THE GROWTH OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY AND SCOTTISH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1780-1835 by ALEXANDER JAMES ROBERTSON M.A., University of Glasgow, 1963 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF M.A. i n the Department of History We accept t h i s thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July, 1965. In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of .-the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of • British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that per-mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that;copying or publi-cation of this thesis.for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission* Department of History The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada Date 26th July, 1965. THE GROWTH OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY AND SCOTTISH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1780-1835. ABSTRACT This study i s intended, f i r s t of a l l , to be an examination of the growth of the cotton industry in Scotland from 176*0 to 1835. During this period, i t became the largest and most important sector of the Scottish industrial economy, producing over 70% of the country's exports by value. There i s , however, a subsidiary problem, that of placing the industry's growth within the general context of Scottish economic development in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The choice of terminal dates was to some extent dictated by the ava i l a b i l i t y of material. The Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland, probably the most important single source of information on the establishment of the cotton industry, was compiled in the last two decades of the eighteenth century. The early 1830's saw the compilation of the New S t a t i s t i c a l Account and the publication of the findings of the Factories . Inquiry Commission and the Select Committee on Manufactures, Commerce and Shipping, a l l important sources for the industry's later development. Separate Scottish Customs records ceased to be kept in 1827, after which date no reliable guide to the importation of raw cotton into Scotland i i i s available. But the date I78O does mark approximately the industry's foundation in Scotland, while 1835 marks the end of the main period of i t s expansion. The problem of the industry's foundations and growth was dealt with by adopting a topical approach. The f i r s t topic to be discussed in this connection was that of the physical growth of the industry from 17#0 to 1835, which involved an examination of the expansion of raw cotton consumption and of the number and size of the units of production. At the same time, the industry's location was considered. The next step was to consider the capitalization of the industry, the factors which stimulated the transference of capital and entrepreneurial a b i l i t y from other sectors of the economy, and the response of the industry to consumer demand by specialization in certain types of product. These were considered to be the factors which made the industry's expansion possible. The most important problems involving labour in the new industry - labour recruitment, wages and conditions of work and the formation of labour organizations -were also considered. In dealing with the subsidiary, problem, a narrative approach was adopted. The f i r s t chapter, therefore, i s simply a description of the developments within the Scottish economy which preceded the establishment of, the cotton industry. Thus, the economic conditions out of which the industry grew and in which the capital, production s k i l l s and other requirements for i t s growth were acquired could be set out. The last i i i chapter i s intended to show the effects of the cotton Industry's development on other sectors of the Scottish economy. The Scottish cotton industry developed out of the economic c r i s i s which followed the loss of the American colonies i n 1783. I t s expansion after that date was rapid, though subject to considerable fluctuations due to uncertain market conditions arid a rather narrow s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n the type of f a b r i c s produced. The industry's expansion was undertaken by means of the adoption of new production-techniques and new forms of organization, which marked a change-over from the system of manual production i n small-scale units to mechanized production i n large-scale factory u n i t s . These came to be centred i n the south-west of Scotland, around Glasgow, because of the advantages which that area enjoyed over others i n respect of access to markets and raw materials and because i t possessed resources of h i g h l y - s k i l l e d labour which other areas lacked. C a p i t a l and entrepreneurial s k i l l s acquired i n the pre-American Revolutionary period, mainly'in other t e x t i l e i n d u s t r i e s , were u t i l i z e d to b u i l d up the new industry, which also appears to have based i t s i n i t i a l expansion on the e x p l o i t a t i o n of' markets previously served by the l i n e n industry. These proved to be inadequate, however, and new products had to be developed to ensure continued expansion while avoiding d i r e c t competition with Manchester. The industry r e l i e d heavily on supplies of immigrant labour to man i t s f a c t o r i e s . The working conditions within the f a c t o r i e s varied from place to place according to the i v -attitudes of i n d i v i d u a l managers, and wages, too, varied from one factory to the next, and even from man to man i n any one m i l l . In general, factory wages fluctuated with the trade cycle, while wages i n the remaining domestic section of the industry, handloom weaving, seem to have declined s t e a d i l y at lea s t from 1806. The concentration of the labour force i n large units offset the advantages which the employers had always enjoyed i n disputes with labour, and permitted the foundation of strong and e f f e c t i v e m i l i t a n t labour organiza-ti o n s . The development of the cotton industry led to the expansion of other industries i n Scotland, notably the secondary t e x t i l e industries l i k e bleaching and dyeing. I t s adoption of mechanized techniques of production promoted the growth of the engineering industries i n the Clyde Valley, and the increased demand for chemicals f o r c l o t h - f i n i s h i n g which resulted from i t s expansion led to considerable expansion of the chemical industry. In these ways, the cotton industry ' ,laid the basis of the S c o t t i s h economy of the twentieth century. TABLE of CONTENTS PAGE 1. Scottish economic development from the Union of 1707 to the American Revolution 1 2. The growth of the cotton industry, 1780-1835 19 3. The foundations of expansion 4# 4. The problems of industrialization: labour in the cotton industry 77 5 . The effects on Scottish industrial development in the 19th century 111 6. Bibliography 129 7. Appendix: Tables 135 1 vi LIST OF TABLES PAGE I. Imports of raw cotton into Scotland. 1770-1827 135 II. Exports of cotton goods from Scotland related to S cottish total exports, selected years 139 III, Nett Weekly wages of handloom weavers in Glasgow, 1810-1831 140 IV. Wages in cotton-spinning and power-weaving mills in Glasgow, 1831 141 1 SCOTTISH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FROM THE UNION OF 1707 TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Before discussing the growth of the S c o t t i s h cotton industry fronr 17&0 onwards, i t i s necessary to consider S c o t t i s h economic development from the Union with England i n 1707 to the closing stages of the American War of Independence. Several of the developments of t h i s period have a d i r e c t bearing on c e r t a i n aspects of the cotton industry's growth, such as i t s s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n c e r t a i n types of f a b r i c , i t s geographical l o c a t i o n , and the resources of c a p i t a l and entrepreneurial s k i l l which i t exploited. The Union of 1707, has, therefore, been chosen as the s t a r t i n g point of t h i s study. I The Union held out to the Scots the hope of escaping from the economic d i f f i c u l t i e s which had beset them since before the Restoration of the Stuarts i n 1660. Scotland's alignment with England i n matters of foreign p o l i c y since the two thrones had been united under the Stuarts i n I6O3 had interfered with the t r a d i t i o n a l pattern of S c o t t i s h overseas trade. A state of commercial r i v a l r y existed between England and Scotland's main trading partners, France, Holland and the Scandinavian states. As a r e s u l t , the Scots sometimes found themselves dragged into war against t h e i r best customers i n unwilling support of t h e i r oldest enemy. The erection of t a r i f f b a r r i e r s against English goods by France, Holland and 2 Norway also affected Scottish exports to those countries. Nor were the Scots compensated for the decline of their traditional markets by increased opportunities for trading with England and her colonies. The Navigation Acts operated against Scottish shipping in exactly the same way as they did against French or Dutch shipping. Various enactments of the English Parliament, culminating in the Aliens Act of 1705, threatened Scottish goods with exclusion from the English market. Scotland, again by reason of the Navigation Acts, was excluded from direct participation in the colonial trade,''" and when an attempt was made to set up a Scottish colony on the Isthmus of Darien in Central America in 1695, i t met with the h o s t i l i t y of English colonial interests. The attempt failed catastrophically for this and other reasons. The outcome of a l l this, as one recent commentator has said, was that, "After 1688, a l l the evidence points to the onset - of genuine long-term decline both i n Scottish overseas trade and in those industries most ^ dependent upon i t . " By 1703, when the last independent Scottish Parliament convened i n Edinburgh, the decline had gone so far that the Scottish economy was on the verge of complete collapse. 1. Some Scottish merchants evaded the Acts by chartering English ships and operating out of Whitehaven, on the English side of the Solway Firth: see R.H. Campbell, "The Anglo-Scottish Union II: the economic consequences," Economic History Review (Ec.H.R.) 2nd series, vol XVI 1963-64, 469. 2. T.C. Smout, "The Anglo-Scottish Union I: the economic background «-Ec.H.R., 2nd series, XVI, 1963-64, 459. The account of the Scottish economy before 1707 i s largely based on this work. 3 The Treaty of Union, r a t i f i e d i n 1707, offered a way out of the impending crash.^ A r t i c l e XV, which with A r t i c l e IX concerned the f i s c a l and f i n a n c i a l r e l a t i o n s between Scotland and England, offered f i n a n c i a l encouragement to Scottish industry. £2,000 per annum from the funds of the "Equivalent" were to be devoted to t h i s purpose. A small enough sum by modern standards, t h i s represented a substantial .addition to the resources of a country where the shortage of c a p i t a l for i n d u s t r i a l development was chronic, and was to 3 remain so for some time to come. More important from the point of view of long-term economic growth was A r t i c l e IV of the Treaty, which granted the Scots unrestricted access to the English and English c o l o n i a l markets and extended the protection of the Navigation Acts to Scottish shipping and overseas trade. An alternative was thus obtained to the declining European markets; further costly attempts to develop S c o t t i s h colonies were rendered unnecessary; the practice of trading out of English ports to evade the Acts could be abandoned, to the benefit of Scott i s h ports and shipping; and Scott i s h goods would no longer be threatened with exclusion from England. 1. For the text of the Treaty, see G.S. Pryde The Treaty of Union of Scotland and England, 1707f Edinburgh 1950, 83-102. ' 2. The Equivalent was the c a p i t a l i z e d value of e x i s t i n g S c o t t i s h revenue-yield, £398,085, which went towards servicing the English National Debt; see Campbell, "Anglo-Scottish Union I," Ec.H.R.T 2nd ser., XVI, 1963-64, 473. 3. R.H. Campbell, "An Economic History of Scotland i n the Eighteenth Century," Scott i s h Journal of P o l i t i c a l Economy (S.J.P.E.) T-vol. X I t 19bkr 20. 4 I f the Union encouraged the expansion of Scottish i n d u s t r i a l and commercial a c t i v i t y , i t did not guarantee that expansion would take place. Before any benefit could be derived from the new trading conditions, steps had to be taken to put the Scotti s h economy on a sound footing. Trading a c t i v i t y had to be reorientated: Edinburgh, the centre f o r trade with Northern and Western Europe, was not located i n a posi t i o n from which trade with America and the West Indies could e a s i l y be conducted. Glasgow, on the west coast of Scotland, was much better placed to compete with the established English colonial-trading ports. An ocean-going merchant f l e e t had to be b u i l t to carry on the trans-Atlantic c o l o n i a l trade: e x i s t i n g S c o t t i s h shipping, b u i l t for the r e l a t i v e l y short European routes, was not suitable for t h i s purpose. A share of the c o l o n i a l trade had to be wrested from the entrenched English i n t e r e s t s . A completely new basis had to be found for S c o t t i s h industry, which had been b u i l t up i n the pre-1707 me r c a n t i l i s t setting to compete with English industry i n a highly-protected Scottish domestic market. In the free market created by the Union, the p r i n c i p l e of competition with England could not always be maintained, as the fate of the Scottish woollen industry demonstrated.''" S c o t t i s h manufacturers, therefore, had to apply themselves to developing products which complemented those of English industry instead of competing with them. 1. H. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland i n the Eighteenth Century, Oxford 1963, 131-4. The subsidy granted to t h i s industry i n A r t i c l e XV of the Treaty was larg e l y wasted, as the industry.could not make the adjustment and declined i n the face of competition from the old-established and highly-developed English woollen industry. 5 I I I t i s d i f f i c u l t to judge whether the Scots took immediate advantage of the opportunities which the Union presented f o r expanding i n d u s t r i a l output by increasing the volume of trade with England and her colonies. No record was kept of the flow of Scottish goods to England af t e r 1707, since no Customs bar r i e r was maintained between the two countries from then on and Scottish goods destined for English consumers were no longer regarded as exports. No s a t i s f a c t o r y record of Scottish i n d u s t r i a l output was kept u n t i l a f t e r the Board of Trustees for Manufactures and Fisheries was set up i n 1727, and available Customs registers only cover the period -aft e r 1755. I t appears, however, that the response was not very rapid. The c a t t l e trade with England expanded immediately, i t i s true; but t h i s seems to have been the only sector of the economy to do so, and the effectiveness of i t s response was hampered by i n e f f i c i e n c y due to poverty."*" Judging from the comments of a pet i t i o n e r to the House of Commons i n 1720, l i t t l e had been achieved i n the way of i n d u s t r i a l and commercial development even by that date. He observed that, "Scotland i s a. country the most barren of any Nation i n these parts of Europe, they have nothing of t h e i r own growth to export, except corn, coals c a t t l e and some wool; nor nothing to form any Manufacturers but what they receive from t h e i r neighbours. There i s nothing hinders Scotland from being a trading Nation but the want of goods to export." 1. For the response of the ca t t l e - t r a d e , see A. Smith, The Wealth of Nations, ed. E. Cannan, London 1961, v o l . I , 2 4 6 - 7 . For the general response, see Campbell, "Anglo-Scottish Union I , " Ec.H.R. 2nd ser., XVI, 1963-64, 468-477. 2 . Quoted by Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, Introduction, x i i i . 6 Since Scotland needed time to adjust her economy to her new s i t u a t i o n and to recover from the precarious economic condition she was i n at the time of the Union, no immediate response could be expected of her. After 1720, progress was made towards remedying the s i t u a t i o n described by the p e t i t i o n e r , and i n d u s t r i a l development gathered momentum. The e f f o r t s of private i n d i v i d u a l s i n t h i s f i e l d were supplemented by the a c t i v i t i e s of the Board of Trustees for Manufactures and F i s h e r i e s , which was set up i n 1727 with an annual income of £6,000 which was to be devoted to Scottish economic development. The Board's function was to develop new and improved production techniques, and to encourage t h e i r adoption by teaching the producers how they could best be u t i l i z e d . The Board i n s t i t u t e d prizes fo r high-quality production and also provided cash-grants to concerns whose f i n a n c i a l resources did not match t h e i r p o t e n t i a l . I t exercised a supervisory function, laying down standards of q u a l i t y and maintaining a permanent inspectorate to see that these were kept."*" Another o f f i c i a l body, the Forfeited Estates Commission, which had been set up i n 1752 to administer the estates of convicted Jacobites, exercised a 2 s i m i l a r function i n the Highlands. The Board of Trustees devoted most of i t s attention to the t e x t i l e industries of central Scotland, and e s p e c i a l l y to the l i n e n industry.-^ The t e x t i l e industries had been second ~1. An account of the Board's a c t i v i t i e s i s given i n Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, 134-141. 2. I b i d . ; 146. The Commission ac t u a l l y took over the Board's functions i n the Highlands to a great extent. 3. The l i n e n industry became the most important t e x t i l e industry a f t e r the decline of the woollen industry. See above, 4, n . l . 7 only to agriculture i n the economic l i f e of Scotland i n 1707, and remained i n that p o s i t i o n throughout the period under discussion because the economy remained primarily agrarian, and domestic spinning and weaving were e a s i l y combined with agrarian pursuits.^" Responding to the opening of new markets and to the encouragement given by the Board, l i n e n - c l o t h output rose from 2 m i l l i o n yards i n 1728 to 3.9 m i l l i o n i n 1731, then to 7.9 m i l l i o n i n 1751 and 13.4 m i l l i o n i n 1771. 2 The l i n e n industry consisted of two quite d i s t i n c t sectors: one, i n the east of Scotland, specialized i n the production of coarse f a b r i c s ; the other, i n the south-west, produced f i n e high-quality goods, which could stand comparison with the best 3 continental f a b r i c s . The south-western counties of Lanark and Renfrew between them produced 23% of the t o t a l yardage of l i n e n - c l o t h made i n Scotland i n 1768, but t h i s represented h-0% of the t o t a l value of Scottish l i n e n output.^" The development of both sectors was hampered by the poor q u a l i t y of home-grown f l a x , which produced yarn of uneven thickness and strength. Both, therefore, turned increasingly to imported raw materials, and by the outbreak of the American War of Independence the coarse-linen trade r e l i e d on f l a x and hemp imported from Riga and St. Petersburg, while the f i n e -linens were manufactured from French and Flemish yarns.^ 1. Linen, f o r instance, accounted for 20% of Scotland's home-produced exports i n 1771- Campbell, "Economic History of Scotland i n the 18th century," S.J.P.E., XI, 1964, 18. 2. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, Appendix IV, 404-5. 3. ; D. Chapman, "The establishment of the Jute Industry; a problem i n location theory," Review of Economic Studies, v o l . VI 1938-9, 45; also, Hamilton, op.cit. 148-9. 4.. I b i d . T 149. 5. The Board of Trustees t r i e d hard to over come t h i s , without success. 