured goods
2. the ability to supply that demand and make a substantial profit
from it
3. innovators capable of developing new techniques for increasing
production and quality
4. capital available for investment and a social climate which
supported entrepreneurship
5. the ability to transport large quantities of raw materials and
manufactured products, not only around Britain but
throughout the world
6. a system of government which largely supported the process
and encouraged laissez-faire policies and free trade
7. prevailing social attitudes, which were largely sympathetic to
capitalism and industrialisation
8. an absence of international competition
9. an unlimited supply of cheap energy
10. growing and mobile population who had a sound supply
of basic foodstuffs.
v Development of the factory system: steam power and machines
§ After 1780 important innovations in three connected areas,
each of which played a major role
v Iron
§ While Abraham Darby had the innovation in 1709 with the use
of coke rather than charcoal in making iron, it was still an
, expensive process and difficult to achieve a high-quality
product.
§ It was still cheaper to import iron.
§ 1783 and 1784, Henry Cort took out two patents on ‘puddling’
and rolling iron which were to lead to the production of better-
quality, cheaper iron.
§ Cort’s innovations were built on the work of others and needed
others to make them fully commercial.
§ Peter Onions, an ironmaster had carried out many experiments
in puddling, which Cort both knew of and refined.
§ Then, a series of Welsh ironmasters in the late 1780s and early
1790s took Cort’s innovations and developed them
commercially.
§ There was capital (Cort borrowed £30 000 to fund his
experiments), there was cheap coal and the means to transport
it, there was iron ore available, there was a huge demand, and
there was entrepreneurship and a willingness to take risks.
v Steam power
§ The development of Newcomen’s steam engine was vital
§ the decisive development in steam power was not the
invention itself, but how it was adapted to other uses.
§ For example, James Watt developed Newcomen’s great
invention – which was designed for pumping water out of coal
mines – into a multipurpose source of power. He made the
powered mechanisation of industry possible.
§ 1760s, Watt was experimenting with Newcomen’s engine, with
the vital support of John Roebuck, who had money and
supported watts ideas
§ 1769, Watt patented a new type of steam engine which could
be adapted to do more than simply pump water out of mines.
§ When Roebuck could no longer support Watt financially,
§ Watt moved to Birmingham with the support of Matthew
Boulton, started to build a range of steam engines which could
be used in many different ways.
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