An overview of Economic Development of Britain

Introduction

A study of economic development of Britain holds special significance as in Britain and industrial development has started simultaneously. Communication and transport development were the basic factors which led to industrial development in Britain.

At the end of the 19th century Britain became the wealthiest and most powerful economy of the world. The per capita income of its citizen was highest in the world. It was the first country to witness industrial revolution ,the first to install modern transportation system, the first to develop the financial infrastructure required to support its industries at home .

The British economy grew pretty well throughout the period from 1860-1914. The productivity of labour continued to increase throughout the period in the sense that it got more from the resources which were available to it.

The life expectancy ,which had been static since 1830 began to rise in the 1860s and at an increasing rate thereafter. However the infant mortality did not begin to fall until the early years of 20th century, so that the direct cause of overall fall was improvement in the mortality rate of first young and then older adults. The change was not uniform across all parts of the country or all social groups but there was overall and substantial improvement in the important indicator of social welfare. Another important fact is that the physique of the population changed. Heights ,weights of the adult increased because of the intake of the better food, better

housing , less disease , reduction in the need to undertake hard physical work in childhood, all helped the children to grow taller and become healthy.

It is interesting to mention that the average health of the people of the Britain improved but difference in the occupations with which people were associated had different death rate and health conditions. Despite rising incomes and living standards these occupational differences widened during the late 19th century, although all occupations shared in general reduction in mortality.

During this period the distribution of national income underwent a change. There was overall rise of money income in the middle income group category, but it also witnessed very large discrepancy between the increase of the bulk of the population and the top 5 % of the population.

British output growth , in the sense of per capita growth was faster between 1880- 1914 than during the 1860s , but slower than the growth of other major industrial countries. The evidence of economic growth demonstrates that the economy was not only growing but also changing. Agricultural employment declined considerably and there was substantial growth of whole range of service occupations, from domestic service to highly skilled professions. Population shifted from rural to urban areas, economic activity began to shift towards the mid land and south east, the importance and power of northern manufacturing towns diminished.

There are many significant contribution of Britain in the field of modern industry. Modern Britain is almost free from major economic evils like poverty, unemployment etc. All these are interesting development .

Agriculture system in Medieval Period

England was an agriculture economy during the Middle Ages. The agrarian system was of a feudal character and the economic core of the feudal society was the ‟s village community which is generally called the manor. In this period all land belonged to some manor. The King was the absolute owner of the land. Lords were only holder or tenant of the land. The Lord‟s proprietorship was acquired by feudal grants. The actual tenants were the serf who were the decedents of the owners.

Tenants of the Manor

The English society in the middle Ages fell broadly into the following classes (i) lords of manor; (ii) free tenants; (iii) Villeins; (iv) cottars or bordars; (v) slaves and (vi) others. Broadly speaking the inhabitants might be classified as free and unfree.

The lords, his bailiff (an agents who conducted the affair of the manor on behalf of the lord), the village priests were among the free. The unfree include villeins , cottars or bordars and slaves.They formed the backbone of the manorial organization as they cultivated all the lands of the lords as well as their own holding.

Break-up of Manorial System

This system remained static for some centuries but its disintegration began in fourteenth century and in the fifteenth century there was rapid break-up of manorial system. The main cause of break-up of the manor is a matter of much controversy among the historians. Some of them argue that growth of trade, development of commerce and introduction of money were the most important factors leading to the break-up of the system. Some argue that inefficiency of

feudalism and the need of revenue were the primary factors for the decline of the manorial system.

By the sixteenth century , the medieval manorial system ceased to exist. The villeinage was more or less extinct and wage labour had replaced that of the bondmen. A state of natural economy was replaced by the system of currency and monetary transcation. Agriculture Revolution

In the period between second half of the eighteenth century to the second quarter of the nineteenth century Great Britain underwent great social and economic transformations. These transformation were in the field of agriculture and industry and called Agriculture Revolution and Industrial Revolution. These revolutions were linked with each other. Progress in one field was associated with the progress in the other field.

Agriculture Revolution transformed the method of farming . The concept of capitalist farming came into existence where huge capital were invested, machines and tractors were used and thus the yield per acre increased substantially. Agriculture revolution changes the socio-economic condition of Great Britain. There was rise of capitalism in England in the eighteenth century. In this period industrial and commercial achievement began to regarded as a basis of political promotion and of social distinction. The social prestige which once had attached to landholding exclusively was transferred to any sort of successful money making.