6. As above, note 3 . The s k i l l s which the weavers of the south-west acquired in the manufacture of lawns, cambrics, and the other fine cloths were to prove useful in building up the cotton industry later i n the century, and were to give that region an advantage over others in Scotland as a cotton-manufacturing centre.''" Other industries expanded after 1720 in response to the opportunities for increasing their sales in the new markets. In the t h i r t i e s , English ironmasters seeking new resources of timber for charcoal set up a number of furnaces in the wooded 2 areas of the Highlands. This boom in charcoal-fired iron smelting was comparatively short-lived - most of the furnaces were out of blast by 1760 - but the decline was to some extent offset by the erection of a coke-fired ironworks at Carron in 3 Stirlingshire in 1759. This development stimulated the demand for coal, the output of which had been growing in any case as a result of expansion in the glass, salt and sugar-refining industries since 1720.^ Most of the industrial development had been undertaken as a result of the granting of free access to the English market. Over 85%> of the linen industry's output, for instance, 5 was meant for consumption within the United Kingdom in 1771. 1. See below, 45-7 and 70^1. Among the other fine fabrics made in the south-west were silk-gauze and hybrid cloths called "blunks" or "bengals" with a linen warp and a cotton weft. For the variety of fabrics made and sold in Glasgow, see J. Gibson, History of Glasgow from the earliest accounts to the present time, Glasgow 1777, 239. 2. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland. 189-93. 3. Ibid. T 193. 4 . Ibid.j 205. 5. The last peak year in Scottish overseas trade before the American War. For linen output and exports, see Hamilton, op. c i t . ? Appendix I?, 404-5 and Appendix VI, 410-11. 9 The remaining 15$ or so of the linen output, and probably a smaller proportion of other industrial output, was intended for overseas markets. Scottish produce, in fact, only contributed 27% of the value of Scotland's total exports."^ The most important element in overseas trade was the entrepot trade in Virginia tobacco, which the merchants of Glasgow had built up i n the face of stern competition from the established English colonial-trading ports such as London, Bri s t o l , Liverpool and Whitehaven. By the beginning of the second half of the eighteenth century, Glasgow was well on the way to 2 securing a monopoly of the Virginia trade. A less important entrepot trade in West Indian produce, mainly sugar, was carried on from another Clyde port, Greenock i n Renfrewshire. Imports of these two commodities, tobacco and sugar, accounted for 41.5$ of the value of Scotland's total imports in 1771, with tobacco by far the major contributor. Exports of tobacco and sugar i n the same year contributed 53.8$ of the value of Scotland's total.exports. The Navigation Acts, which required that colonial produce destined for markets other than the United Kingdom and i t s colonies should be shipped f i r s t to British ports, were an important factor in the growth of these trades. Without the Acts, no such development could have taken place. But they were not a sufficient cause of growth: other factors also operated to produce the virtual 1. Campbell, "Economic History of Scotland in the 18th century/ S.J.P.E., XI 1964, 18. 2. R. Miller and.-J.-Tivy (eds.), The Glasgow Region, a general survey, Glasgow 1958, 156. -3. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, Appendices VIII IX, XI, 414-7, 419-20. monopoly of the tobacco trade which Glasgow enjoyed. The c i t y ' s geographical position was superior to that of her main English r i v a l s from the point of view of the American trade: the shorter voyages which i t allowed gave the c i t y ' s merchants an advantage i n transport costs."'" In addition, i t emerged from an enquiry conducted i n 1721 into the business practices of the Glasgow merchants by the Lords of the Treasury, that t h e i r trading methods were more f r u g a l than those of t h e i r r i v a l s . 2 As a r e s u l t of the development of the tobacco trade, the Clyde replaced the Forth as the f o c a l point of economic a c t i v i t y i n Scotland: i n 1772, $6% of the Scott i s h shipping 3 engaged i n overseas trade was Clyde-registered. Despite t h i s s h i f t , Edinburgh had remained the centre of S c o t t i s h banking. The three chartered banks did not even open branches i n Glasgow u n t i l 1783.^" The chartered banks pursued very conservative lending p o l i c i e s , and took l i t t l e part i n the financing of industry and trade. Although some of the private Edinburgh banks may have been more adventurous,^ i t seems that to a s s i s t t h e i r e f f o r t s to b u i l d up overseas trade the Glasgow merchants had to form t h e i r own credit i n s t i t u t i o n s , whose 1. M i l l e r and Tivy, The Glasgow Region r 157. 2. Ibid. j 156. 3. L o c . c i t . 4. They were the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the B r i t i s h Linen Bank. The f i r s t to open i n Glasgow was the Royal Bank, i n 178*3. 5 . Campbell, "Economic History of Scotland i n the 18th century S.J.P.E.. XI, 1964, 20-21. 6. e.g. Coutts and Co., which had some int e r e s t i n the tobacco trade. See S i r W. Forbes of P i t s l i g o , Memoirs of a Banking House, f i r s t publ. 1803, reprinted Edinburgh 1860, the reminiscences of Coutts manager i n 1775. lending p o l i c i e s were more l i b e r a l . The Ship Bank, founded i n Glasgow i n 1750, and the T h i s t l e Bank, set up i n the c i t y i n 1761, both had tobacco merchants as partners.^ Sales organizations f o r the disposal of Scottish goods, both i n overseas markets and i n the United Kingdom, were b u i l t up i n conjunction with the growth of industry and of the entrepot trades. The l i n e n merchants set up a network of "packmen", or pedlars, who made t h e i r way into the most remote d i s t r i c t s of England and Scotland to s e l l Scottish linens and gather information about the markets, which was transmitted back to Glasgow or Dundee, the centres of the wholesale 2 linen-trades. Some of them had connections with V i r g i n i a or West India traders, who acted as agents f o r the l i n e n 3 merchants i n the colonies. Some Glasgow linen-houses had continental agencies too, presumably a r i s i n g out of t h e i r connections with the French y a r n - m e r c h a n t s T h e same was probably true of the Dundee linen-merchants, whose raw materials came from the B a l t i c . Communications improved with the growth of trade and industry. Most of the improvement naturally took place around the main centre of trade, with the r e s u l t that Glasgow's 1. For the foundation of the Ship Bank, G. Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow Citize n s h i p, Glasgow 1881, 25. The prospectus of the T h i s t l e Bank was published i n The Scots Magazine, No. 23, 1761, 614. The Ship Bank at least became very conservative after the American War; see, Stewart, o p . c i t • . 186-8. 2. G. Stewart, Progress of Glasgow, Glasgow 1883, 93-4. 3. James Fjnlay and Company Limited, 1750-1950, Glasgow 1952, 4. 4. Loc. c i t . , and Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, 269. p o s i t i o n as a communications-centre was unrivalled i n Scotland by the time the American War broke out i n 1775. Harbour f a c i l i t i e s on the Clyde were improved and extended and the r i v e r deepened and widened. Besides the ex i s t i n g ports at Greenock, Dumbarton and Irv i n e , new harbours were b u i l t at Ardrossan and Port Glasgow, the l a t t e r by the V i r g i n i a merchants, whose ships were prevented from reaching Glasgow i t s e l f by shoals and rock-outcrops. 1 Although Glasgow's harbour at the Broomielaw had been extended at the end of the seventeenth century, the obstructions i n the r i v e r made i t s regular use impossible - at low water i t was blocked even to 2 l i g h t e r s . In 1755, • John Smeaton was ca l l e d i n by the Glasgow magistrates to carry out a survey of the river-bed with a view to making i t more e a s i l y navigable, but hi s plans for improvements were rejected. The magistrates then c a l l e d i n John Golbourn of Chester, who surveyed the r i v e r i n 1769. In 1770, an engineer named Watt began to implement Golbourn's plans, and i n 1775 vessels drawing just over s i x feet of water 3 could reach the Broomielaw at low t i d e . Canal-communications were also b u i l t up with a view to improving access to the markets for tobacco. The advantages of a canal l i n k i n g Glasgow with the east coast had been pointed out as early as 1727 by Defoe, who observed i n his "Tour of 1. 'Sir John S i n c l a i r (ed.), S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1791-99, v o l . V, 546-7. Referred to hereafter as Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account. 2. One shoal, 300 yards below the Broomielaw, was only 15 inches below the surface at low water; J.D. Marwick, The River Clyde and the Clyde Burghs, Glasgow 1909, 177. 3. J . Cleland, Enumeration of the Inhabitants of Glasgow, Glasgow 1832, 153, gives an account of the operations of Smeaton, Golbourn and Watt. Britain" that, "If this city- could have a communication with the firth of Forth so as to send their tobacco and sugar by water to Alloway, below Stirling, as they might from thence again to London, Holland, Hamburgh and the Baltic, they would very probably in a few , years double their trade". The merchants took up the suggestion, and work on the Forth-Glyde canal began in 1768, after some argument as to the best route. By 1775, the eastern outskirts of Glasgow were linked up with the village of Grangemouth, on the Forth. The f u l l canal, from Grangemouth to Bowling, Dunbartonshire, was completed in 1790, when the Monkland canal, which linked Glasgow with the Lanarkshire coalfield, was also completed and 2 joined the Forth-Clyde canal in Glasgow. Road communications appear to have been less well developed before 1775. Nevertheless, there were signs of real interest by then. Plans were being considered for turn-pikes to link Glasgow with the chief towns of the south-west and with England. But l i t t l e action was forthcoming before 1785. Between that date and 1788, however, the turn-pikes from Glasgow to Ayr and Glasgow to Carlisle via Dumfries had been started, as had the Stirling to Dumbarton pike, which had a feeder route 3 to Glasgow, a l i t t l e to the south of the main highway. These developments in communications by land and wa,ter were later to influence the location of the cotton industry, which came to be concentrated in the Glasgow area, within a radius of 25 miles from the city.^4-1. Quoted by Marwick, The River Clyde, 178", n.2. 2. Ibid. , 178-9, gives an account of canal-building. 3. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, 222-28. 4. See below, 46. I l l The American War of Independence interrupted the course of development which had begun with the Union. One of the f i r s t acts of the colonists was to repudiate the Navigation Acts, upon which the prosperity of Scottish overseas trade depended. Tobacco imports, which had been kept at a very high level from 1771 to 1775, f e l l away badly in 1776 and were reduced to a mere trickle i n 1777. 1 Thereafter, they recovered somewhat, but never regained the importance which they had enjoyed before the war. Re-exports of tobacco slumped as well, 2 and again never recovered their former importance. Most of the tobacco merchants escaped from the collapse of their 3 trade without very great loss, but the effects of the collapse on Scottish overseas trade were nothing short of catastrophic. Re-exports, which formed the bulk of Scotland's export trade, f e l l from an annual average value of £1,138,247 (1770-74 inclusive) to one of £331,925 (1775-83 inclusive). As a result, the annual average value of total exports also declined, from £1,626,066 for the period 1770-74 to £864,043 in the period 1775-83. Total imports to Scotland f e l l , because of the loss of the tobacco trade, from an annual average of £1,225,606 i n the period 1770-74 to one of £872,773 for the 1. Between 41 and 47 million lbs. per annum was imported between 1770 and the end of 1775. In 1776, imports were 7h million lbs., and i n 1777, just over i million lbs.; Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, Appendix IX 416-7. 2. From an average of c. 45 million lbs., 1771-3 to 23f million in 1776 and 5\ million i n 1777. Loc.cit. 3. They anticipated the revolt, stockpiled tobacco for sale at famine prices and liquidated their assets in America. M.L. Robertson, "Scottish Commerce and the 'American War," Ec.H.R., 2nd series, IX, 1956, 123-4. period 1775-33. The annual balance of overseas trade, which had been favourable to Scotland since at least 1755, swung the other way i n 1775, and remained adverse u n t i l 1800. 1 With the loss of the American colonies and the collapse of the tobacco trade, Scot t i s h industry l o s t i t s most important overseas market. But afte r an i n i t i a l slump of home-produced exports i n 1775, new outlets were found f o r them by Scotti s h agents i n Europe, the West Indies, Canada, Nova Scotia and F l o r i d a . The annual average value of home-produced exports a c t u a l l y stood higher i n the wartime period, 1775-83, than i t 3 had been for the pre-war period, 1770-74. I n d u s t r i a l production seems to have been r i s i n g : c e r t a i n l y , l i n e n - c l o t h output rose from an annual average of 12.3 m i l l i o n yards (1770-74) to one of 14.2 m i l l i o n yards (1775-83). 4 Neither the outbreak of the war nor the entry into i t on the co l o n i s t s ' side of France (1778), Spain (1779) and Holland (1780) seems to have had any serious e f f e c t on Scotti s h industry as a whole, but some sectors probably did suf f e r . Indeed, some of the industries of the Glasgow area, which were closely connected 5 with the tobacco-trade, ceased to e x i s t . The f i n e - l i n e n trade, which depended on supplies of French and Flemish yarn, was probably h i t by the entry of France and Holland into the war and by the operations of h o s t i l e warships and privateers i n the English Channel and the A t l a n t i c . But neither of these 1. Trade figures from Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, Appendix V I I I , 414-5. 2. I b i d . , 269-70. 3. As for note 1, above. 4. I b i d . , Appendix IV, 404-5. 5. Stewart, Progress of Glasgow, 68-71. e f f e c t s t o t h e i n d u s t r i e s of Glasgow and t o the f i n e - l i n e n t r a d e was s u f f i c i e n t t o c o u n t e r a c t t h e g e n e r a l tendency towards e x p a n s i o n e x p e r i e n c e d i n o t h e r s e c t o r s o f t h e i n d u s t r i a l economy. IV With t h e end o f t h e war i n 1783, i t became o b v i o u s t h a t t h e t o b a c c o t r a d e c o u l d never be r e b u i l t i n i t s o r i g i n a l f o rm. The s u c c e s s o f t h e c o l o n i s t s i n a c h i e v i n g t h e i r independence, which c o n f i r m e d t h e i r e a r l i e r r e p u d i a t i o n o f t h e N a v i g a t i o n A c t s , saw t o t h a t . S c o t l a n d , as one r e c e n t commentator has s a i d , "had t o f i n d o t h e r o u t l e t s f o r i t s e n e r g i e s and r e s o u r c e s i f i t wished t o r e g a i n i t s pre-war p r o s p e r i t y " . More s p e c i f i c a l l y , t h e gap l e f t i n S c o t t i s h o v e r s e a s t r a d e by th e l o s s o f t h e e n t r e p o t t r a d e i n t o b a c c o had t o be f i l l e d , and the t r a d e b a l a n c e r e s t o r e d t o a p o s i t i o n f a v o u r a b l e t o S c o t l a n d . These o b j e c t i v e s c o u l d be a c h i e v e d e i t h e r by b u i l d i n g up a new e n t r e p o t t r a d e i n some o t h e r c o l o n i a l p r o d u c t o r by s t e p p i n g up e x p o r t s o f home-produced goods, or by t h e s i m u l t a n e o u s a d o p t i o n o f b o t h p o l i c i e s . Many of t h e tobacco-merchants began t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e 2 West I n d i a n t r a d e , which expanded r a p i d l y f r o m 1786 t o 1790. 1. R o b e r t s o n , " S c o t t i s h Commerce and t h e American War," Ec.H.R. , 2nd s e r . , I X , 1956, 128. 2. E x p o r t s t o t h e West I n d i e s f rom S c o t l a n d r o s e f rom £139,984 (1786) t o £318,805 (1790), and i m p o r t s f r o m t h e West I n d i e s t o S c o t l a n d f r o m £235,763 (1786) t o £371,656 (1790); I b i d . , 128. 17 The names of John R i d d e l l , Patrick Colquhoun, John Robertson, James Hopkirk and Robert Findlay appear both i n a l i s t of the p r i n c i p a l Glasgow V i r g i n i a merchants of 1783 and a l i s t of the office-bearers of the Glasgow West India. Club i n 1789.1 The p r i n c i p a l component of t h i s trade was sugar, which was re-exported i n quantity from the Clyde, but cotton wool or raw cotton, which had been imported i n varying but generally small quantities before the war, began to figure prominently 2 among the commodities imported from the West Indies. In 1786, raw cotton valued at £42,298 had been imported, as against sugar imports worth £136,156. In 1792, however, the gap between the two had narrowed considerably: raw cotton imports had ri s e n to £138,557 i n value, sugar imports to 3 £183,450. The actual amount of raw cotton imported had r i s e n from an annual average of 170,697 l b s . (1770-75) to one of 228,720 l b s . (1776-83) and to 1,715,300 l b s . (1784-92). This l a s t was the r e s u l t of an uninterrupted r i s e from 330,051 l b s . i n 1784 to 3,076,715 l b s . i n 1792.4 Very l i t t l e of the raw cotton imported after 1783 was intended for re-export. The rapid expansion of raw cotton imports from then on was, i n f a c t , i n d i c a t i v e of the growth of an e n t i r e l y new industry - the manufacture of pure cotton 1. 1783 l i s t i n Stewart, Progress of Glasgow, 76, 1789 l i s t i n N. Jones, Jones's Directory...of the C i t y of Glasgow f o r the year 1789, reprinted Glasgow 1866. 69. 2. See Hamilton Economic History of Scotland, Appendix V I I , 412-3. 3. L o c . c i t . and Appendix XI, 419. 4. For these and a l l subsequent raw cotton import fig u r e s , see Appendix, table I . 18 - f a b r i c s , which had been t e c h n i c a l l y i m p o s s i b l e i n S c o t l a n d b e f o r e t h e war."*" E s t a b l i s h e d S c o t t i s h i n d u s t r i e s i n 1783 were u n a b l e t o expand t h e i r o u t p u t , u s i n g e x i s t i n g p r o d u c t i o n -t e c h n i q u e s , t o an e x t e n t s u f f i c i e n t t o o f f s e t t h e l o s s of the t o b a c c o t r a d e by making more home-produced goods a v a i l a b l e f o r e x p o r t . The s i t u a t i o n o f 1783 c a l l e d f o r "new or improved forms o f o r g a n i z a t i o n and new i d e a s f o r t h e r e d u c t i o n of 2 waste". A d e l i b e r a t e p o l i c y of e n c o u r a g i n g the new i n d u s t r y , w i t h i t s new t e c h n i q u e s and forms o f o r g a n i z a t i o n , was adopted by t h e Board o f T r u s t e e s and by t h e newly-formed Glasgow Chamber o f Commerce, which embraced t h e m a n u f a c t u r e r s and merchants of t h e c i t y and s u r r o u n d i n g burghs.-* The i n d u s t r y ' s p o t e n t i a l as an e x p o r t e r and as a s e c t o r c a p a b l e o f r a p i d growth had a l r e a d y been demonstrated i n E n g l a n d b e f o r e t h e war. Perhaps t h e Board o f T r u s t e e s and t h e Chamber o f Commerce saw i n i t t h e s o l u t i o n t o the problem of r e p l a c i n g the t o b a c c o t r a d e . 1. C o t t o n warp-yarn c o u l d n o t be spun b e f o r e t h e i n v e n t i o n of t h e water-frame by A r k w r i g h t ( p a t e n t e d 1769). T h i s was not i n use i n S c o t l a n d u n t i l 1778 (December) a t t h e v e r y e a r l i e s t ; see below, 37. 2. W.R. S c o t t , "Economic R e s i l i e n c y , " Ec.H.R., I I , 1929-30, 294. 3. F o r t h e Board's a t t e m p t s t o encourage c o t t o n - s p i n n i n g , see H a m i l t o n , Economic H i s t o r y o f S c o t l a n d , 170-71. The Chamber of Commerce was s e t up i n Glasgow i n 1783, on t h e i n i t i a t i v e o f t h e t o b a c c o merchant, P a t r i c k Colquhoun. I t s f u n c t i o n s were i n many ways s i m i l a r t o t h o s e of t h e Bo a r d , though i t s scope was more c o n f i n e d t o l o c a l i n t e r e s t s . I t s a pproach t o e n c o u r a g i n g t r a d e was, however, o f t e n more d i r e c t : f o r i n s t a n c e i t s e t up a " S c o t c h agency" i n London i n 1788, w i t h Colquhoun as r e s i d e n t a g e n t , - t o s e l l S c o t t i s h m u s l i n s , and l a t e r opened a s i m i l a r agency i n Ostend. See S t e w a r t , P r o g r e s s o f Glasgow, 35-6. 2 1 9 THE GROWTH OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1780-1835 I The growth of the new industry af t e r the Peace of Paris i n 1733 was very rapid: the increase i n annual imports of raw cotton between 1783 and 1792 indicates almost a f i f t e e n - f o l d increase i n annual output i n that p e r i o d . 