Motive Power in British Industry and the Accuracy of the 1870 Factory Return

Abstract

IN recent number of this Reviewl Prof. A. E. Musson drew attention to the industrial horsepower figures in the I870 Factory Return2 and concluded from them that a The statistical evidence relating to industrial power re-emphasizes the traditional importance attached to textiles, especially cotton, in the Industrial Revolution, not only in its early stages but also far into the nineteenth century, as against more recent interpretations which have tended to emphasize advance over broad industrial front.3 He argued that comparison of the I870 Factory Return with the First Census of Industrial Production of I9074 demonstrated that . the really massive growth of steam power occurred in the later nineteenth century, not in the heroic age of the early Industrial Revolution.5 The viability of these propositions depends on the completeness of the I870 Factor Return, however, and to test them it is therefore necessary to establish whether the parliamentary statistics were comprehensive, and if not how close to the truth they were. Prof. Musson's focus was mainly before I850, and while he recognized that the I870 Factory Return was incomplete he did not pursue this point. This article is not, however, intended as critique of Musson's; rather it seeks to take his work forward and establish more comprehensive and realistic figures of steam and water power in Britain in I870. It shows that the I87o Factory Return seriously understated the industrial power at that date, since it was both selective in its coverage, omitting all mining, milling, and public utilities, and was also incomplete even for manufacturing industry; these gaps will be filled in from other sources. The revised figures thus compiled show rather different picture both of the importance of the textile industries and of the rates of growth of power from that painted by Prof. Musson, so some space will also be devoted to brief discussion of these points. The argument may be developed in four stages. Firstly, the legislative background to the i870 Factory Return must be set out, as this vitally affected the form it took. It is then necessary to examine the deficiencies of the Return in the trades to which it applied, after which attention can be turned to the areas it did not cover. Finally, some attempt to aggregate the figures must be made and the problems of comparing the I870 figures with those for I907 discussed.