Cotton Industry

Cotton is a white fibrous substances composed of the hairs surrounding the seeds of the cotton plant. As Edward Baines pointed out: "Cotton is a white substance, and in some of its varieties cream-coloured, or of a yellow hue; it possesses downy softness and warmth, and its delicate fibres are sufficiently long, flexible, and tenacious, to admit of being spun into an extremely fine thread. It grows upon the plant enclosed within pods, which protect it from injury by dust or weather, until it is ripe and fit to be gathered, with the heat of the sun causes it to expand, and burst open the pod."

Cotton was first imported to England in the 16th century. Initially it was mixed either with linen or worsted yarn. By 1750 some pure cotton cloths were being produced in Britain. Imports of raw cotton from the West Indies and the American Colonies gradually increased and by 1790 it had reached 31,447,605 lbs.

The Cotton Industry developed in three main districts: North West England, centred on Manchester; the Midlands, centred on Nottingham; and the Clyde Valley in Scotland, between Lanark and Paisley. By the 1780s the industry was becoming more concentrated in Lancashire, with a considerable number of mills within the Oldham, Bolton, Manchester triangle. By the end of the 18th century a large proportion of the population of Lancashire was dependent on the cotton industry.

By 1802 the industry accounted for between 4 and 5 per cent of the national income of Britain. By 1812 there were 100,000 spinners and 250,000 weavers working in the industry. Production had grown to 8 percent and had now overtaken the woollen industry. By 1830 more than half the value of British home-produced exports consisted of cotton textiles.

Primary Sources

(1) Edward Baines, The History of the Cotton Manufacture (1835)

Cotton is a white substance, and in some of its varieties cream-coloured, or of a yellow hue; it possesses downy softness and warmth, and its delicate fibres are sufficiently long, flexible, and tenacious, to admit of being spun into an extremely fine thread. It grows upon the plant enclosed within pods, which protect it from injury by dust or weather, until it is ripe and fit to be gathered, with the heat of the sun causes it to expand, and burst open the pod.

(2) Cotton Imported to Britain between 1701 and 1800.

Year

lbs.

1701

1,985,868

1710

715,008

1720

1,972,805

1730

1,545,472

1741

1,645,031

1751

2,976,610

1764

3,870,392

1775

4,764,589

1780

6,766,613

1790

31,447,605

1800

56,010,732

(3) Cotton Goods Exported by Britain between 1701 to 1800.

Year

£

1701

23,253

1710

5,698

1720

16,200

1730

13,524

1741

20,709

1751

45,986

1764

200,354

1780

355,060

1787

1,101,457

1790

1,662,369

1800

5,406,501

(4) Export of British Cotton Goods, 1784 to 1856.

Date

£ (thousands)

% total exports

1784-86

766

6.0

1794-96

3,392

15.6

1804-06

15,871

42.3

1814-16

18,742

42.1

1824-26

16,879

47.8

1834-36

22,398

48.5

1844-46

25,835

44.2

1854-56

34,908

34.1

(5) Employment in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1801 to 1861.

Date

number of workers in industry

% of working population

1801

242,000

35.9

1811

306,000

36.9

1821

369,000

35.0

1831

427,000

31.9

1841

374,000

22.4

1851

379,000

18.6

1861

446,000

18.3