1 A new peak was reached i n 1802, when raw cotton imports, at 10,302,848 l b s . , were more than three times higher than i n 1792, the previous peak year. In 1810, raw cotton imports amounted to 12,339,977 l b s . , i n 1818 to over 14 m i l l i o n l b s . , 2 and by 1827, the l a s t year i n which a. separate record of Scottish foreign trade was kept by the Customs Department, nearly 20 m i l l i o n l b s . was imported to Scotland. An estimate of raw cotton consumption i n Scotland i n 1833 indicates that the expansionist trend was s t i l l going on: according to the estimate, nearly 24.5 m i l l i o n l b s . of cotton yarn was spun i n Scotland i n that year, which, allowing for wastage of l | ounces per pound i n the spinning, indicates a t o t a l importation of 3 nearly 27 m i l l i o n l b s . of raw cotton. The phenomenon did not go unremarked by contemporaries, e s p e c i a l l y i n the i n i t i a l stages of development when cotton f a b r i c s , hitherto an 1. See Appendix, table I. Import figures from Customs Records ? are the only r e l i a b l e guide available to the cotton industry's output. The amount of raw-cotton re-exported was n e g l i g i b l e . 2. Estimated output i n 1818 was 105 m i l l i o n yards, valued at £5.2 m i l l i o n . J . Cleland, Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the C i t y of Glasgow and County of Lanark for the Government Census of 1831, Glasgow 1832, 138. 3. E. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture of Great B r i t a i n , London 1835, 366-7. ~~ : * expensive r a r i t y , were coming within the reach of a much larger section of the population and when the prcesses of production were s t i l l regarded with awe and. wonder. S i r John S i n c l a i r ' s Glasgow correspondents remarked i n 1791, when the f i r s t peak of expansion was being approached, that although a l l branches of industry i n the c i t y had greatly extended, "... that which seems, for some years past, to have excited the most general attention, i s the manufacture of cotton cloths of various kinds, together with the ~ arts depending on i t . " Even i n the comparatively remote parish of Rerrick, i n Kirkcudbrightshire, the cotton manufacture generated considerable enthusiasm: a l o c a l landowner and some farmers had begun to set up a m i l l , and the minister observed that, "A s p i r i t of cotton manufacture got i n amongst us..." He could have been reporting the reaction of any one of twenty or more communities throughout Scotland, from Wigtownshire i n the south to Aberdeen i n the north - ranging i n size from towns the size of Glasgow or Paisley, which numbered the i r inhabitants i n thousands, to small v i l l a g e s such as Doune i n Perthshire or Bridge of Weir i n Renfrewshire, some of them quite i s o l a t e d . The spectacular expansion of the industry was matched by the equally spectacular fluctuations with which i t s growth was 1. They were seldom manufactured i n B r i t a i n because of d i f f i c u l t y experienced i n spinning warp-yarn. Yarn and fini s h e d goods were imported from India, by the East India Company, "and brought to that company large suras annually", A. Esilman, Comprehensive View of the Rise and Progress of the Cotton Trade of Scotland, Glasgow, 1823, 7. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, v o l . V 501-2. 3. I b i d - , XI, 56. 21 attended. In 1793-94, i f raw cotton import figures are any guide, output f e l l to less than a h a l f of the l e v e l of 1792. This was followed, apparently, by a period of stagnation l a s t i n g u n t i l 1798. A setback of rather less severity occurred i n 1803, following on the boom of 1798-1802, but a slump of hitherto unparalleled dimensions h i t the industry i n 1808, when the f u l l force of the Napoleonic Blockade, the American p o l i c y of non-intercourse with the participants i n the European war and the B r i t i s h orders i n Council was experienced. Output i n 1808 appears to have been only about one-third of the previous year's. There seems to have been a gradual decline i n output l a s t i n g from 1811 to 1814, the l e v e l of 1814 being somewhat less than half of the 1810 peak-level, and another af t e r the 1818 peak, l a s t i n g u n t i l 1821. Output apparently r a l l i e d i n 1822, rose again i n 1823, and stagnated rather below the l e v e l of 1823 from 1324 to 1826 before making a spectacular recovery i n 1827. The fluctuations thus experienced by the Scot t i s h cotton industry did not conform, i t seems, to the pattern of f l u c t u a t i o n experienced by i t s English equivalent. 1 For example, the English industry apparently underwent a slump i n 1738 which does not seem to have affected Scotland, where the demand f o r raw cotton rose without any in t e r r u p t i o n at a l l between 1783 and 1792. S i m i l a r l y , while the English industry appears to have enjoyed 1. This statement i s based on a comparison between the figures for imports of raw cotton into Scotland i n Appendix, table I, and one showing imports into Great B r i t a i n as a whole, based on Customs returns, i n Baines, Cotton Manufacture T 346-7. 22 a. minor boom i n 1796, Scottish output i n that year was apparently lower than i t had been i n 1795, r i s i n g somewhat i n 1797 when English output seems to have f a l l e n . Nor was the boom of 1809-10 i n Scotland of anything l i k e the dimensions of that enjoyed i n Lancashire. I t i s d i f f i c u l t to see why t h i s divergence should e x i s t , unless i t was because the market served., by the Scottish industry was d i f f e r e n t from that serviced by England. This, of course, i s highly probable, since the Scots specia l i z e d i n high-value f i n e fabrics,' 1' such as muslins, while the English manufacturers tended to cater for the mass-market with lower-priced staples. In the p a r t i c u l a r case of 1788, i t seems l i k e l y that the unwillingness of the Scottish banks to a s s i s t i n financing i n d u s t r i a l development may have contributed to the S c o t t i s h cotton industry's immunity from a slump. While the banks 2 suffered during the f i n a n c i a l c r i s i s of that year, the cotton industry, which was probably financed by private i n d i v i d u a l s 3 at that early stage of i t s development, was unlikely to be seriously affected. This may also account for the f a c t that, while S c o t t i s h banks suffered suddenly and severely from the panic consequent upon the unexpected declaration of war early i n 1793,^ i t was not u n t i l 1794 that a r e a l l y severe depression h i t the cotton industry, probably as a r e s u l t of the impact 1. See below, Ch.III. 70-77, for an examination of the type of goods produced i n Scotland, 1780-1835. 2. See, e.g. Forbes, Memoirs of a Banking House, 72-74. 3. For an examination of the c a p i t a l i z a t i o n of the cotton industry, see below Ch.III, 50-69. 4 . Glasgow was badly affected by t h i s , three of the c i t y ' s banks f a i l i n g , Forbes, op.cit., 77-80: Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow C i t i z e n s h i p , 148-9. 23 of p o l i t i c a l and diplomatic events upon Sc o t t i s h trade with the European continent, i n which cotton goods were an increasingly important element. 1 In 1791, Scottish cotton-spinners had been unable to meet the weavers' demands for 2 yarn, so, assuming t h i s to have been the case i n 1788 as w e l l , a moderate f a l l i n the demand for cotton c l o t h was l i a b l e to a f f e c t the weavers but not necessarily the spinners i f the gap between demand for and supplies of yarn were not closed completely. Yarn output could w e l l have been increased i n such circumstances, which, i f they s t i l l existed i n 1792-3, would also have cushioned the spinning sector of the industry from the worst effects of the c r i s i s of 1793, and delayed t h e i r action u n t i l the following year. The considerable fluctuations of the period 1793-1815 can r e a d i l y be ascribed to the uncertainty of the market for cotton manufactures i n wartime aggravated by the s c a r c i t y of American cotton during the war of 1812.^ As G.W. Daniels has observed i n r e l a t i o n to the cotton industry of B r i t a i n as a whole, the conduct of business i n such conditions rendered sound a n t i c i p a t i o n , so necessary for commercial s t a b i l i t y , an utter i m p o s s i b i l i t y . 4 He quotes a Manchester banker as saying that, during the Napoleonic Wars, p r o f i t s were made by plunges and 1. See Appendix, table I I . 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V, 502. 3. Appendix, table I . 4. G. W. Daniels, "The Cotton Trade during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars", Transactions of Manchester S t a t i s t i c a l Society, 1915-16, 55. 24 speculations, which Daniels does not regard as necessarily a condemnation of the business methods used, since every move made by a manufacturer of cotton goods was made speculative by the f a c t that i t was hardly ever possible to know what conditions would be l i k e from day to day or week to week. Scotland, as much as England, was affected by such circumstances; indeed, the effect was l i a b l e to be more severe to the S c o t t i s h industry i n view of i t s s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n f i n e f a b r i c s , f o r which the market was necessarily more li m i t e d than f o r the products of Lancashire. Fortunes were made, and no doubt l o s t as w e l l , by S c o t t i s h manufacturers who were w i l l i n g to be unorthodox: the case of James Monteith's reaction to the depression of 1793-94 shows what a daring, or perhaps desperate, i n d i v i d u a l could do. Monteith had bought Blantyre m i l l from David Dale at the end of 1792, when trade was b r i s k , but i n the course of 1793, cotton yarn prices slumped to 55% of t h e i r 1792 p r i c e s , and Monteith begged Dale to release him from his bond: Dale refused. In one respect, Monteith was lucky; he held no stocks of f i n i s h e d c l o t h as other Glasgow manufacturers d i d , expensive stocks b u i l t up before the c r i s i s which could not be sold p r o f i t a b l y once yarn-costs had f a l l e n so low. Taking advantage of low raw material and weaving costs, Monteith employed weavers d i r e c t l y to work up the yarn he spun at Blantyre, and himself disposed of the finished goods by auction wherever he could f i n d a sale. As a r e s u l t , while the stockholders of cotton c l o t h were incurring considerable losses, Monteith had embarked on a venture which was to bring 25 him £80,000 by 1798. The rash of small mills which sprang up a l l over 'Scotland, most of them with a relatively short life-span, i n , for example, the period between 1783 and 1792, was also symptomatic of the speculative nature of the Scottish cotton industry even i n times of comparative diplomatic s t a b i l i t y . In the case of the large mills too, speculative enterprises were common, judging from the high turnover in owners which some of them experienced. Deanston m i l l , one of the largest in the country, had four owners between the time of i t s erection in 1785 and the depression of 1808: the founder, John Buchanan of Carston, sold i t in 1793 to an English Quaker, Benjamin Flounders, who i n turn disposed of i t to one Mr. Glen in 1805; Glen operated the m i l l for only a short time, and i t was closed down for two years before passing into the hands of James Finlay and Company in 1807.^ Activity of this kind, i f conducted on any considerable scale, could account for the severity of the slumps which the cotton industry of Scotland seems to have experienced in the war years from 1793 to 1815. The end of the war in 1815 apparently brought no end to the speculation and no great s t a b i l i t y to the cotton trade: fluctuations i n the industry's productivity continued to be 1. "Senex", Glasgow Past and Present, Glasgow 1894, vol. II, 51-2. 2. See below, 38-9. 3. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland, Edinburgh 1845, vol. X, 1237. 26 v i o l e n t as l a t e as 1826-27. Giving evidence to a parliamentary committee i n 1833, one of Scotland's foremost cotton-mill owners, Kirkman F i n l a y of James Fin l a y and Company, remarked that, at that date, the industry's p r o f i t s were low, although the industry's character was "one of great extension, of a rapid sale and a c t i v i t y . A s k e d to what circumstances he attributed the low state of p r o f i t s , he r e p l i e d : -"Certainly not to any want of demand, i f we compare the demand now with the demand at any former period; but to an extremely extensive production with reference to the demand, a r i s i n g out of a great competition, doubtless caused by the high rate of p r o f i t i n former times, which, by a t t r a c t i n g a large amount of c a p i t a l to the business, has necessarily ~ led to the low rate of p r o f i t we now see." The competition was both foreign and domestic or i n t e r n a l , the 3 l a t t e r element being, according to F i n l a y , "very formidable";^ stocks on hand were "inconsiderable", and Finlay considered to be "unhealthy" the p r e v a i l i n g practice of consigning large quantities of goods to foreign destinations on payment of b i l l s i n advance; these b i l l s were discounted by "monied persons i n London and other parts Of the country, which has led to a greater extension of the trade than otherwise would have taken place."^ Since Finlay's own dealings i n foreign markets during the years from 1810 to 1815 had been among the most 1. Select Committee on Manufactures, Commerce and'Shipping, 1833, Report and Evidence, Minutes of evidence, min. 621, 35. 2. I b i d . , min. 622, 35. 3. I b i d . , min. 623, 35. 4. I b i d . , min. 624, 35. 27 daring carried out by Scottish manufacturers, his s t r i c t u r e s on the unhealthiness of the industry i n the post-war period must carry considerable weight. In the post-war period, growing foreign competition was also a serious threat to the s t a b i l i t y of the Scottish cotton industry, which was heavily committed to foreign markets: i n 1818, for example, more than one-third of i t s output of cl o t h was exported, accounting for over 70$ of p Scotland's t o t a l exports by value. Going by Finlay's evidence, t h i s foreign competition was a feature of the period a f t e r 1815; when he f i r s t entered the trade, i n 17#7, there was no extensive cotton industry outside the United Kingdom and, a factor of great importance i n view of the early Scott i s h s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n muslin production, "no f i n e r f a b r i c s of any kind". But since 1814, the French cotton industry had become a "very formidable" r i v a l , and other "very extensive" cotton industries had grown up i n Switzerland, 1. For example, he regularly broke the Napoleonic Blockade by running goods to Europe v i a Heligoland, and continued trading with the U.S.A. through the i s l a n d of New Providence and Louisiana during the War of 1812. James F i n l a y and Company Limited, 1750-1950, Glasgow 1951, 14-25, gives an account of h i s a c t i v i t i e s , 1803-1815. 2. Of the estimated output of 105 m i l l i o n yards i n 1818, over 37 m i l l i o n yards was exported; P. R. 0. Customs 14, v o l . 30. For the value of cotton exports i n r e l a t i o n to t o t a l S c o t t i s h Exports, see Appendix, table. I I . 28 Austria and the United States, a l l areas i n which the fine-goods markets had previously been an exclusively Scottish preserve, served extensively by Finlay's own company and others. In none of these cases had the native industry's capacity for expansion 2 been exhausted by 1833, and the p o s i t i o n of Scottish manufacturers who were t r y i n g to r e t a i n t h e i r share of the overseas market was further undermined by the f a c t that the native industries often operated behind protective t a r i f f walls such as the U.S. t a r i f f of 1815, whose protective effects were considerably enhanced by the so-called " T a r i f f of Abominations" i n 1828. In f a c t , i n so f a r as i t was e n t i r e l y dependent on overseas sources for i t s raw-material supplies and heavily dependent on foreign markets for the disposal of i t s products, the cotton industry of Scotland was as vulnerable to damage by external influences as the old tobacco-trade had been, with the added problem that any interference 1. Select Committee of 1833, mins. 652-661, 37-3. In the United States, for instance, there were only 2 m i l l s i n 1800, 15 i n 1807. In 1815, however, there were 165 cotton-mills i n the U.S., and 795 i n 1331, largely as a r e s u l t of the protective t a r i f f s and other commercial measures put into force a f t e r 1808. See 'Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 510 and A.D. Gayer, W.W. Rostow and A. Schwartz, The Growth and Fluctuation of the B r i t i s h Economy, 1790~1850, Oxford, 1953, v o l . I , 124, 224. There was some controversy about the effects of t h i s competition on the Scottish cotton industry: Finlay's view of i t s seriousness was disputed i n , e.g. P. Mackenzie, Reply to the l e t t e r of Kirkman r i n l a y to Lord Ashley on the Ten Hours B i l l , Glasgow 1833. Finlay's view was, however, confirmed by a Glasgow manufacturer operating i n the American market, William Graham: Select Committee of 1333, min. 5370-1, 321. 2. Select Committee of 1333, min. 670, 39. 3. See above, note 1. . 29 . with raw-material supplies or overseas outlets was capable of producing d i s t r e s s among a much wider section of the population than had ever been the case with the tobacco trade, which had not, even at i t s peak, been such a large-scale employer of labour as the cotton-trade became aft e r 1780. The cotton-trade, however, had one big advantage over the tobacco-trade: i t had not been b u i l t up on such a precarious, a r t i f i c i a l foundation as the Navigation Laws. I t s prosperity may not have been stable, but i t was never l i k e l y to become involved i n a catastrophe such as that which engulfed the tobacco-trade 1 2 i n 1776. Furthermore, as w i l l be seen, the growth of the cotton-trade stimulated the expansion of other sectors of the Scottis h economy through i t s demands f o r machinery and other goods, much more so than the two e a r l i e r main contributors to the prosperity of Scotland, the l i n e n and tobacco trades. Despite i t s many weaknesses, i t s i n s t a b i l i t y , and i t s l a t e r i n a b i l i t y to compete i n cost with the industry of Lancashire, the cotton industry was to provide a much better basis f o r economic development than anything which had preceded i t . 1. I t even recovered from the Cotton Famine which resulted from the American C i v i l War, see below, 128. 2. Below, Chapter V. I I The immediate reason for the rapid growth of the cotton industry i n Scotland, as i n England and elsewhere i n the years after 1780, was the application of mechanized techniques of production and, a l l i e d to t h i s , a change-over from scattered, small-scale, domestic units of production to concentrated, large-scale, factory u n i t s , i n a l l the main processes from preparing the raw cotton to weaving the finished c l o t h . Before the American War of Independence, raw cotton had been cleaned by hand and spun into yarn on the t r a d i t i o n a l one-spindle handwheel: while cotton weft-yarn could be spun f a i r l y s a t i s f a c t o r i l y by t h i s method, yarn s u f f i c i e n t l y strong and f i n e f o r use as warps could not,"1" though i t i s d i f f i c u l t to see just why t h i s should be the case, since Indian spinners, using much more primitive techniques than the spinning-wheel, could produce yarns of both types suitable for use i n the manufacture of the f i n e s t f a b r i c s . The development by Arkwright of the water-frame, patented i n 1769, and by Hargreaves of the spinning-jenny, patented i n 1770, altered the whole s i t u a t i o n , and permitted the cotton-spinning industry to expand much more ra p i d l y than the linen-spinning industry, i n which t r a d i t i o n a l spinning-methods remained i n force much longer owing to d i f f i c u l t i e s i n developing 2 machinery which did not damage the f i b r e . After tr a c i n g 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture T 113 f f . 