Chapter 4: The Age of Industrialisation

Explain the following:

1. Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
2. In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
3. The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
4. The East India Company appointed ‘gomasthas’ to supervise weavers in India.

Write True or False against each statement.

1. At the end of the nineteenth century, 80 per cent of the total workforce in Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector.
2. The international market for fine textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.
3. The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.
4. The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled handloom workers to improve their productivity.

Explain what is meant by proto-industrialisation.
Solution: Even before factories began to appear on the landscape of England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This was not based on factories. Many historians now refer to this phase of industrialisation as proto-industrialisation or the precursor to industrialisation. During this period, most of the goods were hand manufactured by trained crafts-persons for the international market.

4. Why did some industrialists in nineteenth-century Europe prefer hand labour over machines?
Solution: In the 19th century, some European industrialists preferred hand labour over machines because

1. New technologies and machines were expensive and untested. So, the producers and the industrialists were cautious about using them.
2. Machines often broke down, and repairing them was an expensive affair.
3. Poor peasants and migrants moved to cities in large numbers in search of jobs. As a result, there was a large pool of labourers available for cheap labour.
4. In seasonal industries, where production fluctuated with the seasons, industrialists usually preferred hand labour, employing workers only for the season when it was needed.
5. The variety of products required in the market could not be produced by the machines available at that time. In the mid-nineteenth century, in Britain, for instance, 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes were produced; these required human skills and not mechanical technology.

5. How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers?
Solution: The East India Company adopted various steps to ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles.

1. They established political power to assert a monopoly on the right to trade.
2. The company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade and establish direct control over the weavers. It appointed paid servants called the ‘Gomasthas’ to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.
3. It prevented the company weavers from dealing with other buyers. Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material. Those who took loans had to hand over the cloth they produced to the Gomasthas only. They could not take it to any other trader.
4. They developed a system of management and control that would eliminate competition, control costs and ensure a regular supply of cotton and silk goods. This system forced the sale at a price dictated by the company. By giving the weavers a loan, the company tied the weavers with them.

6. Imagine that you have been asked to write an article for an encyclopedia on Britain and the history of cotton. Write your piece using information from the entire.
Solution: The following inventions in 18th-century England (given in chronological order) are important milestones in the history of cotton.

1. James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny in 1764. This improved spinning work significantly.
2. John Key invented the ‘Flying Shuttle’ in 1769, which boosted the weaving process.
3. Richard Arkwright improved the ‘Spinning Jenny’ in 1769 so that it could be run by water power. He called it the ‘Water Frame’.
4. In 1776, Samuel Crompton invented the ‘Mule’, which combined the advantages of both the ‘Water Frame’ and the ‘Spinning Jenny’.
5. In 1785, Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom, which used steam power for both spinning and weaving.
6. Eli Whitney (in the USA) invented the ‘Cotton Gin’ in 1793, which solved the problem of removing seeds from cotton fibres. This could separate the seeds from the fibres 300 times faster than by hand. Later on, Arkwright created a complete cotton mill where all the textile manufacturing processes could be completed under one roof and management.
7. The use of steam power played a very significant role in running cotton mills. Production of textiles increased in a very short time and with less manual labour. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were near about 321 steam engines in England, out of which 80 were in use in cotton textile mills.
8. The East India Company appointed ‘Gomasthas’, the paid servants of the company, to supervise weavers, collect supplies and judge and inspect the quality of textiles. The Gomasthas were the link between the East India Company and the weavers. The company arranged loans to the weavers to purchase raw materials for weaving the cloth.

7. Why did industrial production in India increase during the First World War?
Solution: Industrial production in India increased during the First World War due to the following reasons:

1. The British mills were busy with war production to meet the needs of the army; thus, Manchester’s imports to India declined.
2. With the decline in imports suddenly, Indian mills had a vast home market to supply.
3. As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs also, such as Jute bags, cloth for the uniform of soldiers, tents, and leather boots.
4. New factories were set up, and old ones organised multiple shifts; during the war years, Indian industries boomed.
5. Overall, the First World War gave a boost to Indian industries.