During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants
would trade with rural people in textile production. A clothier
would buy wool from a wool stapler, carry it to the spinners, and
then, take the yarn to the weavers, fuller and dyers for further
levels of production. London was the finishing centre for these
goods. This phase in British manufacturing history is known as
proto-industrialisation. In this phase, factories were not an
essential part of industry. What was present instead was a
network of commercial exchanges.
The first symbol of the new era of factories was cotton. Its
production increased rapidly in the late nineteenth century.
Imports of raw cotton sky-rocketed from 2.5 million pounds in
1760 to 22 million pounds in 1787. This happened because of
the invention of the cotton mill and new machines, and better
management under one roof. Till 1840, cotton was the leading
sector in the first stage of industrialisation.
Most inventions in the textile production sector were met with
disregard and hatred by the workers because machines implied
less hand labour and lower employment needs. The Spinning
Jenny was one such invention. Women in the woollen industry
opposed and sought to destroy it because it was taking over
their place in the labour market.
Before such technological advancements, Britain imported silk
and cotton goods from India in vast numbers. Fine textiles from
India were in high demand in England. When the East India
Company attained political power, they exploited the weavers
and textile industry in India to its full potential, often by force,
for the benefit of Britain. Later, Manchester became the hub of
cotton production. Subsequently, India was turned into the
major buyer of British cotton goods.
During the First World War, British factories were too busy
providing for war needs. Hence, demand for Indian textiles rose
once again. The history of cotton in Britain is replete with such
fluctuations of demand and supply.
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