2. Machine spinning i n the lin e n industry was held up by the f a c t that the machines of the 18th century could not separate the gummy strands of the f l a x without breaking them. The f i r s t r e a l l y s a t i s f a c t o r y mechanized process was wet-spinning, devised by James Kay 0 . 1825 . See, e.g. Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, 155. the development of the new machines, Edward Baines, Junior, summed up t h e i r contribution to the expansion of the industry as follows: "The new machines not only turned off a much greater quantity of yarn than had before been produced, but the yarn was also of a superior q u a l i t y . The water-frame spun a hard and f i r m thread calculated for warps; and from t h i s time the warps of l i n e n yarn were abandoned, and goods were, for the f i r s t 2 time i n t h i s country, woven wholly of cotton". By applying these new techniques, a considerable increase i n the l e v e l of output per spinner was achieved. The spinner who had previously operated a one-spindle wheel could, by using a jenny, operate between eight and 120, or even 300, spindles with no more d i f f i c u l t y . ^ Their adoption i n Scotland was apparently not very rapid at f i r s t , perhaps because the economic conditions brought about by the American Revolution did not favour the application of such innovations: i t was d i f f i c u l t enough during the war to dispose of the products of e x i s t i n g industry without introducing new products on to the shrinking markets of the time. But the post-war conditions favoured t h e i r introduction because the problems l e f t by the war - e s p e c i a l l y that of finding a replacement for such a part of the re-export trade as turned out to have been permanently l o s t - c a l l e d f or the application of new techniques throughout the i n d u s t r i a l sector of the Scottish economy. 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 147-162. 2. I b i d . . 163. 3. I b i d . , 159. 32 The h i s t o r y o f t h e S c o t t i s h c o t t o n i n d u s t r y up t o 1835 i s t h a t o f an i n d u s t r y c o n s t a n t l y t r y i n g t o i n c r e a s e i t s e f f i c i e n c y and l o w e r i t s p r o d u c t i o n c o s t s , t h u s w i d e n i n g i t s p o t e n t i a l market, by t h e c o n t i n u a l a p p l i c a t i o n of new t e c h n i q u e s i n e v e r y a s p e c t of p r o d u c t i o n . The jenny and the water-frame were improved and e n l a r g e d , and Crompton's mule, which combined t h e b e s t f e a t u r e s of b o t h i n t h a t i t spun f i n e r and s t r o n g e r y a r n t h a n e i t h e r , was i n c r e a s i n g l y adopted by S c o t t i s h c o t t o n - s p i n n e r s a f t e r i t s i n t r o d u c t i o n i n 1730. 1 T h i s made i t p o s s i b l e f o r S c o t l a n d t o u n d e r c u t I n d i a i n the p r o d u c t i o n o f m u s l i n s f o r t h e E n g l i s h and o v e r s e a s m a r k e t s , t h e r e b y d e p r i v i n g t h e E a s t I n d i a Company of an i m p o r t a n t 2 s o u r c e o f p r o f i t . The mule s t a r t e d l i f e as a m a n u a l l y -o p e r a t e d machine l i k e t h e j e n n y , w i t h a l l t h e i n e f f i c i e n c i e s due t o human f r a i l t y w h i c h t h i s e n t a i l e d , b u t by 1792, as a r e s u l t o f t h e e f f o r t s o f W i l l i a m K e l l y o f New L a n a r k , improvements had been i n t r o d u c e d which made ijs o p e r a t i o n more e f f i c i e n t and cheaper i n terms o f l a b o u r - c o s t s . I n 1790, K e l l y a p p l i e d water power t o t h e mule, making i t p o s s i b l e f o r one man t o o p e r a t e two s t a n d a r d , 1 4 4-spindle, mules. A man's s t r e n g t h was s t i l l r e q u i r e d t o move t h e c a r r i a g e o f t h e mule u n t i l 1792, when K e l l y a p p l i e d power t o t h i s o p e r a t i o n as w e l l , 1. F o r example, B l a n t y r e m i l l opened i n 1787 w i t h 4,096 water-frame s p i n d l e s , an e x t e n s i o n b e i n g b u i l t i n 1792 f o r 15,000 mule s p i n d l e s ; O l d S t a t i s t i c a l A c c o u n t , I I , 217. 2. E s i l m a n , Comprehensive View, I I . 33 making i t possible for a c h i l d to operate two machines, as was already the case with the water-frame.^ By these means, and by increasing the number of spindles operated by each machine, yarn output per spinner was rapidly increased and labour-costs progressively reduced. , Greater demands were made by the spinners for rovings, which i n turn led to demands for increasing the flow of raw cotton through the cleaning processes. Mechanization was required i n the pre-spinning processes as a r e s u l t , and i n t h i s sphere also Scottish technicians were active: the process of preparing the cotton-wool for carding, i n i t i a l l y performed laboriously by hand using children and old-people, was mechanized, and made more e f f i c i e n t by the invention i n 1797 by one Snodgrass of Glasgow 2 of a scutching-machine. Drawing and roving cotton for the mules was performed by Arkwright's carding machine, and other such machines developed i n Scotland by James Smith of Deanston between 1807 and 1830 and i n England by various inventors a f t e r 1782. In weaving, Scotland also took a prominent position i n the development of power-operated machinery. The e a r l i e s t power-loom, that of Cartwright, did not enjoy any great success, but i t provided a basis for the work of several other innovators, among them Andrew Kinloch 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 205-7. 2. Baines, o p . c i t . , 241. 3. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 1239: A.P. Wadsworth and J . de L. Mann, The Cotton Trade and I n d u s t r i a l Lancashire 1600-1780, Manchester 1931, 496. 34 of Glasgow who apparently equipped the f i r s t power-weaving m i l l i n Scotland, at Milton i n Dunbartonshire, with f o r t y looms of his design i n 1794, 1 while the f i r s t commercially successful power-weaving m i l l i n B r i t a i n appears to have been John Monteith's, at Pollokshaws near Glasgow, set up i n 1801 with 200 power-looms designed and b u i l t by Robert M i l l e r o of Glasgow. The power-loom does not appear, according to the testimony of several contemporaries, to have been introduced i n Scotland with a view to overcoming any bottleneck i n production at the weaving stage, indeed there are indications that there was an oversupply of labour i n handloom weaving i n Scotland from an early date. Its i n i t i a l purpose appears to have been to introduce a type of f a b r i c not previously woven i n the Glasgow area, but the economies i t permitted by increasing per capita output of cl o t h apparently led to i t s being developed to perform processes normally car r i e d out by handloom weavers of even the f i n e s t 3 fancy-work. The r a p i d i t y with which invention after invention was applied i n S c o t t i s h cotton-spinning may be seen i n the evidence of Henry Houldsworth, another prominent Glasgow spinning-master, to the Select Committee of 1833"- while admitting that the rate at which innovations were adopted i n Scotland was not as 1. J . Campbell, History of the Rise and Progress of Power-Loom Weaving, Rutherglen 1878, 1-7. 2. Raines, o p . c i t . } 230-31. 3. Select Committee of 1833, mins. 1198, 73. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 154. rapid as i n Lancashire, he stated that i n the ten years or so preceding 1833, the can-frame had been replaced by the f l y -or bobbin-frame, which i n turn was being r a p i d l y replaced by the American-designed tube-frame. He had no doubt that, i n a few years, the tube-frame too would be replaced; i n fact the process was already under way. The saving effected by such a process was apparently small, Houldsworth estimated i t at less than one penny per pound weight of cotton by permitting the spinning of an i n f e r i o r grade of raw cotton into yarn comparable to that spun on the can-frame i n q u a l i t y and by producing more yarn without increasing the number of operatives required."1" But a saving of even a f r a c t i o n of a penny per pound was not to be l i g h t l y dismissed i n an industry i n which p r o f i t s were low: the spinner's margin - the difference between the purchase price of raw cotton per pound and the wholesale price per pound of cotton twist - had declined considerably a f t e r the Napoleonic Wars, from an average of 2 14.3 pence between 1803 and 1815 to a mere 5.37 pence i n 1832. The adoption of powered machinery brought with i t changes i n the organization of the industry's production, from a domestic basis to a large-scale factory basis. The jenny was suitable f o r application within the e x i s t i n g domestic form of organization which the linen-spinning industry had taken, being small enough to be i n s t a l l e d i n a cottage or an 1. Select Committee of 1833, mins. 5217-5225, 310-11. 2. Gayer e t . a l . , Growth and Fluctuation of the B r i t i s h Economy, I , 154. Based on a contemporary estimate made by J . Porter. annexe to a cottage i n much the same way as a handloom. I n i t i a l l y , the mule could be applied i n the same way, neither i t nor the jenny requiring any source of power other than that of the operatives muscles. Arkwright's water-frames and carding engines, and t h e i r d e r i v a t i v e s , were an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t proposition, as were Kelly's powered and s e l f - a c t i n g mules. Of Arkwright's inventions, Baines observed, "... the water-frame, the carding engine and the other machines which Arkwright brought out i n a fi n i s h e d state required more space than could be found i n a cottage, and more power than could be applied by the human arm. Their weight also rendered i t necessary to place them i n strongly b u i l t m i l l s , and they could not be advantageously 2 turned by any power then known but that of water." Not only was 'Arkwright responsible for making the growth of an independent cotton industry possible, by substituting water-twist f or l i n e n warps i n weaving, he was also primarily responsible for the development of the form of organization which t h i s new industry took on. The water- or steam-powered cotton m i l l was a necessary adjunct to his machines, and h i s factory at Cromford, which he opened i n 1771, was as eagerly copied by cotton-spinners as his water-frame. The f i r s t known occasion when Arkwright allowed a Scottish manufacturer to make use of h i s machinery-designs was i n 1783, when after a dinner given i n his honour by the newly-founded Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, he and David Dale, one of the foremost cambric-manufacturers i n the south-west, inspected a s i t e at F a l l s of 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 184. 2. L o c . c i t . 37 of Clyde, near Lanark, which was thought to be suitable f or the erection of a cotton-mill b u i l t on the l i n e s of Cromford. Dale and Arkwright entered into an agreement which permitted the former to make use of Arkwright's patents when f i t t i n g out the proposed m i l l with machinery.''' But before t h i s , several m i l l s had been b u i l t i n Scotland, the f i r s t going into 2 operation at Penicuik, Midlothian, i n December 1778. Between that date and 1786, when the f i r s t of the New Lanark m i l l s commenced spinning, m i l l s had been opened at Rothesay, Neilston, Johnstone and Woodside, either using pirated versions of Arkwright's machines or using his patents by private and 3 unpublicised arrangement, or r e l y i n g on hand-opera.ted machines. These were, by 1792 at l e a s t , large-scale enterprises: the Penicuik m i l l , for example, employed about 500 people by that date,**" while the combined labour-forces of the two Johnstone m i l l s numbered about 600.^ By 1787, nineteen cotton spinning-m i l l s were i n operation i n Scotland, and by 1796 the number had r i s e n to t h i r t y - n i n e , operating 124,000 spindles, i n addition to which 1,200 hand-operated jennies and 600 mules mounting a t o t a l of 188,000 spindles were also i n use. In 1812, 120 m i l l s and over 900,000 spindles were i n operation, 1. Chambers' Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, revised ed. London 1874, I I , 421-2. 2. Esilman, Comprehensive view, 8; Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 422. 3. Some of these m i l l s , e.g. .Neilston and Woodside, were b u i l t on suitable water-courses and probably used powered machinery of some sort from the beginning. 4. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 422. 5. I b i d . , V I I , 88. -according to a modern estimate, while an o f f i c i a l contemporary-observer i n 1834 put the number i n operation i n that year at The m i l l s recorded at those dates throughout the period 1780-1835 showed l i t t l e i n the way of uniformity i n s i z e . In the f i r s t period of expansion, up to 1792, one finds a p r o l i f e r a t i o n of small m i l l s of the type which the l a i r d and his partners at Rerrick probably erected, l i k e the building at Dairy, Ayrshire, which i n 1791 housed 15 jennies and employed about 50 l o c a l people. Similar m i l l s , with f i f t e e n to t h i r t y mules or jennies and 40 to 70 employees, were to be found also i n the Ayrshire parishes of Monkton, Irvine and Kilwinning, i n Renfrewshire at Paisley and Kilbarchan, i n 3 Lanarkshire at East K i l b r i d e , Cambuslang and Strathaven, and no doubt i n other counties too. The lifespan of such small concerns was frequently short: the jenny-houses of Monkton and Kilwinning apparently had ceased to e x i s t long before 1835, while a small m i l l at Douglas i n Lanarkshire and two others at Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, went out of production not long after t h e i r completion. 4 But precarious as t h e i r existence was, and despite competition from larger concerns 1. D. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, Edinburgh 1869, 279 (1787); H. Hamilton, I n d u s t r i a l Revolution i n Scotland, Oxford 1932 7 (1796;; J . Mackinnon, S o c i a l and I n d u s t r i a l History of Scotland from the Union to the Present Time. London 1921, 15 (1812): New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 148, quoting L. Horner, factory inspector, 1834. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account X I I , 104. 3. See parish accounts i n Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account. 4 . The Monkton and Kilwinning houses are not mentioned i n the New S t a t i s t i c a l Account; for Douglas, see New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 488; f o r Lochwinnoch, i b i d . . VII, 103. " and adverse economic conditions during the wars, the small m i l l s with t h e i r few mules or jennies and a carding machine or two, sometimes powered by water or steam, more often probably by hand remained a feature of the Scottish cotton industry u n t i l a f t e r 1835, despite the b e l i e f expressed by Henry Houldsworth i n 1833 that such ventures had l i t t l e hope of success."'' Robert Barr's Gryfe Grove m i l l , b u i l t i n 1822 and working 1,380 spindles with f o r t y hands, was s t i l l functioning i n 1836, when another small Renfrewshire m i l l , Ludovic Gavin's M i l h a l l at Eaglesham with a mere 620 spindles and a labour 2 force numbering s i x t y - f o u r , was just being completed. The owners of a small m i l l at K i l b i r n i e i n Ayrshire, which had been destroyed by f i r e i n 1831, thought i t worthwhile to rebuild 3 and extend i t - to a productive capacity of 4,000 spindles. The most important element i n the revolution of the cotton-spinning industry from a domestic to a factory basis was not, however, the small spinning-mill, but the large m i l l based on Arkwright's model at Cromford and with powered machinery operating 10,000 or more spindles. David Dale's New Lanark m i l l , the f i r s t Scottish m i l l known to be of t h i s type, went into Operation i n 1786, to be followed by others of the same type at Deanston, Blantyre, Stanley, Catrine, Linwood and Lochwinnoch by 1793. The extent to which these m i l l s , rather than the smaller type, contributed to the expansion of 1. Select Committee of 1833, min. 5305. 316. 2. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V I I , 51, 402. 3. I b i d . t V, 715. 40 - cotton-spinning i n Scotland may be judged from the fact that New Lanark alone, though no f u l l y operational, consumed 12$ of the t o t a l quantity of raw cotton imported into the country i n 1793, while Catrine consumed nearly 10$ of the amount imported i n 1796. 1 These were1 extended during the period under examination, Blantyre's capacity for example rose from 20,000 to 30,000 spindles between 1793 and 1834,2 and new m i l l s of a s i m i l a r type continued to be b u i l t : thus, the average capacity of 44 Lanarkshire m i l l s examined by James Cleland i n 1831 was 3 over 14,500 spindles each, while i n 1833 the s i x m i l l s i n Neilston, Renfrewshire, averaged 13,193 spindles each. 4 For some time after the predoMmance of large-scale units of production i n cotton spinning had been established, cotton weaving i n Scotland, as i n England, remained domestically organized. Some hand-loom weavers were d i r e c t l y employed by 5 spinning-mill owners, but the practice of s e l l i n g yarn to a "manufacturer" or master-weaver, who put i t out to weavers working i n t h e i r own homes, apparently continued throughout the period under consideration, since, as Kirkman Finlay stated i n 1833, the hand-loom was s t i l l unsurpassed as a. means of 1. Old S a t i s t i c a Account, XV, 37 (New Lanark), XX, 176 (Catrine). Estimates based on figures f o r weekly consumption: 6,000 l b s . per week at New Lanark i n 1793, 2,660 l b s . at Catrine i n 1796. 2. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 322. 3. I b i d . . VI 146 footnote. 4. I b i d . , VII 336. 5. E.g. by Dale at New Lanark, "The yarn i s p a r t l y manufactured in t o cloth here by the (324) weavers above mentioned and others i n the proprietor's employ; and p a r t l y sold to the manufacturers i n Glasgow^ "Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV, 37. Most of the Ayrshire & Renfrewshire weavers were said to be employed by the "manufacturers", i . e . master-weavers, of Glasgow and Paisley. producing the f i n e s t f a b r i c s , fancy-goods of a l l kinds and 1 2 l i m i t e d orders. But i n weaving too, a f t e r 1814 or so, mechanized production i n large-scale units was becoming increasingly common, and was bringing to the production of cotton c l o t h a degree of integration which was not, perhaps, possible so long as the handloom and the i n d u s t r i a l structure within which i t was applied made the weaver a semi-independent producer. By 1835, no fewer than 29 power-weaving m i l l s had been set up i n Scotland, many of them d i r e c t l y controlled by large-scale spinning firms such as James Fi n l a y and Company, with 302 power-looms i n t h e i r Deanston Works and an unknown number at Catrine by 1834, and the Lancefield Spinning Company, with 635 power-looms operating at t h e i r Lancefield and Partick spinning m i l l s i n 1835. 4 Of a l i s t of 19 Glasgow-based firms conducting power-weaving i n 1831, a l l but eight can be matched with a s i m i l a r l i s t of Glasgow-based spinning firms.^ The revolution i n weaving was by no means completed by that time however, judging both from Finlay's evidence c i t e d above and from the f a c t that 18,537 handlooms were i n operation i n Glasgow i n 1831.^ In adopting the power-loom, the mill-owners were probably motivated by a desire to offset: t h e i r s t e a d i l y shrinking p r o f i t s by cutting out the middle-man of the domestic 1. Select Committee of 1833, min. 1198, 73. 2. Finlay's estimate of the date when the power-loom was being widely adopted i n Scotland, l o c . c i t . 3. Campbell, Progress of Power-Loom Weaving, 10. 4. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI 154. 5. Cleland, Enumeration of 1831, 291. 6. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 154. system and taking his share for themselves. By doing so, they may even have been able to reduce the price of goods to the consumer, thereby widening the market somewhat. The example given by James Monteith i n 1793-98 was u n l i k e l y to have been forgotten by a community as close-knit as the Scottish mill-owners. 