10.1.4

The Factory System

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The Factory System

The invention of new and efficient machines led to factories springing up across Britain, in which thousands of workers would produce cotton to be exported. The hours were long and the work was gruelling.

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Cromford Mill

  • After inventing the water frame, Arkwright realised that he could employ lots of people to oversee the machines, and produce cotton on a much larger scale.
  • In 1775 he opened Cromford Mill; it was five storeys high and he filled it with his water frames, and employed eight hundred people to work the machines.
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Spread of factories

  • This was the beginning of the factory system in Britain.
  • Inspired by Arkwright’s factory, other entrepreneurs began to set up factories across the country.
  • These factories were several storeys high, filled from top to bottom with machines powered by hundreds or thousands of workers.
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Losers

  • Nine hundred cotton mills had sprung up in Britain by 1800.
  • This was a disaster for families who lived in rural areas and produced cotton in their home using handlooms.
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Cotton trade

  • However, it was a triumph for the British economy.
  • Britain was producing good, cheap cotton which began to be exported across the world.
  • By the 1820s, cotton made up 62% of the goods Britain exported to other countries, and Britain dominated the cotton trade.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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