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THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
First Published July 1890 Second Edition 1890 Third Edition 1892 Fourth Edition 1895 Fifth and Sixth Editions 1897 Seventh Edition 1900 Eighth Edition 1902 Ninth Edition 1903 Tenth Edition 1904 Eleventh and Twelfth Editions 1906 Thirteenth and Fourteenth Editions 1907 Fifteenth Edition 1908 Sixteenth Edition 1910 Seventeenth Edition 1911 Eighteenth Edition, Revised 1912 Nineteenth Edition 1913 Twentieth Edition 1914 Twenty-First Edition 1916 Twenty-Second Edition 1917 Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth
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PREFACE
PREFACE
T his little book is an attempt to relate in a short, concise, and simple form the main outlines of England’s economic and industrial history. It is meant to serve as an introduction to a fuller study of the subject and as a preliminary sketch which the reader can afterwards, if he wishes, fill in for himself from larger volumes dealing with special periods. At the same time it is hoped that this outline may succeed in giving not only to the student but to the ordinary reader a general view of a
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PREFACE TO THE EIGHTEENTH EDITION
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTEENTH EDITION
S ince the original publication of this book in 1890, twenty-one years have elapsed, and the author, whose untimely death all scholars deplore, was able to embody various corrections which made this book harmonize more completely with his larger work Industry in England . On certain points he was led to modify his opinions—a course inevitable in a book covering so large a ground. In the Preface to the Fifth Edition he wrote: “It has been said that I write with a prejudice against the owners of l
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LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
facing page 164 INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND, 1890 facing page 210...
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY—THE ROMANS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS—TRADE
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY—THE ROMANS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS—TRADE
Under Roman sway Britain reached a high level of prosperity, and there is abundant evidence of this fact from Roman writers. They speak of the rich natural productions of Britain, of its numerous flocks and herds, of its minerals, of its various commercial facilities, and of the revenues derived from these sources. {2} We know that there were no less than fifty-nine cities in Britain in the middle of the third century A.D., and the population was probably fairly large, though we have no certain
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CHAPTER II THE LAND: ITS OWNERS AND CULTIVATORS
CHAPTER II THE LAND: ITS OWNERS AND CULTIVATORS
5 For a criticism of the mark theory see Industry in England , pp. 47–61. 6 i.e. supposing it ever existed. The distinctive feature of this combined agriculture was the three-field system. All the arable land near a village was divided into three strips, and was sown in the following manner:—A field was sown with wheat or rye in the autumn of one year; but owing to the slowness of primitive farming this crop would not be reaped in time for autumn sowing the next year, so the sowing took place
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CHAPTER I DOMESDAY BOOK AND THE MANORS
CHAPTER I DOMESDAY BOOK AND THE MANORS
7 For recent works on Domesday Book, see p. 242. 8 V. Industry in England , p. 69. 9 Or, in capite . 10 i.e. sub-tenants. In Domesday, we find that the Eastern and East-central counties were those in which “free” tenants or soke-men were most prevalent. There they form from 27 to 45 per cent. of the inhabitants of those parts, though, taking all England into view, they only form 4 per cent. of the total population. The number of free tenants, however, was constantly increasing, even among ten
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CHAPTER II THE TOWNS AND THE GILDS
CHAPTER II THE TOWNS AND THE GILDS
Now, in the Domesday Book there is mention made of forty-one provincial cities or boroughs, most of them being the county towns of the present day. There are also ten fortified towns of greater importance than the others. They are Canterbury, York, Nottingham, Oxford, Hereford, Leicester, Lincoln, Stafford, Chester, and Colchester. London was a town apart, as it had always been, and was the only town which had a civic constitution, being regulated by a port-reeve and a bishop, and having a kind
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CHAPTER III MANUFACTURES AND TRADE: ELEVENTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURIES
CHAPTER III MANUFACTURES AND TRADE: ELEVENTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURIES
16 Quoted by Green; History , I. 155. But even when we come to look at the feudal system in a time of peace, we see that it did not tend to any great growth of industry. For it encouraged rather than diminished that spirit of isolation and self-sufficiency {32} which was so marked a feature of the earlier manors and townships, where, again, little scope was afforded to individual enterprise, from the fact that the consent of the lord of a manor or town was often necessary for the most ordinary p
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CHAPTER I AGRICULTURE IN MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND
CHAPTER I AGRICULTURE IN MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND
An average yield of six bushels per acre is what Walter de Henley thinks necessary to secure profitable farming....