1 I I I In i t s early stages of development, the cotton industry was established i n widely scattered locations throughout Scotland. Of the nineteen miles known to ex i s t i n 1787, four were i n Lanarkshire, four i n Renfrewshire, three i n Perthshire, two i n Midlothian, the remaining s i x being located i n d i f f e r e n t counties from Wigtownshire i n the extreme south-west of 2 Scotland to Sutherland i n the north-east Highlands. By 1834, however, a considerable degree of geographical concentration was shown i n m i l l - l o c a t i o n s . Leonard Horner, Scot t i s h area factory-inspector i n 1834, noted i n his report that, "... with the exception of some large establishments at Aberdeen, and one at Stanley, near Perth, the cotton manufacture i s almost e n t i r e l y confined to Glasgow and the country adjoining, to a distance of about 2 5 miles radius; and a l l these country m i l l s , even including the great work at Stanley are connected with Glasgow houses or i n the Glasgow trade." 1. Some of whom were closely r e l a t e d , e.g. F i n l a y and the Buchanans: see also Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow Ci t i z e n s h i p , 101, for the corporate a c t i v i t i e s of the Anderston ''manufacturers", many of whom became m i l l -owners. 2 . Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 2 7 9 . - In f a c t , 123 of the 134 cotton m i l l s i n Scotland i n 1834 were located within a radius of 25 miles from Glasgow, either i n the c i t y i t s e l f or i n the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Bute, Dunbarton, Perth and A r g y l l . The factors which governed location had apparently undergone a change between 1787 and 1834. As far as cotton m i l l s were concerned, the most important factor i n t h e i r location had probably been the a v a i l a b i l i t y of adequate sources of water power, with adequate labour supply and p l e n t i f u l 2 water-supply as important subsidiary factors. P r o f i t s i n the cotton-trade remained at a very high l e v e l u n t i l 1802, and m i l l s located i n areas which lacked good access to raw materials and markets could s t i l l return a f a i r l y high p r o f i t , though rather less than those which possessed r e l a t i v e l y easy access to raw materials and markets. There were several areas i n Scotland which possessed p l e n t i f u l resources of water-power and water-supplies, as well as supplies of labour recruited from other t e x t i l e i n d u s t r i e s . Attempts were, therefore, made i n almost every area which had supported a li n e n industry at the time of the American War to establish a cotton industry, which had captured the public attention since the end of the war. The Glasgow area enjoyed no 1. Horner's report, quoted i n New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 148. 2. Rivers which supply water-power do not necessarily provide a s u f f i c i e n t water-supply, which was required primarily for f i n i s h i n g processes such as washing and bleaching. 3. Select Committee of 1833, min. 649, 37 (Kirkman Finlay's evidence), "What was the highest state of p r o f i t ? - The best time that I ever knew i n the spinning was about 1802." F i n l a y had participated i n the cotton industry since 1788. marked advantages over other areas, Perthshire and Angus for example, i n respect of water-supply and resources of water-power, though the high degree of s k i l l i n working with f i n e yarns which i t s weavers had acquired i n the manufacture of lawns, silk-gauzes and blunks provided that area with some advantage i n labour-supply. Thus, the early m i l l s were geographically dispersed. The a v a i l a b i l i t y of water-power remained the most important factor governing m i l l - l o c a t i o n u n t i l at least the end of the f i r s t decade of the nineteenth century. The f i r s t steam-powered m i l l i n Scotland came into operation i n 1792, 1 but t h i s form of power was only slowly adopted i n the industry By 1800, only eight steam engines were i n use i n Scot t i s h cotton-mills. By 1825, however, water-power was being superseded by steam-power: 3,200 horse-power was generated by steam-engines i n cotton m i l l s , as against the 2,480 provided by water-wheels. The coal-consumption of these early steam engines was high, and i t was desirable that they should be s i t e d either on the c o a l f i e l d s themselves or at a point where easy access to coal supplies could be obtained. Lanarkshire and Ayrshire had important c o a l f i e l d s , with which Glasgow was linked by water-transport v i a the Monkland canal and the 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account XIV, 284. 2. G.M. M i t c h e l l , "The English and Scottish cotton industries a study i n i n t e r - r e l a t i o n s " Scottish H i s t o r i c a l Review XXII, 1924-5, 108. 3. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 390. 45 River Clyde. Water-power was a factor of declining importance i n the location of cotton m i l l s presumably because most of the best s i t e s had been taken up by about 1810, though some manufacturers s t i l l preferred water to steam power even i n 1833.1 Other factors had, meanwhile, increased i n importance. The increasing concentration of the Scottish cotton industry on the production of f i n e goods such as muslins, gave an advantage to the south-west, where the highest standards of qual i t y i n weaving had been achieved. Other regions were less able to compete i n t h i s type of work. The decline of p r o f i t s , increasing after 1815 with the intense i n t e r n a l competition which developed i n the industry, brought i n transport-costs, both of the raw material to the m i l l and of the finished product to the market, as an increasingly important factor i n m i l l - l o c a t i o n . Those m i l l s located at some distance from Glasgow, the main port of entry for raw cotton and the major wholesale market f o r fine f a b r i c s , were at a greater disadvantage than m i l l s i n the Glasgow area when margins began to f a l l , because of th e i r higher overheads. The Glasgow region had an advantage, too, i n the commercial uncertainty which the French wars brought i n th e i r t r a i n , and which continued after the war. Information about the state of the markets, especially the overseas markets, could be 1. E.g. KIrkman F i n l a y . See Select Committee of 1833, min. 1193, 73. For another example, William A r r o l , see New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V I I , 52. quickly passed on from the merchants of Glasgow - which was the centre of Scottish overseas trade - to l o c a l manufacturers both through informal s o c i a l contact and through formal organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce. Manufacturers i n other areas did not have such ready access to t h i s v i t a l information. Glasgow's position as a communications-centre heightened t h i s advantage: the c i t y ' s manufacturers could take advantage of the land and water l i n k s with t h e i r markets to make the best use of the commercial information which they received, whereas the manufacturers i n areas whose communications were less well-developed were often slow to act. The factors which favoured the development of m i l l s i n areas outside the south-west had declined i n importance by about 1810, and the advantage of s i t i n g m i l l s inside that area had become more apparent. This led to the closure of many of the m i l l s i n other areas from about that date. The case of the Perthshire cotton industry was t y p i c a l . 1 This had developed quite prosperously af t e r 1780, but declined st e a d i l y from about 1812 onwards, and i n 1814 even the great m i l l at Stanley was closed. Technically, the Perthshire industry was i n f e r i o r to those of Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire the small-scale spinners were tr y i n g to compete with hand-operated jennies against the powered and s e l f - a c t i n g mules of 1. For an account of t h i s , see W.H.K. Turner, "The T e x t i l e Industry of Perth and D i s t r i c t " I n s t i t u t e of B r i t i s h Geographers t Transactions and Papers, 1957, 123-39. New Lanark and Blantyre. The q u a l i t y of goods produced i n Perthshire was i n f e r i o r to that of f a b r i c s made at Glasgow or Paisley. The remoteness of Perth from the main d i s t r i b u t i o n centre at Glasgow meant that the response of Perthshire manufacturers to changes i n demand was generally too slow. Their position was summed up by one of t h e i r number i n 1834:-"... we are out of the way of the market and when we send, goods to Glasgow we have to pay a commission f o r s e l l i n g , and we are destitute often of that information that would be very useful to us, besides the carriage and various other things." After 1820, therefore, Perth turned to re-establishing i t s 2 connection with the linen industry of eastern Scotland. 1. Quoted by Turner, o p . c i t . T 126. Evidence of John Stalker of Perth to Select Committee on Handloom Weavers' P e t i t i o n s , 1834. 2. Other remote centres suffered the same f a t e . The cotton-mill at Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, was dismantled i n 1820, a f t e r l y i n g i d l e f or several years: New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, IV, i i i , 186. The Midlothian m i l l s had passed into o b l i v i o n before the New S t a t i s t i c a l Account was compiled, i t seems. The m i l l at Spinningdale, Sutherland, had burned down i n 1804. and was not considered worth rebuilding: New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV, 19. 3 48 THE FOUNDATIONS OF EXPANSION The development o f l a r g e - s c a l e u n i t s o f p r o d u c t i o n and t h e a d o p t i o n of mechanized p r o d u c t i o n - t e c h n i q u e s i n t h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y r e q u i r e d t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f c o n s i d e r a b l e amounts o f c a p i t a l . T h i s c o u l d o n l y be a t t r a c t e d t o t h e i n d u s t r y i f s u f f i c i e n t i n c e n t i v e s t o i n v e s t e x i s t e d , e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e e a r l i e s t s t a g e s o f t h e i n d u s t r y ' s growth, when i t s p o t e n t i a l was l a r g e l y u n e x p l o r e d . I t i s i n t e n d e d t o examine i n t h i s c h a p t e r t h e s o u r c e s f r o m which t h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y drew i t s f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t , and t h e f a c t o r s which i n f l u e n c e d i n v e s t o r s t o a p p l y t h e i r c a p i t a l t o i t s development. " But c a p i t a l i s o n l y one of t h e f o u n d a t i o n s of e x p a n s i o n : i t i s a l s o n e c e s s a r y , b e f o r e e x p a n s i o n i s u n d e r t a k e n , t o ensure t h a t t h e r e i s s u f f i c i e n t demand f o r the i n d u s t r y ' s p r o d u c t s . The changes i n t h e S c o t t i s h c o t t o n i n d u s t r y ' s p r o d u c t i o n w h i c h were made t o meet changes i n demand or t o c r e a t e f u r t h e r demand, w i l l a l s o be examined h e r e . J$C 49 I In 1790, John Dunlop informed Hugh Hamilton of Pinmore that to set up a spinning m i l l , i n the old sugar-houses the two had bought for that purpose, would require the sum of "about £4,000 besides the price of the Houses". Their m i l l would employ about 170 hand working 9,360 jenny-spindles, as well as carding, roving and slubbing machines, on s i x t y jennies, on which point Dunlop remarked, "30 Jeanies i s reckoned a very handsome establishment, and I am informed there i s no work about Manchester that exceeds 40." However accurate his information about the Manchester m i l l s , there were i n Scotland at that time mills substantially larger than the one projected by Dunlop and Hamilton, and consequently more expensive, such as the Newton Stewart m i l l of Dale and Douglas which had cost £20,000 to bu i l d and equip i n 1737. 2 The use of more sophisticated machinery, bringing with i t the need for larger and more expensive buildings, required the investment of ever-greater amounts of money, so that by 1833 the cost of building and equipping a m i l l which could e f f e c t i v e l y compete i n the conditions of intense i n t e r n a l 1. S.R.0. Hamilton of Pinmore Muniments, bundle 12, 1735-1828. Letter of John Dunlop to Hugh Hamilton, 15/12/1790. Machinery costs were estimated at:-5 carding machines @ £20 each £100 5 roving " @ £16 " £80 5 slubbing " @ £40 " £200 60 x 156 - spindle jennies @ £43 " £2.530 Total £2,960. 2. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, IV, i i i , 186. 50 competition which the industry was then experiencing. According to Houldsworth, an investment of between ten and twelve thousand pounds on buildings and machinery might s u f f i c e to set up a small spinning m i l l , but such an establishment would have l i t t l e hope of survival.' 1' The need to maintain a high rate of machine-replacement i n order to remain competitive added considerably to the costs involved. S c o t t i s h i n d u s t r i a l development before 1780 i s said to have been hampered by "the chronic and almost universal 2 inadequacy of funds". I t seems rather remarkable, i n that case, that by 1787 no fewer than nineteen cotton m i l l s whose erection involved c a p i t a l investment of as much as £20,000 each should have been i n operation i n Scotland. I t seems l i k e l y that large accumulations of c a p i t a l d i d , i n f a c t , e x i s t i n Scotland before 1780, but for some reason they simply were not being applied to i n d u s t r i a l projects. Considerable sums must have been required to b u i l d up Glasgow's merchant shipping for the tobacco and sugar trades, and for the improve-ments i n communications which were undertaken i n connection with these trades. Large reserves of c i r c u l a t i n g c a p i t a l must have been required for the maintenance of the trades themselves. But the p r o f i t s of the re-export trades were considerable, and yet they seem to have made l i t t l e impact 1. Select Committee of 1833, mins. 5300-04, 315-6. 2. Campbell "Economic History of Scotland i n the Eighteenth , Century,'* S.J.P.E. T XI, 1964, 20. 51 .on S c o t t i s h i n d u s t r y . I n a p r i m a r i l y a g r a r i a n economy such as S c o t l a n d ' s b e f o r e 1780, a h i g h p r o p o r t i o n of t h e a v a i l a b l e f u n d s would be a p p l i e d t o a g r i c u l t u r a l improvement, which was u n d e r t a k e n w i t h i n c r e a s i n g i n t e n s i t y i n S c o t l a n d a f t e r 1750. B e s i d e s a b s o r b i n g any s u r p l u s funds which t h e e s t a b l i s h e d l a n d e d p r o p r i e t o r s may have a c c u m u l a t e d , t h i s seems a l s o t o have a t t r a c t e d a l a r g e p r o p o r t i o n o f the p r o f i t s o f o v e r s e a s t r a d e . S c o t t i s h merchants, l i k e t h e i r E n g l i s h and F r e n c h c o u n t e r p a r t s , t r i e d t o o b t a i n h i g h s o c i a l s t a t u s by i n v e s t i n g t h e p r o f i t s of t h e i r t r a d i n g a c t i v i t i e s i n l a n d . John G l a s s f o r d , f o r example, was one l e a d i n g tobacco-merchant who bought an e s t a t e - a t D o u g a l s t o n i n D u n b a r t o n s h i r e - and Ro b e r t Dunmore was an o t h e r - h i s l a n d s b e i n g t h e e s t a t e s o f B a l l i n d a l l o c h and B a l l i k i n r a i n i n S t i r l i n g s h i r e . ^ " These were n ot i s o l a t e d cases by any means, nor was the tendency c o n f i n e d t o t h e V i r g i n i a m erchants. Even t h e c o t t o n magnates, once the i n d u s t r y had been e s t a b l i s h e d , sought t o a c h i e v e l a n d e d s t a t u s w i t h t h e p r o f i t s t h e y d e r i v e d f r o m t h e i r m i l l s . D a v i d D a l e , f o r i n s t a n c e , bought the e s t a t e o f Rosebank, L a n a r k s h i r e , near t h e m i l l s of New La n a r k . James Buchanan bought the Woodlands e s t a t e , on the w e s t e r n o u t s k i r t s o f Glasgow. K i r k m a n F i n l a y , as b e f i t t e d a member 1. F o r G l a s s f o r d , see S t e w a r t , C u r i o s i t i e s o f Glasgow C i t i z e n s h i p , 215-7. H i s s o c i a l s t a t u s was enhanced by h i s second m a r r i a g e , t o the d a u g h t e r of an e a r l . F o r Dunmore, see C a m p b e l l . " A n g l o - S c o t t i s h Union I I , " Ec.H.R. T 2nd s e r . , X V I , 1963-4, 472. The achievement of l a n d e d s t a t u s d i d n o t l e a d t o t h e i r w i t h d r a w a l f r o m t r a d e . 52 o f p a r l i a m e n t , bought l a n d a t C a s t l e Toward out of the proceeds of h i s wi d e s p r e a d a c t i v i t i e s . 1 Only when improvements i n a g r i c u l t u r e had been completed by t h e merchant-landowners of S c o t l a n d i n t h e pre - A m e r i c a n War e r a of commercial e x p a n s i o n and a g r a r i a n r e n e w a l c o u l d t h e y d e v o t e t h e i r i n t e r e s t s , and t h e i r money, t o i n d u s t r i a l g r o w t h . S i n c e t h e s e p r o c e s s e s were n o t completed b e f o r e t h e war broke o u t , t h e c o n t r i b u t i o n o f t h e s e groups t o i n d u s t r i a l g r o w t h , though i m p o r t a n t , was l i m i t e d . A l t e r n a t i v e s o u r c e s o f c a p i t a l c e r t a i n l y e x i s t e d : . t h e government, t h r o u g h t h e Board o f T r u s t e e s , and t h e E n g l i s h , Samuel G a r b e t t f o r one, made i m p o r t a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h e 2 c a p i t a l i z a t i o n o f S c o t t i s h i n d u s t r y b e f o r e the war. The banks were l e s s f o r t h c o m i n g , though t h e y d i d p r o v i d e some cas h and c r e d i t f o r s h o r t - t e r m f i n a n c i a l p u r p o s e s . The l i n e n t r a d e , w i t h t h e a i d o f t h e Board of T r u s t e e s , was p r o b a b l y p l o u g h i n g back p r o f i t s i n t o i t s own development. But i n none of t h e s e c a s e s presumably, w i t h t h e e x c e p t i o n o f t h e l i n e n t r a d e , was enough money f o r t h c o m i n g t o f i n a n c e e x p a n s i o n o f t h e o r d e r a p p a r e n t i n t h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y between 1783 and 1792, i f t h e r e c o r d of t h e pre-war p e r i o d i s any c r i t e r i o n . Some f a c t o r , an event o r a s e r i e s of c o i n c i d e n t but n o t 1. Chambers' B i o g r a p h i c a l D i c t i o n a r y , I I , 421-4; S t e w a r t , o p . c i t . -45-64 ( D a l e ) . "Senex" Glasgow P a s t and P r e s e n t , I , x x x v i (Buchanan). James F i n l a y and Company, 28 ( F i n l a y ) . 2. The amount of E n g l i s h c a p i t a l i n v e s t e d i n S c o t l a n d i n 1761 was e s t i m a t e d by c o n t e m p o r a r i e s t o be about £500,000: see H a m i l t o n , o p . c i t . t 308. ..necessarily related events, must have come into operation i n the immediate post-war period to unlock the accumulation of c a p i t a l which the various p o t e n t i a l sources of loanable funds had at t h e i r disposal, and to provide an incentive to apply-that c a p i t a l to the development of an industry whose p o t e n t i a l , as f a r as Scotland i n 1783 was concerned, was completely unknown. Scottish economic historians now agree that i n the development of the cotton industry, the main source of c a p i t a l , entrepreneurial and managerial a b i l i t y was the f i n e l i n e n industry of the south-west. David Dale of New Lanark i s 1 ! perhaps the best-known example, but the fact i s that he i s distinguished from the others only by the number of enterprises i n which he had an i n t e r e s t . Apart from New Lanark, he was instrumental i n founding cotton m i l l s at Catrine, Blantyre, Spinningdale, and Newton Stewart, and he was involved, a f t e r t h e i r foundation, i n s i m i l a r undertakings at Stanley and Rothesay. Dale's early experience had been gained i n the f i n e - l i n e n trade, f i r s t as a handloora weaver, then as an employer of weavers and an importer of French and Flemish yarns, which, according to one biographer, "brought him large p r o f i t s and l a i d the foundation 7 of his fortune." His fortune, by 1783, when he f i r s t became interested i n the 1 . Various short l i v e s of Dale are extant, f o r references see above. 5 2 , n . l . 2. Andrew L i d d e l l i n 1854. L i d d e l l ' s sketch was incorporated i n Chambers' Biographical Dictionary i n that year, reprinted i n 1874 without a l t e r a t i o n . 