There was revolution in agriculture technique during this period . The most important improvement in the agriculture technique were: introduction of machinery, scientific rotation of crops, growth of certain important crops like clover and turnips, improvement in the art of breeding, abolition of wasteful

practice of keeping the fallow, use of natural and artificial , improvement in field drainage and seed improvement. There were the factors which brought complete revolution in agriculture.

In the nineteenth century progress in the field of agricultural technique took three main directions: (i) better drainage (ii) increasing application of machines and (iii) introduction of wide range of artificial manures. But the scientific methods applied in this period took a fairly long time. The farmers were often conservative and cautious , and did not want to take the change over immediately. Besides new methods were not universal and they had to be modified before being applied in any region, as their nature of application depended upon the peculiarity of soil, climate and other local characteristics. However all these retarding factors were overcome and gave way to modern technique of production. By the year 1860 British farming had reached a high level of technical perfection and was 70 years ahead of agriculture in France.

Agriculture Development since 1850

The period of 1850-1873 is characterized as the golden age of British agriculture because of intensive cultivation, improved condition of work, rising trend in prices etc. Throughout this period agriculture technique was undergoing improvements. New machines as ploughs, threshing machines were being added. In 1864 the government began the systematic collection and publication of agriculture statistics.

After the golden era , agriculture saw a period of depression (1874-1914). Although the depression was world-wide, it was more severe in Britain. The depression was the direct outcome of the opening up of the „Middle West‟ in the U.S.A and the prairies in the Canada. They offered much competition . Severe

competition also came from Argentina , India ,Australia , Southern Russia , and the Baltic countries. Second reason was the development of railway and steamship led to the continental inland expansion and made the exploitation of vast virgins land as commercial possibility. The railway and steamship enabled the exports of raw materials and foodstuff to long distance and attracted men and money for the colonization of the territories. Thirdly the development in the technique of refrigeration and cold storage led to the imports of large quantities of perishable item like meat and dairy products. And finally there were bad weather conditions- cold spring and rainy summers between 1875 and 1884, drought between 1884 and 1892-and outbreaks of diseases and plague among cattle and harvests during all these years. Hundreds of farmers were ruined and thousands of acres of arable land went out of cultivation.

Agriculture during the war period

When first world war(1914-1919) broke out , Great Britain was producing less than two-fifths of her food supply. The shortage of foodstuff led to speculative rise in prices and to an artificial and unhealthy boom. Prices increased rapidly during war period. Appeals and campaigns were launched so that production be increased but there was a shortage of labour . A large number of agricultural labourers had left the land for the army while a considerable number of them had joined the ammunition factories and other war industries.

At this stage the state had to slightly abandon the policy of laissez faire and start a new phase of a policy of effectual State regulation and control with the objective of controlling the prices and increasing the agricultural output. As a result of measure adopted and also due to the conditions prevailing at that time, arable land between

1916 and 1918 increased. There was a notable achievement in stimulating home- grown food supply.

During the period of the Second World War(1939-45) agriculture was closely controlled by the state. The idea was to produce as much food as possible inside the country and reduce dependency on the foreign countries. The result of the state control was also favourable. There was a widespread ploughing. The general pattern during the period of war showed a large increase in all the main crops and in meat and dairy products.

Industrial Revolution

Britain : Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

The transformation of agriculture was accompanied by revolution in industry.Before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, most people resided in small, rural communities where their daily existences revolved around farming. Life for the average person was difficult, as incomes were meager, and malnourishment and disease were common. People produced the bulk of their own food, clothing, furniture and tools. Most manufacturing was done in homes or small, rural shops, using hand tools or simple machines. A number of factors contributed to Britain‟s role as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. For one, it had great deposits of coal and iron ore, which proved essential for industrialization. Additionally, Britain was a politically stable society, as well as the world‟s leading colonial power, which meant its colonies could serve as a source for raw materials, as well as a marketplace for manufactured goods.

Nature and character of industrial changes

Discovery and use of steam as driving force:- Mrs. Knowles described that the industrial revolution hinged on coal and iron and the power to transport them. The steam engine was one of the most important technologies of the Industrial Revolution, although steam did not replace water power in importance in Britain until after the Industrial Revolution. From Englishman Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, of 1712, through major developments by Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer James Watt, the steam engine began to be used in many industrial settings, not just in mining, where the first engines had been used to pump water from deep workings. Early mills had run successfully with water power, but by using a steam engine a factory could be located anywhere, not just close to water.

