Working at the Ichapur Gunpowder Factory in the 1790s (Part II)

Abstract

The Gunpowder manufacture at Ichapur near Calcutta in the 1790s engaged in busy years 2,000 to 2,500 skilled labourers and was therefore one of the world’s largest factories. In the first part of this article published in Indian Historical Review Vol. 39(1), the factory was situated in the framework of India’s colonial and military history, in particular the Mysore wars. The demand for gunpowder, the organisation of the work, the composition and the recruitment of the workforce were analysed first. In this second part of the article, the (comparably favourable) primary and secondary labour conditions are discussed, as well as the collective actions of the workers which cannot be seen separated from these. This remarkable case study raises many questions regarding long-term trends in the labour history and migration history of India, where accepted wisdom stresses the emergence of mobility since the 1840s and poor performance of the industrial workers since the end of the nineteenth century.