54 cotton industry, was considerable; i n that year he had a house b u i l t f o r himself i n Charlotte Street, one of Glasgow's most exclusive r e s i d e n t i a l areas, at a cost of £6,000 - almost enough, on John Dunlop's estimate, to finance a c o t t o n - m i l l . The Finlays had a s i m i l a r background; as yarn importers, manufacturers and t e x t i l e exporters since before 1769, when old James Finlay was made a burgess of Glasgow. Their entry into the cotton trade was f i r s t as weaving-masters i n Glasgow and Paisley, then as mill-owners i n 1798, when Kirkman F i n l a y bought B a l l i n d a l l o c h m i l l : he l a t e r acquired Catrine, i n 1801, and Deanston, i n I8O7. 1 Finlay's r e l a t i o n s , the Buchanan brothers, founders of Deanston, managers of Catrine and l a t e r owners of Stanley, as w e l l as technical innovators, came into the cotton industry a f t e r a successful career as "English merchants", marketing Scottish linens through a network of pedlars or "packmen", during which they had become 2 Arkwright's Glasgow agents. James Monteith, father of that James who bought Blantyre from Dale, was the most important linen yarn-importer i n Glasgow at the time of the American war; his sons, James, Henry and John, were a l l "bred to the loom" and a l l became prominent members of the cotton-trading community i n Glasgow as spinners, c a l i c o printers and the l i k e . John Freeland, who founded an 18,000 spindle m i l l at Houston 1. James F i n l a y and Company, 7. See also New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 1238 (Deanston); VIII,,294 ( B a l l i n d a l l o c h ) ; V, 134 (Catrine). 2. Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow C i t i z e n s h i p , 181-3. 3. I b i d . , 93^116^ "~ : ~~ .in Renfrewshire, was another example of the linen-merchant turned cotton manufacturer, as was William G i l l e s p i e -bleacher and weaving-master i n the li n e n trade, and a frie n d of the elder James Monteith - who b u i l t the f i r s t spinning-mill i n the Barony of Glasgow, at Woodside, i n 176*4.1 David Todd, of Todd and Stevenson, was yet another Glasgow l i n e n -2 manufacturer who turned to cotton a f t e r the American war. The founders of the Paisley cotton-mills at the same time -the G a r l i l e s , Orrs and Browns, and l a t e r the thread-manufacturing dynasties of Coats and Clark, a l l entered the cotton industry from e x i s t i n g t e x t i l e industries such as li n e n and s i l k , while the Sandeman family of Redgorton, Perthshire, were linen-spinners and weavers before turning 4 to cotton. I t was, perhaps, in e v i t a b l e that the main contribution of c a p i t a l and entrepreneurial s k i l l s came from the older t e x t i l e i n d u s t r i e s , since the participants i n these older industries would obviously be the groups most aware of the pot e n t i a l of cotton as against the better-known f i b r e s i n 1780-90. Other groups, however, did contribute c a p i t a l to the foundation of the cotton industry. Modern commentators, 1. I b i d . , 209-13. 2. I b i d . , 241-2. 3. M. B l a i r , The Paisley Thread, Paisley 1907, 34-61. There appears to have been a strong contingent of r e l i g i o u s non-conformists among the entrepreneurs' involved. The Coats and Clarks, for instance, were Baptists while Dale and the Monteiths broke with the Church of Scotland to found or j o i n various sectarian r e l i g i o u s bodies. William G i l l e s p i e , too was a Secessionist. See the biographical notes on Dale, Monteith and G i l l e s p i e i n Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow Citiz e n s h i p . 4. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV 531: New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 170. while agreeing over the supreme importance of the contribution made to the industry's development by participants i n other t e x t i l e sectors, are divided i n t h e i r opinions of the importance of the contribution made to the c a p i t a l i z a t i o n of the industry by these other groups. The late Professor Hamilton, i n 1932, was convinced that an important contribution was made by the Virginia-merchants, whose resources were freed for i n d u s t r i a l development by the collapse of the tobacco-trade i n 1776, from which most of them emerged comparatively unscathed f i n a n c i a l l y . 1 His l a t e r views were more i n d e f i n i t e , l a r g e l y , one suspects, for lack of concrete evidence of a large-scale transfer of c a p i t a l from the tobacco-trade to the cotton industry, though by ind i c a t i n g the widespread p a r t i c i p a t i o n of ex-tobacco lords i n i n d u s t r i a l enterprises other than cotton he seems to have l e f t the p o s s i b i l i t y of 2 s i m i l a r p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the cotton-industry open. Professor Campbell, on the other hand, deprecates the possible contribution of the tobacco-merchants and other participants i n the pre-war expansion of Sco t t i s h foreign trade, and makes a convincing case for the importance of the contribution made by the landed gentry to the foundation of the cotton industry, 3 i n which he has been ably abetted by Dr. Smout. There i s something to be said for both sides of the argument, i n so 1. H. Hamilton, I n d u s t r i a l Revolution i n Scotland, 121. 2. H. Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, lcHT 3. E.g. i n a review of Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, i n S.J.P.E. 1964, 17-24. See also T.C. Smout, "Scottish Landowners and Economic Growth", S.J.P.E., 1964, 218-34. -far as examples of tobacco-merchants and landed proprietors who participated i n the financing of the cotton industry are known. Robert Dunmore, for instance, had been i n the V i r g i n i a trade at the time of the American war, and after i t financed the erection of B a l l i n d a l l o c h m i l l at B a l f r o n : 1 he may also have been involved, with John Monteith, i n the foundation of a. cotton m i l l at Pollockshaws, near Glasgow, o i n 1793. Dunmore, with Robert Bogle, another ex-tobacco merchant, also contributed some of the c a p i t a l necessary for the erection of the m i l l at Spinningdale i n Sutherland, though t h e i r contributions to t h i s enterprise, £100 apiece, 3 were small i n r e l a t i o n to the t o t a l costs involved. On the side of the landed in t e r e s t ' s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the industry's c a p i t a l i z a t i o n , the most commonly cite d examples are Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle, who partnered Dale at Catrine, S i r William Douglas of Penninghame, Dale's partner i n the Newton Stewart m i l l , and George Dempster of Dunnichen and Skibo founder of Stanley m i l l i n Perthshire i n 1785 and, again with Dale, one of the originators of the Spinningdale scheme.^ Others i n t h i s category are known, of course - Hamilton of Pinmore, f o r instance, and possibly Clark of Penicuik, on 1. Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s , 202-3. 2. J.O. M i t c h e l l , Old Glasgow Essays T Glasgow 1905, 124. There i s some doubt as to the i d e n t i t y of John Monteith's partner: see below, 62. 3. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V I I I , 383 gives a l i s t of the shareholders i n Spinningdale together with the number of £100 shares held by each one. 4. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX, 176 (Catrine): XVII, 576 (Stanley): and V I I , 375-83 (Spinningdale). For Newton Stewart m i l l see New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, IV, i i i , 185-6. whose land the f i r s t S cottish m i l l stood - but Alexander, Douglas and Dempster stand apart from them as the founders of large-scale, fully-mechnaized concerns which operated successfully. On the surface, there appears to be more j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r arguing i n favour of a large-scale transference of c a p i t a l from land to cotton-manufacturing, rather than from foreign trade, the more so since, as Campbell has pointed out, the only known example of an ex-tobacco merchant p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n the foundation of a large-scale cotton-spinning m i l l , Robert Dunmore, was i n f a c t proprietor of the estates of Ba l l i n d a l l o c h and B a l l i k i n r a i n before he financed the building of B a l l i n d a l l o c h m i l l . This seems to put Dunmore in t o roughly the same category as Claud Alexander and others of that i l k , but, i n f a c t , what Campbell has done i s to emphasize the danger of f i t t i n g known participants i n t o r i g i d categories as either landed proprietors or overseas traders. These p i t f a l l s are further underlined by consulting Burke's "Landed Gentry", whence i t emerges that Claud Alexander had bought hi s estate at Ballochmyle out of the proceeds of his service as an r . o f f i c i a l of the Honourable East India. Company and that George Dempster had been a director of the same Company at the time of the Stanley m i l l ' s foundation. Dempster's main estate, Dunnichen, had been purchased e a r l i e r 1. S.R.O. Clerk of Penicuik Muniments, 1790. 2. Campbell, "Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707", Ec.H.R.T 1964, 472. i n the eighteenth century by his grandfather, also George Dempster, from the p r o f i t s of business as a merchant-banker i n Dundee.^" In any case, Dunmore was, in-1789 at any rate, also a member of the West India trading-community i n Glasgow, while also the proprietor of B a l l i k i n r a i n . The possession of land, i t seems, was not necessarily a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the r e t i r e d merchant i n Scotland, only of the successful merchant: commercial success must not only be achieved, i t must be seen to be achieved by se t t i n g up as a landed gentleman. Once t h i s had been done, and the improvement of the estate undertaken i n the manner of Norfolk, any surplus funds could be devoted to other a c t i v i t i e s upon which a. s u f f i c i e n t return could be expected. Some proprietors turned to the ex p l o i t a t i o n of the 3 mineral resources of t h e i r estates, which the growth of a coal-consuming metallurgical industry after 1750 made an economic proposition. Others took to the cotton industry, perhaps because t h e i r estates were d e f i c i e n t i n coal-bearing s t r a t a , or perhaps because the water courses provided easily-tapped resources of power f o r machinery. I t seems l i k e l y , however, that whatever course was taken, i t would be that one i n which i t had been shown beyond doubt that the highest rate of return on c a p i t a l invested could be obtained. The promotion of an e n t i r e l y new industry, as cotton spinning 1. S i r B. Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great B r i t a i n and Ireland, London 1871; "Alexander of Ballochmyle" 10; "Dempster of Dunnichen", 342. 2. Jones' Directory of Glasgow, 1789, 69. 3. Or allowing others to do so i n exchange for part of the mine's p r o f i t s . 60 was i n Scotland i n the seventeen-eighties, would not be undertaken by men whose previous a c t i v i t i e s had not been related d i r e c t l y with the t e x t i l e sector. I t may be s i g n i f i c a n t i n t h i s respect, that the main landed and commercial participants were associated i n most of t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s i n the cotton industry with men such as Dale and John Monteith, whose l i f e t i m e had been devoted to the expansion of t e x t i l e output and the disposal of textile-goods, whose knowledge of production-methods, i n d u s t r i a l organization and marketing was probably unequalled i n Scotland. The nature of the r e l a t i o n s h i p between the two groups was described i n 1&54 by Andrew L i d d e l l , one of Dale's biographers: L i d d e l l observed that Dale served as a co-partner and advisor to landed proprietors who, having f i r s t expressed h o s t i l i t y to r u r a l l y - s i t u a t e d cotton-mills on the grounds that they would a t t r a c t undesirable elements from the towns, wished to lay claim to the p r o f i t s which New Lanark had shown to accrue from cotton-spinning. 1 This only serves to underline the f a c t that without contribution of the group of men within the t r a d i t i o n a l t e x t i l e trade, l i t t l e progress i n founding a large-scale mechanized cotton-spinning industry would have been made. The contributions made by men from outside that group was of secondary importance, and such men never, at any 2 time, as Dr. Smout has observed, dominated the new industry. 1. See Chambers' Biographical Dictionary, I I , 422. 2. Smouth, "Scottish Landowners," S.J.P.E.T 1964, 227. 61 A group whose contribution has never received much attention i s the English, whose part i n promoting the economic development of Scotland between the Union and the American war had not been unimportant. The p a r t i c i p a t i o n of English c a p i t a l i n the i n i t i a l development of the Scottish cotton industry was l i m i t e d , but Englishmen were responsible for the erection of the f i r s t m i l l i n the Clyde Valle y , where the industry l a t e r became concentrated, at Rothesay i n 1779. The Rothesay m i l l was put up for sale as a going concern, small but f u l l y equipped, which was bought by David Dale i n 1785, the year before the f i r s t New Lanark m i l l went into operation: 1 the experience he must have gained as i t s owner must have been valuable and encouraging i f h i s subsequent a c t i v i t i e s are any guide. Other Englishmen shared i n the industry's growth by, l i k e Kirkman F i n l a y , buying up established m i l l s and keeping them i n operation. The career of Robert Owen, who managed New Lanark from 1799 to 1827 as a partner i n English-dominated companies i s wel l known, but Owen's case was t y p i c a l of. several others. Benjamin Flounders, an. English Quaker, took over Deanston from Buchanan of Carston i n 1793. Henry Houldsworth came from Manchester i n 1799 to take over G i l l e s p i e ' s Woodside m i l l and b u i l t two others at Anderston i n 1801 and 1803. 3 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 279. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX, 87. 3 . Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s , 214-5; Factory Commission 1832, Supp. Rep., 133. The S c o t t i s h chartered banks, as might be expected, do not appear to have taken any d i r e c t part i n the provision of c a p i t a l f or the building and equipping of cotton m i l l s at f i r s t , 1 though they may well have had a role i n financing the day-to-day business of the industry. The Royal Bank of Scotland opened a branch i n Glasgow i n 1783 and appointed as o i t s agents David Dale and Robert Scott Moncrieff; i t seems doubtful that, with Dale as chief agent, the Royal Bank could avoid transactions connected with the cotton industry, especially when Scott Moncrieff too began to take an interest 3 i n the industry. I I Each of the groups involved i n the transference of c a p i t a l from other sectors of the S c o t t i s h economy to the cotton industry must have reacted to some stimulus which made such a departure from t h e i r established spheres of a c t i v i t y desirable or even necessary. The immediate incentive to invest i n any enterprise, i n the eighteenth century as i n any other age, was the p o s s i b i l i t y of a handsome return on the investment. But i t i s necessary to probe deeper into the motives of the various p a r t i c i p a t i n g groups than that. 1. Judging from the following works:- C.A. Malcolm, The Bank of Scotland, 1695-1945T Edinburgh n.d., and The B r i t i s h Linen Bankf 1746-19X67 Edinburgh 1950: S i r W. Forbes, Memoirs of a Banking house: A.W. Kerr, History of Banking i n Scotland, 4th edn., Glasgow, 1926. 2. See, e.g. Chambers' Biographical Dictionary, I I , 421. 3. He has been suggested as John Monteith's-partner at Pollokshaws, "Senex" Glasgow Past and Present, I I , 72-3. 63 .What made the cotton industry such an a t t r a c t i v e area of development that i t succeeded i n releasing reserves of c a p i t a l on a scale which no other development within the Scottish economy had hitherto been able to approach? In connection with t h i s problem of motives, i t must be remembered that the establishment of a large-scale cotton industry i n Scotland had been preceded by the growth of a s i m i l a r industry i n England before the outbreak of the American revolution. The machines invented by Arkwright and Hargreaves, or pirated versions of them i n some cases, had been e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y adopted by the spinners of Nottingham-shire , Derbyshire and Lancashire to such effect that one commentator has observed that within f i v e years of Arkwright obtaining his patent, that i s between I769 and 1774, "the success of r o l l e r spinning was assured". 1 I f so, i t was u n l i k e l y to have gone unremarked i n Glasgow, where people l i k e the Buchanans, Arkwright's agents i n 1783, whose dealings with the t e x t i l e trades i n England were extensive, were bound to be aware of the p o t e n t i a l dividends to be gained by switching from the use of l i n e n to cotton. I f a place . could be found for Scot t i s h enterprise within the new industry, such men were the ones most l i k e l y to f i n d i t . The event which, probably more than any other, may have prompted the lawn and cambric manufacturers to search 1. Wadsworth and Mann, The Cotton Trade and I n d u s t r i a l Lancashire, 448. - f o r an o p e n i n g i n t h e cotton-tra.de was t h e e n t r y o f F r a n c e and H o l l a n d i n t o t h e American War i n 1778. T h i s t h r e a t e n e d s u p p l i e s o f t h e f i n e - l i n e n y a r n upon which Glasgow's m a n u f a c t u r e r s and weavers were so h e a v i l y dependent. I t may w e l l be t h a t t h e m a n u f a c t u r e r s o f f i n e l i n e n goods deemed i t a d v i s a b l e t o l o o k f o r a s u b s t i t u t e f i b r e , s u p p l i e s o f which were n o t so v u l n e r a b l e t o i n t e r r u p t i o n as a r e s u l t o f t h e a c t i o n s o f f o r e i g n g o v e r n -ments. What b e t t e r s u b s t i t u t e t o a d o p t , t h e n , t h a n West I n d i a n c o t t o n , which was becoming more e a s i l y o b t a i n a b l e i n t h e s o u th-west as more and more merchants and s h i p p i n g , d i s p l a c e d f r om t h e t r a d e w i t h t h e f o r m e r c o l o n i e s , t u r n e d t h e i r a t t e n t i o n t o t h e C a r i b b e a n ? 1 The E n g l i s h had shown what c o u l d be a c h i e v e d w i t h such a s u b s t i t u t i o n when i t was a l l i e d t o t h e a d o p t i o n o f t h e new p r o d u c t i o n - t e c h n i q u e s which made c o t t o n goods cheaper t o produce t h a n l i n e n goods by p e r m i t t i n g economies of s c a l e i n s p i n n i n g . Depending on t h e c o m p a r a t i v e p r o f i t margins i n t h e c o t t o n and l i n e n t r a d e s , cheaper goods, w i t h t h e i r p o t e n t i a l l y w i d e r market, c o u l d be s o l d w i t h o u t any d e c l i n e i n a b s o l u t e r e t u r n s . The case o f t h e j u t e i n d u s t r y o f Dundee p r o v i d e s an i n t e r e s t i n g g u i d e t o the e v e nts l e a d i n g up t o the f o u n d a t i o n o f l a r g e - s c a l e c o t t o n s p i n n i n g 3 around Glasgow. The c o a r s e - l i n e n i n d u s t r y c e n t r e d on Dundee was dependent on R i g a and S t . P e t e r s b u r g f o r s u p p l i e s o f 1. See above, 16-17. 2. I n f o r m a t i o n on margins i n l i n e n i s n o t a v a i l a b l e . I t seems l i k e l y , however, t h a t t h e y were n o t so f a v o u r a b l e as i n c o t t o n , because th e q u a n t i t y o f l i n e n y a r n produced per s p i n n e r was, f o r t e c h n i c a l r e a s o n s , n o t as h i g h as t h a t o f c o t t o n u s i n g t h e more s o p h i s t i c a t e d m achinery a v a i l a b l e a f t e r c. 1770. 