After the discovery and increasing use of steam, there arose phenomenal rise in the demand of coal. Coal was bound up with industrial change and was required for driving power, for smelting iron,for the operation of chemical industry and also indispensable for the new transport system of railway and steamship. Wood was no longer needed in making machines.

Changes in different industries

Textile inventions :

The Industrial Revolution was mainly confined to developments in the fields of cotton industry, mining and transport. As regards cotton industry, the urge to increase production of cotton cloth led men to apply their knowledge and energy to invent machines and a number of weaving and spinning machines were invented. In 1733, John Kay invented what was known as “The Flying Shuttle”. This doubled the speed of weaving and saved labour considerably. This invention enabled the weavers to turn out greater output. It made possible the weaving of

broad cloth by one man. There were several inventions like In 1765, James Hargreaves invented a machine known as “The Spinning Jenny”. In 1769, Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) invented “Water frame”. In 1779, Samuel Crompton (1763-1827) invented a machine known as “The Mule”. The new machine combined the advantages of the Spinning Jenny of Hargreaves and water-frame of Arkwright. It made the production of fine muslin possible.

In 1785, Edmund Cartwright invented what was called “The Power Loom”. Although the Power Loom was clumsy in shape, it helped the work of weaving to be done with great speed. In 1793, Whitney invented a machine by which seeds could be separated from the cotton fibers. Previously, this was done with the help of hand and that was a slow process.

In 1785, cylinder printing was invented. A roller with a design engraved upon it ran over the paper. In 1800, a speedy method of bleaching with the help of chemicals was found. The result was that it was not necessary to expose cloth to the sun for weeks for drying it. Likewise, the help of industrial chemistry was taken for dyeing purposes.

Mining and Metallurgy: As regards mining and metallurgy, wood was used for smelting iron in old days. That process was long and tedious. There was also the danger of denuding the country of her forests. It was found that coal was a much better substitute for wood. Coal was available in abundance but the problem was how to take it out of the mines which got flooded with water. Inventors began to pay attention to the problem of pumping out water. The steam engine revolutionized industry and mining. As motive power, steam had a distinct advantage over water power. It was not necessary now to set up factories near waterfalls. Steam could be produced

anywhere and everywhere. James Watt (1736-1819) studied the steam engine of Newcomen and removed its defects and invented a new engine with a separate condenser. The new engine was called Beelzebub. It was first employed in mines. Later on, the invention of the rotary motion brought the steam engine into cotton factories also. Steam replaced horse and water power in the textile industry also.

There was a great demand for steam engines. With the financial assistance of Boulton, James Watt began to produce steam engines for industrial purposes. “The union of machinery with steam force multiplied tremendously the resources of mankind”. On account of the lack of precision tools, James Watt had great difficulty in making the steam engine. Maudslay‟s “Slide-Rest” was a great invention which helped considerably in the making of such tools.

Transport: As regards transport, the old roads were in a very bad condition. Navigation by sea and river was very slow. There were yet no railways or aero planes. There was the necessity of improving the means of transport. John Metcalf, Thomas Telford and John Macadam (1756-1836) made tremendous improvements in the art of road construction. Gravel, stone and tar were used in making pucca roads and a network of roads was laid all over the country. Travelling by coach became more comfortable and transport quicker.

According to a distinguished British historian, “Macadamizing was not only, in its liberal sense, a practical work of great public utility; it became a symbol of all progress and was metaphorically used in common, parlance for any aspect of a new age where improved and uniform scientific methods were in demand.”

As heavy goods could not be carried to distant places by means of roads, it was decided to use water for transport purposes. The Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803) employed Brindley (1716-1772) to design the Bridgewater Canal from Worsely to Manchester. After that, Mersey and Calder canals were dug.

George Stephenson (1781-1848) is called the father of steam locomotive. He invented the first locomotive for hauling coal over iron rails. It moved at a speed of 3 miles an hour. Gradually, it was improved. By 1823, a locomotive factory was established at Newcastle. At the opening of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway in 1830 the locomotive moved at the speed of 30 miles an hour. The invention of locomotives and introduction of railways were a great boon to mankind. It became possible to transport goods more speedily and cheaply from one part of the country to another.

The motive power of steam was also applied to transport by sea. In 1807, a steamboat constructed by Robert Fulton sailed from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles in 32 hours. The first regular steamboat service in Great Britain was inaugurated in 1812 on the Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock by a boat called the Comet.