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CHAPTER II THE WOOLLEN TRADE AND MANUFACTURES
CHAPTER II THE WOOLLEN TRADE AND MANUFACTURES
18 See note 7, p. 244, on Flanders and England. 19 See note 8, p. 243, on Other Sources of Income. A proof of the growing importance of manufacture in this period is the noticeable lack of labourers and the high wages they get, as set forth in the Act 7 Henry IV. ( i.e. 1406), which points to an increase of weavers in all parts of the kingdom, that takes labourers from other employments....
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CHAPTER III THE TOWNS, INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES, AND FAIRS
CHAPTER III THE TOWNS, INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES, AND FAIRS
The following table gives the name of the town, and its manufacture or articles of sale. Lincoln Scarlet cloth. Bligh Blanket. Beverley Burnet cloth. Colchester Russet cloth. Shaftesbury Linen fabrics. Lewes Linen fabrics. Aylesbury Linen fabrics. Warwick Cord. Bridport Cord and Hempen fabrics. Wycombe Fine bread. Hungerford Fine bread. St Albans Fine bread. Maxtead Knives. Wilton Needles. Leicester Razors. Banbury Brewing. Hitchin Brewing. Ely Brewing. Ripon Horses. Nottingham Oxen. Gloucester
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CHAPTER IV THE GREAT PLAGUE AND ITS ECONOMIC EFFECTS
CHAPTER IV THE GREAT PLAGUE AND ITS ECONOMIC EFFECTS
There is another feature which is also of importance, and which had come more and more into prominence during the past two centuries. I refer to the increase in the numbers of those who lived upon the labour of their hands, and were employed and paid wages like labourers of the present day. It has been mentioned before that they arose from the cottar class, who had not enough land to occupy their whole time, and who were therefore ready to sell their labour to an employer. These two features, th
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CHAPTER V THE PEASANTS’ REVOLT OF 1381, AND THE SUBSEQUENT PROSPERITY OF THE WORKING CLASSES
CHAPTER V THE PEASANTS’ REVOLT OF 1381, AND THE SUBSEQUENT PROSPERITY OF THE WORKING CLASSES
25 The Black Friars of Dominic came in 1221, and the Grey Friars of Francis in 1224. 26 For other views of this Revolt see my Industry in England , ch. xii. 27 For survivals see note 11, p. 246. 28 The question is more fully treated in Industry in England , ch. xii. (end). 29 Cf. note 7, p. 244. But before the next century was completed part of the nation was impoverished, the labourers were degraded and despoiled, and a long legacy of pauperism and misery was bequeathed to the country by the wa
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CHAPTER I THE MISDEEDS OF HENRY VIII., AND ECONOMIC CHANGES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER I THE MISDEEDS OF HENRY VIII., AND ECONOMIC CHANGES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
30 e.g. “The Pilgrimage of Grace,” 1536. One other method of robbing the industrial classes still remained, and though Henry died, his ministers were not slow to take advantage of it. This step was the confiscation of the gild lands, planned by Henry VIII. but finally carried out by his son’s guardian, Somerset. These lands had been acquired by the craft gilds both in town and country, partly by bequests from members, and partly by purchase from the funds of the gilds. The revenues of these land
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CHAPTER II THE GROWTH OF FOREIGN TRADE
CHAPTER II THE GROWTH OF FOREIGN TRADE
A fair amount of trade was done with Portugal and Spain, which sent us iron and war-horses; Gascony and other parts of France sent their wines; rich velvets, linens, and fine cloths were imported from Ghent, Liège, Bruges, and other Flemish manufacturing towns. The ships of the Hanse merchants brought herrings, wax, timber, fur and amber from the Baltic countries; and Genoese traders came with silks and velvets and glass of Italy. And all met one another, as we saw before, in the great fairs, as
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CHAPTER III ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
CHAPTER III ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
In the same reign (1534), the inhabitants of Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, and Bromsgrove, then the only towns in Worcestershire, complained that “divers persons dwelling in the hamlets, thorps, and villages of the county made all manner of cloths, and exercised shearing, fulling, and weaving within their own houses, to the great depopulation of the city and towns.” A monopoly was granted to the towns, the only result of which was that they became worse off than before, a great p
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CHAPTER IV PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