3 . Chapman, "The E s t a b l i s h m e n t o f t h e J u t e I n d u s t r y " , Rev. Econ. S t u d i e s , 1938, 45-9. -flax and hemp, which were subjected to a series of interruptions and threatened interruptions from 1793 onwards because of diplomatic and other conditions. E f f o r t s were made to f i n d a substitute raw material, and the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of using jute, more e a s i l y obtainable once the East India Company's monopoly of the Indian Trade was completely revoked i n 1813, were explored. About 1836, improvements were made to machinery which f a c i l i t a t e d jute-spinning and i t was found that a market for jute f a b r i c s existed - i t could be used advantageously i n the bulk packaging of coffee and raw cotton. These developments coincided with a fear that war with Russia, which would threaten f l a x and hemp supplies yet again, was imminent and Dundee manufacturers turned increasingly to using jute instead, the jute industry being f i r m l y established by 1848. The p o s s i b i l i t y of a p a r a l l e l with the development of the south-west's cotton industry seems very s t r i k i n g . The l i n e n -manufacturers of the south-west may also, of course, have been inspired to take up cotton-manufacturing by the fear that the growing English cotton industry would undercut them and deprive them of t h e i r markets. Certainly the Paisley s i l k - t r a d e was very prone to inj u r y r e s u l t i n g from changes i n female fash i o n s , 1 and presumably the f i n e l i n e n trade" 1. See Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VII, 65. The minister of Paisley burgh parish notes, " I t i s true, that the change of fashion, upon which t h i s trade so e n t i r e l y depends, has of late had an unfavourable aspect towards i t . " Muslin, he l a t e r remarks, "has so fa r come i n i t s room." 66 - c o u l d be a f f e c t e d by s i m i l a r changes i n t a s t e : c o t t o n f a b r i c s o f s i m i l a r t e x t u r e and appearance t o lawns and s i l k - g a u z e , but cheaper t h a n e i t h e r , were c a p a b l e of e f f e c t i n g j u s t such a change The m o t i v e s of o t h e r p a r t i c i p a t i n g groups were n o t n e c e s s a r i l y t h o s e which had a f f e c t e d t h e a c t i o n s o f t h e t e x t i l e m a n u f a c t u r e r s , s i n c e t h e s e groups were u n l i k e l y t o be d i r e c t l y a f f e c t e d by t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s s u g g e s t e d above. Dr. Smout has s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h e l a n d e d p r o p r i e t o r s engaged i n t h e f i n a n c i n g o f c o t t o n m i l l s as a means of i n c r e a s i n g t h e r e n t - r e t u r n s f r o m t h e i r e s t a t e s and of p r o v i d i n g employment, perhaps f o r t h o s e a g r i c u l t u r a l l a b o u r e r s who had been d i s p l a c e d d u r i n g t h e 2 p r o c e s s of land-improvement. H i s o t h e r p o i n t , t h a t t h e y o n l y engaged i n c o t t o n - s p i n n i n g f o r as l o n g as t h i s remained c o m p a t i b l e w i t h o t h e r a g r a r i a n a c t i v i t i e s , w i t h d r a w i n g when the i n d u s t r y began t o a t t r a c t l a r g e - s c a l e immigrant l a b o u r and 3 when i t became p o s s i b l e t o l o c a t e m i l l s i n urban a r e a s , t e n d s t o c o n f i r m t h i s . Any l a r g e - s c a l e a c t i v i t y on t h e p a r t of S c o t t i s h f o r e i g n - t r a d i n g i n t e r e s t s , i f t h e s e can be d i v o r c e d f r o m l a n d e d i n t e r e s t s , was l i k e l y t o be i n s p i r e d by t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s o f e x p l o i t i n g t h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y ' s p o t e n t i a l as an e x p o r t i n g i n d u s t r y , c o u p l e d w i t h a d e s i r e t o ensure t h a t any developments i n f o r e i g n markets c o u l d be i n s t a n t l y p a s s e d 1. I t i s perhaps s i g n i f i c a n t t h a t James M o n t e i t h ' s s u c c e s s a f t e r 1793 was based on t h e s a l e o f "book m u s l i n s d r e s s e d as l a w n s " . See "Senex", Glasgow P a s t and P r e s e n t , I I , 52. 2. Smout " S c o t t i s h Landowners", S.J.P.E. T 1964, 231. 3. L o c . c i t . T and 227. 67 .on to the producers. The English are more d i f f i c u l t to assess, though the higher rate of p r o f i t to be obtained from muslin production than from the manufacture of goods with a less fashionable appeal may have been a factor i n t h e i r p a r t i c i p a t i o n . I l l The type of product i n which the Scottish cotton industry began to sp e c i a l i z e a f t e r 1783 re f l e c t e d the part played i n the industry's development by the weavers of the south-west. They had produced high-quality f i n e l i n e n f a b r i c s , so i t was more or less i n e v i t a b l e that, when the switch-over to cotton had been carried out, that they should continue i n t h i s s p e c i a l i z a t i o n . Muslin replaced s i l k gauze i n Paisley, and i n the ten years before 1794, the 3,000 looms of the Barony parish of Glasgow had gradually ceased to be employed i n manufacturing lawns and cambrics and were reported to be "almost wholly i n the muslin l i n e " . 1 In Lanarkshire's Cambuslang parish, a s i m i l a r change was evident, the minister observing i n 1793:-"In 1783, the weaving of muslin was introduced, which, for several years past, has given employment to a l l the weavers here..." 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XII 112. 2. I b i d . , V, 258. 63 A demand for muslins was known to exist in Britain - the East India Company having monopolised i t for years 1 - and, tempted no doubt by the prospect of robbing the Company of the high profits to be gained in the muslin-trade, cotton-manufacturers a l l over Britain tried to break into i t once the mule's introduction after 1730 made i t possible to spin 2 cotton yarn fine enough. The Scots were, for a time, faced with strong English competition; so strong was this, in fact, that Salte, Samuel Oldknow's agent in the main centre of the muslin-trade at London, could write in a memorial to the House of Lords in March, 1786:-"The Scotch began fir s t - they took the lead in this infant Manufacture - although every degree of patient Industry must be allowed them, they have not been o equally successful with the Lancashire Manufacturer." By May of the same year, however, Salte's rather patronising attitude was not so evident, as he wrote frantically to Oldknow, "Arkwright must lower his Twist and he must spin finer, t e l l him the reputation of our Country , against Scotland is at Stake." The mule had apparently begun to make its qualities as a spinner of fine yarn obvious to Scots spinners, and in 1736 the f i r s t really large-scale Scottish mills were coming into operation. By the end of May, 1786, Salte was becoming indignantly sarcastic about the quality of the Scottish muslins - " i f cheapness proves any excellence they have i t indeed... the Scotch Impudence and perseverence is beyond a l l " but by 1. Esilman, Comprehensive View, 11. See above, 32. 2. See Unwin et al, Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights 3-4. 3 . Ibid., 63. 4. Unwin, Samuel Oldknow etc., 65. 5. Ibid-, 66. -June, he was forced to admit that the Scots' supremacy i n the muslin-market was an established f a c t : -"The S a t t i n Stripes i n colours w i l l not do... The Scotch have done much better t h i s two months i n the same...indeed the Scotch perseverence & ingenuity are doing wonders... The Scotch have sent up many Spotted Muslins, indeed too good ^ and too cheap." By 1794 Oldknow's interest i n muslin manufacturing at l e a s t , i f not that of other more tenacious English manufacturers, had decline to i n s i g n i f i c a n c e . In Scotland i n 1792 i t seems to have become the most important section of the cotton industry: c e r t a i n l y , muslins accounted for 63.7% by value of the pure-3 cotton goods exported from Scotland i n that year. The success of the Scots i n the muslin-trade must, i t seems, be attributed more to the s k i l l s of t h e i r weavers and the commercial acumen of t h e i r "manufacturers" than to t h e i r spinners, though undoubtedly they too had a part to play. English spinners, using the same machinery, could produce yarn as f i n e as, or even f i n e r than, that produced by t h e i r Scots counterparts: i n 1792, Robert Owen was spinning what seems to have been the f i n e s t yarn i n B r i t a i n , number 250 to number 300, at Drinkwater's m i l l i n Manchester. The f i n e muslin woven from t h i s , described by Owen himself as "the greatest c u r i o s i t y of B r i t i s h manufacture," was made at Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire,^4- a f a c t which, i f not proving the 1. L o c . c i t . , and 67. 2. I b i d . , 105-6. 3. P.R.O. Customs 14. v o l . 5. 4. Account from Owen's Autobiography, quoted i n Unwin, op.cit. 133. Yarn i s measured by the number of standard hanks to the pound weight (1 hank = #40 yards). The higher the number, the f i n e r the yarn, No. 200, i . e . 200 hanks per l b . , i s very f i n e . s u p e r i o r i t y of Scots over English weavers, says a great deal for t h e i r a b i l i t y . Quite apart from the fact that the Scottish weaver's s k i l l gave him the edge over his English opposite number, the decision to specialize i n the manufacture of f i n e - f a b r i c s was probably thrust upon the Scots by the necessity, apparent as long before as ±707, to complement English industry rather than t r y i n g to compete with i t . 1 They had probably been excluded from producing goods i n the medium and low q u a l i t y ranges by the fact that the cotton industry of Lancashire and elsewhere, having been established before the American Revolution and having been able to expand v i r t u a l l y without competition before 1780, had been able to establ i s h an unassailable lead i n that quarter using the rather coarser yarn spun by jennies and water-frames. Muslins had been woven i n England as early as 1764, but English-spun yarn was not altogether suitable for t h i s purpose u n t i l Crompton's mule became available a f t e r 17#0, being the f i r s t machine which could be r e l i e d upon to spin s u f f i c i e n t l y f i n e warps and wefts. When James Monteith the younger wove the f i r s t muslin web i n Glasgow i n 1780, from imported Indian "bird-nest" yarn, the market f o r f i n e cotton goods was s t i l l wide open, apart from the Indian goods brought i n by the East India 1. See above, 4. •-merchants. In such a situation, the weaving skills of the 2 south-west were eminently suitable for exploitation. The muslin trade laid the foundations of the Scottish cotton industry's prosperity, but by 1818 i t had apparently been overshadowed by the production of coarser fabrics. 3 The contribution of muslin to the export trade in cotton-goods had certainly declined considerably from the level achieved in 1792, amounting to only 19.4% of the value of cotton-goods exported.^ Kirkman Finlay was of the opinion that the change in emphasis had come with the introduction of the power-loom to general use about 1814-15. At about the same time, an entirely new sector of the industry seems to have made its appearance in an around Paisley - the large-scale production of cotton thread. Paisley had been the centre of the thread-manufacturing industry since the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the raw material had been linen. But although some cotton thread was probably made between 1780 and 1815, the majority of the firms engaged in this 1. "Senex", Glasgow Past and Present, I, 69, for the weaving of the f i r s t muslin web in Glasgow. East Indian competition in muslins continued to be a threat until 1792, and was one of the main reasons for Glasgow Chamber of Commerce's opposition to the renewal of the Company's monopoly when the latter's charter became due for revision in 1793; Stewart, Progress of Glasgow, 37". 2. The Board of Trustees was active in encouraging muslin-weaving at least until 1783; "Senex", op.cit., III, 376. 3. But not yet as coarse as Lancashire fabrics. The bulk of the yarn produced in Glasgow was no. 40 to no. 60, and upwards to 180. Lancashire seems to have spun mainly lower counts such as no. 16. See Select Committee of 1833, mins. II67-8, 71. 4. P.R.O. Customs 14, vol. 30. Calicoes, plain and printed, made up 74.9%. 5. Select Committee of 1833, min. 1198, 73. appear to have been founded between 1812 and 1840. Despite the apparent change, however, the p r i n c i p l e of complementarity with England was maintained, judging again from Finlay's evidence i n 1833:-"We f i n d , i n practice, that i t i s impossible, with a l l the knowledge and the opportunities that we have at Glasgow, to transfer from Manchester to Glasgow the manufacture of a p a r t i c u l a r a r t i c l e s . Now at Manchester, again, e f f o r t s have been made to manufacture p a r t i c u l a r a r t i c l e s that they make at Glasgow and P a i s l e y , and i t i s found impossible to do them with the 2 same advantage." So long as t h i s was the case, then Scotland had l i t t l e to fear from Manchester, despite the f a c t that some costs appear to have been higher i n Glasgow than i n Manchester and despite the apparent technical i n f e r i o r i t y of the Scottish spinning-industry to that of Manchester between 1820 and 1830.^ For the health of the industry, i f f o r no other reason, the d i v e r s i f i c a t i o n into heavier f a b r i c s and thread was a sensible precaution. Since the weaving of f i n e f a b r i c s even i n 1833 was s t i l l apparently done on a handloom i n Scotland, 4 a continued reliance upon p l a i n , printed and flowered muslin must have i n h i b i t e d the expansion of cotton-spinning i n 1. B l a i r T The Paisley Thread 59-61. One f i r m at least had been i n business since 1784, but whether i t spun li n e n or cotton thread at that time i s not known. 2. Select Committee of 1833, min. 662 38. 3. For differences i n costs between Glasgow and Manchester, see I b i d . , min. 1162, 71. Houldsworth's evidence on technical s u p e r i o r i t y of Manchester i s ci t e d above, 34-5. The comparison of costs was made on the basis of 1,000 hanks of no. 16 yarn, but Finlay said not much no. 16 was spun i n Glasgow: min. 1164, 71. 4. I b i d . , 1198, 73. 73 -Scotland. If spinning output continually over-ran the demand for yarn for hand-woven muslins, as i t appears to have done for instance in 1793-4, profit-margins would decline to the point where i t would no longer be economical to continue spinning in Scotland. In that event the inevitable gainer would have been, not the Scottish weaver, but Lancashire. Diversification of output may, therefore, have been inspired by a desire on the.part of the spinners to maintain a high level of expansion by by-passing the muslin-weaving bottleneck through spinning heavier yarns suitable for power-loom weaving. This would also account for the fact that a high proportion of the power-weaving concerns in the Glasgow region were directly controlled by the spinners. 1 In addition, diversification may have been inspired by a desire on the part of the entrepreneurs to introduce a measure of s t a b i l i t y into an industry whose markets, on the basis of the muslin-trade, were limited by the high-value of the goods, notoriously uncertain, and to an increasing extent, being undermined by the manufacture of fine-goods abroad after 1815. Finlay at least, was aware of the problems involved in specializing 2 in fancy-goods with a. limited and unstable market: i t does not seem unreasonable to suppose that he was aware of the possibilities of diversification in providing a solution. 1. See above, 41. 2. Select Committee of 1833, min. 1215-7, 75. 74 The rapid expansion of the cotton industry from being a. comparatively minor branch of the linen industry to being the most important single industry i n the Scottish economy between 1780 to 1835 indicates a considerable widening of the market f o r the industry's products, without which expansion of output would have been pointless. I n i t i a l l y , the cotton industry probably exploited the market for f i n e f a b r i c s which had been b u i l t up by the participants i n the lawn, cambric and s i l k gauze trades. The evidence of a wholesale switchover from these f a b r i c s to muslins by the weavers, and therefore presumably by the "manufacturers" too, and of the tendency, apparent i n the case of James Monteith, to "dress" muslins as lawns, a l l tends to support t h i s , as does the f a c t that from 1778 onwards the output of l i n e n i n Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire - the only areas i n which f i n e 1 linens were manufactured to any great extent - declined 1 1 r a p i d l y . To expand the market i n a way which j u s t i f i e d expanding output to the extent apparent between 1780 and 1833, prices to the consumer were lowered by the rapid adoption of 2 ' more e f f i c i e n t techniques of production and new outlets for increased sales, heavy fabrics.and thread, were explored and exploited wherever possible. When sales of f i n i s h e d goods abroad were affected by foreign competition, the 1. See Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, App. V, 408-9, giving linen yardage produced by each Scottish county, 1767-1822 (selected years). 2. See above, 32-35, 41. 1 ^decline was offse t to some extent by exploiting the demands of the growing foreign cotton industries f or yarn, which they themselves were not always capable of supplying. Exports of cotton twist and yarn from Scotland took an upward turn a f t e r 1815: i n 1801, these had been n e g l i g i b l e , but i n 1827 they contributed 5% of the value of cotton goods exported from Scotland. 1 As had been the case with the li n e n industry before the American Revolution, the B r i t i s h home market was the most important to the cotton industry during i t s period of expansion. Of the 105 m i l l i o n yards of cotton cloth which Cleland. estimated was produced i n Scotland i n 1818, 37.2 m i l l i o n were exported, so 64.5% of the t o t a l output i n that year was p intended for consumption within the United Kingdom. The proportion intended f or the home market i n 1827 was apparently even greater: output, based on raw cotton import f i g u r e s , was 39.5% higher than i n 1818, but the yardage exported was only up by 13.5% on the 1818 l e v e l . 3 Apparently, Kirkman Finlay's warnings about the strength of foreign competition were not without substance. Nevertheless, despite the decline i n the proportion of output which went for export, the cotton industry's position as Scotland's main exporting industry was stronger i n 1827 than i t had been i n 1818. 1. P.R.O. Customs 14, v o l . 39. 2. Cleland, Enumeration of 1831. 138; P.R.O. Customs 14 v o l . 30. 3. I b i d . , v o l s . 30 and 39. In 1792, the value of exports of cotton goods contributed only 5.4$ of the value of Scotland's total exports; in 1801, i t had risen to 47.25$ of the total, in 1818 to 60.6$ and i n 1827 to no less than 78.25$.1 / 1 1 1 ri 1 — 1 1 1. P.R.q. Customs 14, vols. 5, 14, 30, 39. 4 THE PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION: LABOUR IN THE COTTON-INDUSTRY I In the early stages of the cotton industry's development when i t s t i l l formed a branch of the li n e n industry organised upon domestic-production l i n e s , the provision of an adequate supply of labour probably provided few problems, since the numbers of people involved i n both spinning and Weaving were r e l a t i v e l y small. The development, however, of large-scale factory spinning after 1780 brought problems i n i t s wake, requiring as i t did large concentrations of labour around the m i l l s , which, because of the fact that t h e i r locations i n the early stages were governed largely by the a v a i l a b i l i t y of suitable water-supplies, were often not b u i l t i n areas of ex i s t i n g population concentration. 1 D i f f i c u l t i e s were therefore encountered i n providing the large-scale labour forces f o r the new m i l l s as was the case at New Lanark, which 2 required a labour force of 1157 i n 1793. "Although comfortable dwellings were erected at the v i l l a g e of New Lanark for the workers, and good wages and constant employment insured, great d i f f i c u l t y was f e l t i n getting the spinning-mill f i l l e d with operatives. I t arose from prejudice on the part of the people, more p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the Lowlands, against a l l factory labour". To overeomevthe problem, m i l l proprietors had to adopt several expedients i n order to a t t r a c t people away from other pursuits, usually a g r i c u l t u r a l , and from other l o c a l i t i e s to work i n 1. For example. New Lanark, Deanston, Catrine: Other m i l l s such as Woodside i n Glasgow, were better placed. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV, 36-7. 