In 1819, the first steamship, the Savannah, crossed the Atlantic from the United States to England in 29 days with the help of sails. In 1838, two steamers crossed the Atlantic without sails in 18 and 15 days respectively. Until about 1870, sailing vessels competed successfully with steamships. After 1878, steamships demonstrated their superiority. Early steamships were made of wood. In 1843 the first iron steamship crossed the Atlantic.

Communication: A lot of improvement was made in the means of communication. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Charles Wheat-stone with the collaboration of two Americans Samuel Morse (1791-1872) and Alfred Vail produced the electric telegraph. It was due to the joint efforts of Sir Charles Bright and Cyrus Field that the first Atlantic telegraphic communication across water was laid in 1866. Telephone owes its origin to Philip Reis, a German inventor.

As the Industrial Revolution progressed machinery became more and more complicated and expensive. It was beyond the financial resources of single individual to install factories. Hence arose the necessity for co-operative effort. There sprang up Corporations and limited companies in which thousands of people invested their money in the hope of gaining good dividends.

The system of individual industrial proprietorship yielded place to joint stock companies and managing directorships. There also arose the demand for the services of engineers to man the new machines and to invent new ones to keep pace with the demand for greater production. By 1828, the Civil Engineers Society was founded in London. Specialisation in industry required a variety of engineers such as mechanical, mining, road, marine, electrical engineers.

They built up new industries and improved the old ones. England became the workshop of the world. English industrial capital and English engineers sought new avenues of investment and work in foreign countries and companies with English capital and English technicians were floated in many foreign countries. Thus, the benefits of the English Industrial Revolution were spread far and wide.

More and more complicated industrial machinery could thrive on the inventions and discoveries of scientists. Progress in industrial inventions benefited the development of the Industrial Revolution proportionately.

The cotton and wool industries became more and more mechanised. The expansion of steam navigation was phenomenal. The steamships could now cross the Atlantic and other seas without fear. Steamship companies like the Cunard Lines were inaugurated.

A variety of other industries like building, furniture making, laundering, brewing and shoe-making also made tremendous progress. Food preservation, canning industry, gas-lighting and heating and a number of electrical appliances gave more amenities to the people. The invention of the telegraph made transmission of news from one place to another quicker and cheaper and that enabled the newspapers to publish news of the world.

Rubber and petroleum industries expanded tremendously. Rubber pipes, tyres and washers were available in large quantities. Petroleum products proved of great value to men and industry. Weapons of warfare were also improved.

Industrial Development in England: The period between 1830 and 1848 was the heroic age of railway building. To begin with, rail-roads were resisted by the existing interests of roads and canals. There were people who had advanced money for making and repairing the turnpike roads and canals. There were people who were making a living as coach-makers, harness-makers, horse-dealers, innkeepers, etc.

The revolution in transport through railways brought with it new demands for coal and iron and stimulated a revolution in heavy industries, especially mining and

metallurgy. Britain‟s coal output which was about 16 million tons in 1815 rose to 30 million tons by 1835 and 50 million tons by 1848.

Her output of iron doubled from one million tons in 1835 to two million tons in 1848. By 1850, about half the whole world‟s production of pig iron took place in Great Britain. Engineering proper and the industries devoted to making machines were still small-scale in 1848.

The main progress in engineering techniques came after 1848. The railroads encouraged the rise of big contractors. They offered employment to thousands. A great new industry was born in little more than 20 years and the fears of unemployment proved to be unfounded. There was a general stimulus to the whole economic system.

Above all other commodities, cotton was linked with the expansion of British overseas trade. In 1830, three-quarters of the new cotton came from the United States. In 1849, the total import was as high as 346,000 tons, worth about £ 15 million. By the middle of the nineteenth century, more than half a million people were engaged in cotton industry alone. Textiles as a whole employed more than one million.

Textile manufacture was the industry which was most representative of the age of machinery and power. Although mechanization was slow, cotton set the pace in factory production.

Cotton trade boosted shipping. Between 1827 and 1848, the total tonnage of British shipping, both sail and steam, rose from VA to 4 million tons. At the middle of the 19th century, 60 per cent of the world‟s ocean-going tonnage was British. The tonnage of all shipping entered and cleared from ports in the United

Kingdom rose from 6 million tons in 1834 to more than 14 million tons in 1847. By 1850, the United Kingdom had established herself as not only “the workshop of the world” but also as the shipper, trader and to a great extent the banker of the world.