CHAPTER IV PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
37 As to the alleged futility of these assessments see Industry in England , p. 257....
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CHAPTER V COMMERCE AND WAR IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
CHAPTER V COMMERCE AND WAR IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
38 See note 16, p. 249, on Union with Scotland, Darien Scheme and Methuen Treaty. All this mania for investing capital, however, shows how prosperous England had now become, and how great a quantity of wealth had been accumulated, partly by trade, but also by the growth of manufactures and improvements in agriculture. Englishmen now felt strong enough to have another struggle for the monopoly of trade, with the result that fresh wars were undertaken, and the country was heavily burdened with deb
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CHAPTER VI MANUFACTURES AND MINING
CHAPTER VI MANUFACTURES AND MINING
41 This Company, by charters from James I. in 1604 and 1617, had the exclusive privilege of exporting the woollen cloths of England to the Netherlands and Germany. It included some 4000 merchants. 42 Anderson’s Chron. of Commerce , ii. 569. Showing Population in first half of 18 th Century, chief towns and manufactures. The most populous counties are dark green. The majority of the population was in the west and south central counties ( dark green ); but Lancs. and the West Riding of Yorks. were
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CHAPTER I THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER I THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION
In fact there has always been an extraordinary sentimentalism as regards land among all classes of the English people; and for some reason that has never been fully explained a man who has merely inherited a large amount of land (even if he has never attempted to cultivate it) is regarded as being superior to one who has amassed a fortune in the industrial or commercial world. And this feeling was stronger in the eighteenth century than it is at the present time. Hence commercial magnates bought
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CHAPTER II THE EPOCH OF THE GREAT INVENTIONS
CHAPTER II THE EPOCH OF THE GREAT INVENTIONS
46 There was an Agricultural Revolution as important as the Industrial one, but it is best to treat it separately. I have done so in Ch. vi. These three inventions, however, only increased the power of spinning the raw material into yarn. What {160} was now wanted was a machine that would perform the same service for weaving. This was discovered by Dr Cartwright, a Kentish parson, and was patented as the “power-loom” in 1785, though it had afterwards to undergo many improvements, and did not beg
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CHAPTER III WARS, POLITICS, AND INDUSTRY
CHAPTER III WARS, POLITICS, AND INDUSTRY
In the first place, England had seriously crippled her powerful commercial rival, France, both in her Indian and American possessions. By the Seven Years’ War we had gained Canada, Florida, and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi River (except New Orleans); while in India our influence had become supreme, owing to the victories of Clive. French influence in India and America was practically annihilated. Spain, the faithful ally of France, lost with her friend her place as the comm
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CHAPTER IV THE FACTORY SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS
CHAPTER IV THE FACTORY SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS
This, then, was the immediate result of the factory system: the growth of large accumulations of capital in the hands of the new master manufacturers, who with their new machinery, undisturbed by internal war, were able to supply the nations of Europe with clothing at a time when these nations were too much occupied in internecine conflicts on their own soil to produce food and clothing for themselves. Even Napoleon, in spite of all his edicts directed against English trade, was fain to clothe h
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CHAPTER V THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASSES
CHAPTER V THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASSES
I have already referred to the sympathy between the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. The former, it is true, frightened our statesmen, but it gave courage to the working classes, and made them hope fiercely for freedom. The latter Revolution concentrated men more and more closely together in large centres of industry, dissociated them from their employers, and roused a spirit of antagonism which is inevitable when both employers and employed alike fail to recognize the essential
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CHAPTER VI THE RISE AND DEPRESSION OF MODERN AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER VI THE RISE AND DEPRESSION OF MODERN AGRICULTURE
55 See Industry in England , p. 430. 56 By a law of 1773 importation of foreign wheat was forbidden as long as English wheat was not more than 48 s. per quarter. In 1791 a duty of 24 s. 3 d. was imposed as long as English wheat was less than 50 s. a qr.; if English wheat was over 50 s. , the duty was 2 s. 6 d. The landed interest, however, was not satisfied yet. In 1804 foreign corn was practically prohibited from importation if English wheat was less than 63 s. a qr.; in 1815 the prohibition wa
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CHAPTER VII MODERN INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND
CHAPTER VII MODERN INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND
60 See more fully note 18, p. 251. It is true that in the period 1821 to 1830 the foreign {214} trade of the United Kingdom did not exhibit much material improvement, but still there was a steady increase. The official value of imports rose from £30,000,000 to £46,000,000, and the value of British manufactures exported from £40,000,000 to £60,000,000. But the declared value of exports remained pretty steady at about £37,000,000. Yet in the United Kingdom itself trade was growing rapidly, and the
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CHAPTER VIII THE NEW AGE, 1897–1911
CHAPTER VIII THE NEW AGE, 1897–1911
The gross amount of income brought under the survey of the Inland Revenue Department in 1907–08 (the last year for which returns are available) amounted for the first time to over £1,000,000,000 sterling, while the net amount available for taxation was over £693,000,000 as against £525,000,000 in 1897–98. The public applications for capital registered in London in the year 1910 reached a total of £267,439,100, a vast sum which exceeds all previous records by more than £75,000,000, and (apart fro
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