The Transition to the Factory System in the Midlands Cotton-Spinning Industry

Abstract

T he main centres of the English cotton industry in the eighteenth century were in the north-west of England, centred on Manchester, and in the East Midlands, centred in Nottingham. The Manchester trade was principally in fustians, or woven cotton fabrics, while the Nottingham speciality was cotton hosiery. The striking success of Arkwright and Strutt's cotton mills gave a great impetus to the industry in both regions. In view of the importance that historians and economists have long attached to the subsequent changes in organization of industry, it is surprising that the Midlands industry has received no more than passing consideration.1 This article is an attempt to take a comprehensive view of the process of change in the industry in the Midland counties during the eighteenth century. The early development of the Midlands industry is very poorly documented, largely because the industry had contracted to small proportions before the age of the Victorian chroniclers and commentators. Only a handful of firms survived into the twentieth century, However, sufficient evidence survives to trace the concentration of production and capital up to the time of Hargreaves and Arkwright, and to examine the impact of these two innovators on the Midland region. It has also proved possible to discern the main lines of development from a study of the career-patterns and enterprises of all the entrepreneurs who are known to have been spinning cotton by power in the region before the close of the eighteenth century. No complete list of firms has survived for the region, but it has proved possible to compile a list from a variety of sources.2 For the purposes of this study, the Midlands region is taken to include Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire (except the parish of Glossop 3), Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warkwickshire, Worcestershire, Lincolnshire