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.