Industrial Development since 1850

Like agriculture , industry also passed through different phases after 1850. There was first age of Victorian Prosperity (1850-74) . In this period the large home supply position of coal and iron, the two pillar of Industrial Revolution stimulated industrial activity. There was a technical revolution in Steel production .The industry expanded due to rising demand . Metal industry was the most prosperous industry during this period.

Prosperity was followed by depression of prices, interest and profits. The period of retarding growth (1875-1900) was the result of fall in prices as the failure of money supply to grow as fast as demand. There was scarcity of gold which was tha basis of this problem. Gold was demanded in increasing amount from other countries. That led to decline in the investment opportunities. Besides the development of manufacturing in other countries , particularily the US and Germany , created foreign competition of serious nature.

The fear engendered by the depression were removed after 1900 as there were progress in many directions. Prices again rosed and production in all important industries increased. Coal, cotton,wool , iron and steel industries showed a sign of futhur improvement and production continued to expand.

During the first World War industries such as iron and steel and engineering showed a boom as the outbreaks of war led to heavy demand of arms and

ammunitions . The expansion of cotton trade ceased.. There were state interventions as men were taken from agriculture and industry for armed forces.

During the inter war periods and the great depression(1920-39) there were overall decrease in the economic activity.. There were decline in textile,iron and coal industries. The war of 1939 affected the British economy. Production for war necessitated the contraction of innumerable industries and expansion of two in particular : agriculture and engineering industry. These expansion of these two industries was in line with the war . The expansion in agriculture was required for the self sufficiency in food production and engineering industry was required for meeting the needs of arms and ammunitions.

In the post war period , with some interruptions, there has been a steady growth in output of industries. Inventions and technological developments and shift in the world demand have helped to produce radical changes in British Industrial scene

Impact of Industrial Revolution on Britain

The Industrial Revolution changed material production, wealth, labor patterns and population distribution. Although many rural areas remained farming communities during this time, the lives of people in cities changed drastically. The new industrial labor opportunities caused a population shift from the countryside to the cities. The new factory work led to a need for a strict system of factory discipline.

During this time, child labor and the unsafe working conditions rampant in many factories led to reform movements. Population movement was caused by people living in small farming communities who moved to cities. These prospective workers were looking for wage labor in newly developed factories.

During the early 19th century, there was a large population growth caused by the improvements of the Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century. Many historians believe this population increase was due to a dramatic decline in the death rate. A drop in famines, warfare and illnesses, and an increase in food sources, all mixed to cause a population spike. As early as 1850, many European cities were centers of industrial growth. In fact, by 1850, over 50% of the entire population of Great Britain lived in either a town or a city instead of in a rural community.

The growth of cities led to horrible living conditions. The wealthy fared far better than the industrial workers because they could afford to live in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. However, for most of the factory workers, cities were dirty, crowded places where epidemics frequently broke out.

Overcrowded row homes created to house the workers and their families contributed to these conditions. Government reports of the time indicated people sleeping as many as six to one bed.

The sanitary conditions in early industrial cities were filthy as well. Since the municipal governments did not concern themselves with cleanliness at the time, the cities did not have proper waste disposal systems, and people threw trash and sewage directly into the streets. The burning coal of the industrial factories coated cities in a layer of grime and polluted the air, and water supplies were polluted by waste.

The lives of large sections of the population of Great Britain underwent massive changes during the industrial revolution. Work became more regimented and disciplined and began to take place outside the home. A movement of the population to the cities from the countryside produced dramatic changes in lifestyle.

The Industrial belt of Britain stretched from the Scottish lowlands to the valleys of southern Wales. The establishment of major factory centers helped develop networks of canals, roads, and railroads. Some of these major factory centers are Derbyshire, Lancashire, Manchester, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. This is where the proletariat class was born. The Industrial Revolution helped create opportunities for employment for all members of the family. However, any improvement to the quality of life for the laboring class had come from a hard and bitter experience from factory labor.

Britain‟s use of resources was systematically, over a long period, less efficient than it should have been . Britain industry concentrated on a relatively narrow range of staple industry like coal,iron,steel, cotton, shipbuilding and did not devote much in a range of new technological products. Much was wrong with the economy mainly in its treatment of more deprived sections of the labour force and of the community as a whole but its dynamism at home and through the investments which it made its contribution to the world economy cannot be denied.