3. Chambers' Biographical Dictionary, half v o l . i i , 423-78 the mills. The most obvious method of doing this, perhaps, was to .offer higher wages for mill-workers than were normal for agricultural labour, and this was, in fact, done with some success, as the parish accounts of Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire show: cotton mills are often specifically named by ministers as a contributory cause of depopulation in rural parishes. For instance, the minister of Carluke, Lanarkshire, remarked, "As there i s a continual drain from the parish, both of young men and women, to the neighbouring cotton mills, iron works, etc., the farmer is often at a loss for labourers; the servants 1 wages are thereby rendered much higher, than the master can well afford at present, being from £6 to £10 per annum for a man and from £3 to £4 for a woman". The Glasgow account noted, at the same time, that wages were for "old men and boys and g i r l s , at different branches (spinning, preparing the yarn and cotton wool ~ etc., for weaving), from os. to 8s." i which meant that the lowest grade of factory operative was being paid between £15 and £20 per annum. It appears, however, that the promise of wages higher than those in most other occupations was not sufficient to attract people away from their established settlements and pursuits; the prejudice of local labour against factory work in the case of New Lanark has been noted, and other comments of a similar type are to be found, for instance i n the parish account for 1. Old St a t i s t i c a l Account, VIII, 138-9. 2. Ibid., V, 505-6. i 79 K i l m a r t i n , A r g y l l s h i r e , the minister observed:-"Three fa m i l i e s t h i s year have gone to the cotton work, and some others speak of following them, though i t seems to be with reluctance, as they consider the employment to be rather unfavourable to health." -Their reluctance i s understandable, not only on the grounds that factory work was unhealthy, but simply because the a t t r a c t i o n of higher wages was counterbalanced by the fact that to work i n a spinning m i l l meant uprooting oneself from one's native parish or v i l l a g e , and submitting to a system of d i s c i p l i n e and a set of conditions of work which d i f f e r e d r a d i c a l l y from those to which one was accustomed. This l a t t e r factor by i t s e l f Would probably be enough, i n an age of strong l o c a l l o y a l t i e s and comparative immobility of labour to discourage many people from seeking employment i n the factories although to dp so - would probably have meant an improved standard of l i v i n g . So long as agricultural employment was available i n t h e i r accustomed area of residence, many may have preferred to stay where they were, rather than to move even a few miles to a new and perhaps materially better, but completely unfamiliar, environment. When S i r John S i n c l a i r compiled his S t a t i s t i c a l Account i n the l a s t decade of the eighteenth century, a g r i c u l t u r a l improvement had by no means been u n i v e r s a l l y 2 adopted i n Scotland, and the proportion of the r u r a l 1. I b i d . V I I I , 10$. 2. I t had, however, made considerable strides since 1750. See, for example, H. Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, 70-79. population displaced by i t i n the Central Lowlands was not, apparently, very s i g n i f i c a n t : work on the land being a v a i l a b l e , there was no r e a l pressure on the Lowland r u r a l population to force them to take up or seek out new occupations. What was true of the Lowlands did not hold good i n the Highlands, es p e c i a l l y i n the north-west. Dr. Gray has shown that, a f t e r the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 the Highland economy and Highland society were forced to undergo d r a s t i c change, i n the course of which the old motive of p o l i t i c a l and m i l i t a r y prestige, which had encouraged Highland landlords to maintain large groups of dependent clansmen on t h e i r lands, was replaced by the p r o f i t motive, which encouraged the same landlords to replace t h e i r m i l i t a r y retainers with sheep or b e e f - c a t t l e , X This change i n motives and i n Highland a g r i c u l t u r a l organization was accompanied by a rapid population growth, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the north-west, which i n turn led to increasing pressure on the diminishing supply of land made available by the landlords for the support of t h e i r tenants. In the Highlands, therefore, a g r i c u l t u r a l improvement di d provide the incentive to emigrate to the growing factory d i s t r i c t s of the Central Lowlands, as the "great sheep" or the black " s t i r k " replaced the small farmer as the occupant of the land i n the Highland counties such as Sutherland and A r g y l l . • The process was recorded by the 1. M. Gray, The Highland Economy. 1750-1550, Edinburgh 1957, l l f . 81 minister of Strachur and Stralachlan, A r g y l l : -"Within these l a s t 30 years, es p e c i a l l y since sheep-stocks have been introduced, i t i s • remarked, that a number of people from t h i s d i s t r i c t have become s a i l o r s ; but i t appears that necessity ? and not choice, has been the cause. By; joining together 2, 3 or more farms, and converting them into a sheep-walk, 12 or 16 tenants, with t h e i r f a m i l i e s , were thrown out of t h e i r usual l i n e of employment." The Clearances have been, and s t i l l are, the subject of a great deal of indignation, righteous and otherwise, but they were probably not the e v i l influence on Scotland's development that they are often thought to be. In f a c t , by helping to overcome the problem of labour-supply faced by the cotton-spinning m i l l s , they may have been a pos i t i v e benefit to the country's economic growth. The spinning-masters of the south-west took advantage of the Highland emigrations of the l a s t two decades of the 18th century to make good some of the de f i c i e n c i e s i n t h e i r labour forces. Prominent among those who t r i e d to make use of Highland labour was, as always, David Dale, of whose works and v i l l a g e at New Lanark the minister of Lanark parish recorded:-"A great proportion of the inhabitants are Highlanders from Caithness, Inverness and Argyleshires. In 1791 a vessel carrying emigrants from the i s l e of Skye to North - America was driven by stress of weather into Greenock; about 200 were put ashore i n a very d e s t i t u t e s i t u a t i o n . Mr. Dale . . . offered them immediate employment, which the greater bulk of them accepted. And soon after . . . he n o t i f i e d , to the people of 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, IV, 574. 82 Argyleshire and the i s l e s , the encouragement given to fam i l i e s at the cottonmills; and undertook to provide houses f o r 200 families i n the course of 1792. These were a l l finished l a s t summer ( I 7 9 3 ) , and a considerable number of Highlanders , have of late come to reside at New Lanark". __The fact that Dale had to offer to b u i l d houses and b u i l t a school and a church as well as providing free medical services i n addition, and the fa c t that he had to " n o t i f y " the people of A r g y l l s h i r e and elsewhere of the benefits accruing to them from employment i n his m i l l s , provide a measure both of the seriousness of the labour shortage and of the unwillingness of the Lanarkshire people to move from t h e i r homes and work on a reclaimed morass. Even though the displaced Highlanders often had no alte r n a t i v e but to seek employment outside t h e i r normal areas of settlement, they were not ea s i l y recruited for factory-work. Other expedients had to be adopted to provide an adequate labour force f o r the m i l l s , and since the operation of water-powered machinery required neither great s k i l l nor great physical strength, children were used i n the m i l l s to carry out some of the spinning process. Housing at New Lanark was provided for "Families from any quarter possessed of a good moral character, and having three children 2 f i t f o r work, above nine years of age " 1. I b i d . , XV 574. 2 . This was done by sending agents into these areas where labour might be recruited to pu b l i c i s e the m i l l s and to contact any who might be w i l l i n g to take employment i n them, Chambers Biog., Dictionary, 11, 423. ^And widows with families were assured of a l i v i n g so comfortable from the labour of t h e i r c h i l d r e n , that they often became "tempting objects for a second husband". 1 At Blantyre, James Monteith employed 60 "barrack children", or orphans from 8 to 12 years of age, and at New Lanark i n the same year, 1793, 275 of these unfortunates were employed. In both cases, the mill-owner provided lodgings, food, clot h i n g , education and medical services f o r these pauper children, and they seem, i n general, to have been quite well cared f o r by the standards of the time.*1" For t h e i r attempts to a l l e v i a t e the p l i g h t of widows, orphans and emigrant Highlanders, Dale and other mill-owners have b u i l t up a reputation as philanthropists which i s not altogether undeserved. But although they may have been motivated to some extent by a genuine desire to help people whose position i n l i f e was more precarious than t h e i r own, t h e i r philanthropy seems, on the whole, to have been based on sound economic motives i n keeping with t h e i r reputation as leading businessmen - the need to ensure a return on t h e i r investments i n cotton m i l l s and machinery by maintaining an adequate s t a f f to carry out the production processes. Their 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV, 41. 2. I b i d . , I I , 217. 3. I b i d . , XV, 37. 4. At New Lanark, they were lodged i n that part of the unfinished, unequipped fourth m i l l which was not being used as a tradesmen's workshop or a raw-cotton store; I b i d . , XV, 39. But t h e i r d i e t of potatoes and meat or f i s h or cheese compared favourably with the normal orphanage d i e t : T. Ferguson, The Dawn of Scottish S o c i a l Welfare, Edinburgh 1948, 35, 9%~. "r"~ paternalism towards the labour forces employed i n t h e i r m i l l s , t h e i r provision of housing, medical services and educational and r e l i g i o u s f a c i l i t i e s f o r t h e i r workers, was inspired by a very r e a l need to at t r a c t labour to t h e i r m i l l s and, as f a r as possible, to keep i t there. By the t h i r d decade of the nineteenth century, the problem of supplying a labour force appropriate to the cotton industry's requirements appears to have been solved, indeed there seems to have been a surplus of s k i l l e d labour by 1833. Henry Houldsworth, the proprietor of two m i l l s i n Glasgow submitted i n evidence to the Select'Committee on Manufactures:, Commerce and Shipping of 1833 that the cotton spinners' association i n Glasgow feared that the labour market was becoming "overstocked with hands" and was engaged.in the promotion of an emigration scheme by which about one eighth of the t o t a l number of cotton-spinners i n Glasgow had gone to New Tork between 1830 and 1833, having had t h e i r own and t h e i r f a m i l i e s ' fares paid by the union which also provided a cash-grant of £6 to £20 per family on a r r i v a l i n America..1 This s u p e r f l u i t y of s k i l l e d labour may have been purely temporary, the r e s u l t of the depression through which the cotton trade was passing between 1830 and 1833, coupled with an i n f l u x of I r i s h labour into the south-west of Scotland and the introduction of improved techniques i n cotton-spinning 1. Select Committee on Manufactures.., Commerce and Shipping 1833 Minutes of Evidence and Report, H.M.S.O., 1833 minutes 5234-54, 311-2. 85 about 1830, i n the form of the s e l f - a c t i n g mule developed by Archibald Buchanan, manager of James Fi n l a y and Company's Catrine m i l l , and James Smith, the same firm's manager at Deanston, between 1815 and 1830. Of these three f a c t o r s , however, the two long-term ones, I r i s h immigration and technical innovation, were l i k e l y to exert a greater influence on the labour market.than the purely temporary depression. The demand f o r labour after the depression was l i a b l e to be less than that which had preceded i t , because of innovation, and the supply of labour greater than before, due to immigration. According to one account, the purpose of the invention of Smith and Buchanan was to replace the male cotton-spinners, who were "the chief movers i n a l l the combinations of the cotton trade", with female spinners who were more amenable to d i s c i p l i n e , thereby breaking the power of the Cotton Spinners Association i n Finlay's mills.' 1' But the effects of i t s introduction were to be more far-reaching than that, as the parish account of Balfron, S t i r l i n g s h i r e , where the company's Ba l l i n d a l l o c h m i l l was situated, showed:-"Two hundred and f i f t y - e i g h t hands or thereby, and these c h i e f l y females, are no employed at the works... O r i g i n a l l y , there were employed at t h i s m i l l 400 persons, young and old. The difference i n point of numbers can be r e a d i l y accounted f o r , by the improvements introduced i n t o machinery. For example, i n 1792, there were i n what i s termed a "pass", four men, each having two piecers, that i s to say twelve persons i n a l l . Now, one woman spins i n one pass with 1. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 1237, Referring to Deanston M i l l s . 86 the assistance of three piecers, that i s four persons in a l l do what the twelve originally did. In point of numbers, the reduction w i l l be greater s t i l l , i f the self-acting jennies (sic) are as successful as they promise in the meantime to be. One woman by herself, with one of these i s able to spin as much as four 1 with the jennies in common use." This continuous process of developing labour-saving techniques which had begun with Hargreaves' work in the 1760's and even earlier with Wyatt and Paul, may have been the factor which caused the fears of redundancy among the spinners in 1830 and after. Certainly in 1833, William Graham of Glasgow had tried to blackmail his spinners into accepting lower wage-rates by threatening to bring in the self-acting mules to replace them. They were not inclined to accept, so the mules were p ordered and the spinners' jobs placed in jeopardy. That the apparent overabundance of labour in the thirties was not based on native resources, but rather on Irish immigration, may be seen in the evidence of Scottish mill-proprietors examined by the Select Committee of 1833. Houldsworth submitted that "The greater proportion of the hands in the mills of Glasgow are either Irish themselves 3 or of Irish parents, born in Scotland". Indeed the tendency among Scottish labour seems to have been much the same in 1833 as i t had been i n 1790 - unwillingness 1. Ibid., VIII, 293-^ 4. Account dated 1834. 2. Select Committee of 1833, minute 5241, 324. 3. Ibid., min. 5255, 312. to go into the mills. . Of his own mills, Houldsworth observed that "we can scarcely get a Scotchman for a porter or a watchman","'" and that, as far as a l l the mills in Glasgow were concerned, "there would not have been Scotch hands sufficient 2 to have supplied our manufactories". He may have experienced rather more d i f f i c u l t y than other proprietors i n attracting Scots labour to his mills, since the wages paid by Henry Houldsworth and Go. were among the lowest in Glasgow: for example, the company paid 9/ld per week to men aged 21 and above, the lowest wage for that age-group i n a l i s t of 29 mills whose wages were tabulated by James Cleland in 1831. But Houldsworth's. assessment of the situation, that Irish labour manned most of the Glasgow spinning-mills and power-weaving factories, was supported by other, more generous, p r o p r i e t o r s T h e Irish in Glasgow in 1831 numbered 35,554 out of a total population of 202,426 in the city, the Barony and Gorbals; of these 17,165, or nearly 50% of the total Irish population, were concentrated in the 5 Barony, where most of the Glasgow cotton-mills were situated. The Irish influx had begun in 1796, with 7,000 people from the linen-producing county of Armagh, and had continued and increased in subsequent years as a result of the unsettled 1. Ibid., min. 5233, 311. 2. Ibid., min. 5257, 312. 3. Cleland Enumeration of 1831. 291. 4. E.g. William Graham, Select Committee of 1833, min. 5520-22, 329. 5. Cleland, op.cit., 211. Cleland's figures given here apply only to those born in Ireland. p o l i t i c a l and economic conditions of Ireland, where the abortive r i s i n g s of 1798 and 1303, coupled with the decline of the Ulster l i n e n and woollen i n d u s t r i e s , had put the inhabitants i n a s i t u a t i o n s i m i l a r to that of the Highlanders i n the l a s t h a l f of the eighteenth century. 1 The I r i s h , i n f a c t , replaced the Highland immigrants of e a r l i e r years, on whom the pressure to emigrate had eased as a re s u l t of -the temporary benefits bestowed on the Highland economy by the Napoleonic Wars which had increased the demand for Highland 2 kelp and c a t t l e . Weaving was not beset by the same problems of labour shortage as spinning even i n the e a r l i e s t stages of the cotton-industry's development because the process of weaving fine cotton yarn was no d i f f e r e n t from that of weaving f i n e l i n e n or s i l k . The existence i n Glasgow and Paisley of concentrations of weavers who were accustomed to working with fine yarns provided the cotton industry with a ready, and ample, supply of s k i l l e d labour. Indeed, i t appears that there was more than enough labour available i n some sections of the weaving trade, 1 as early as 1787: Bremner ascribes the abortive Paisley weavers' s t r i k e of that year, which was occasioned by 1. J.E. Handley, The I r i s h i n Scotland. Glasgow 1964. 52-3. 2. M. Gray, o p . c i t . , 107-151. 3. I t i s necessary to disti n g u i s h between weavers of p l a i n goods and weavers of fancy goods. For the l a t t e r , the decline i n wages started l a t e r and was less marked, pa r t l y because i t required sp e c i a l s k i l l s and so was less open to i n f i l t r a t i o n by immigrant labour, p a r t l y because the power-loom was not adapted to t h i s type of work by 1835. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture 435. 89 an attempt on the part of the master-weavers to reduce the prices of c e r t a i n types of work, to the fact that "a redundancy of hands had entered the t r a d e " j 1 and i t was observed that although the number of cotton m i l l s i n and around Glasgow had increased r a p i d l y i n the ten years preceding 1792, / "yet they are unable to supply the necessary quantity of yarn required by the increased manufactures, as a considerable quantity i s ~ s t i l l d a i l y brought from England. In the period between 1795 and 1830, the position of the handloom weavers st e a d i l y worsened. Esilman calculated that for every s h i l l i n g a weaver earned on a given piece of work i n 1792, he earned four-pence i n 1823, aft e r which prices paid by "manufacturers" continued to decline. The process, as has been noted, began i n Glasgow i n 1787, and Baines estimated that the process of decline speeded up throughout B r i t a i n a f t e r the reopening of war with France i n 1803.^" While admitting that the introduction of the power-loom i n 'the years following the turn of the century may have been a factor i n the decline i n wages, which i n undoubtedly was i n some cases, Baines lays most of the blame for the weavers' d i s t r e s s on the f a c t that a surplus of hands was building up i n the trade throughout the period because i t was so easy to learn. Children aged between 10 and 12 were capable of working a passable web, and so 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 283-4. 2 . Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V, 502. This tends to support Bremner, and to indicate that the position had not improved by the outbreak of the French War i n 1793. The long wartime depression, 1793-99, must have made the position worse. 3 . Esilman, Comprehensive View, 2 4 . 4 . Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 4 9 2 . -weavers' families were generally "bred to the loom"; t h i s i n i t s e l f would have produced a su f f i c i e n c y of hands, but i n addition to these native sources of labour, the market was flooded with displaced I r i s h weavers from Ulster, which factor operated to force wages down even further. This factor may very w e l l have operated i n the Glasgow area, where, according to S i r Thomas Munro, there were 25,000 I r i s h weavers i n 1825, 1 who came af t e r 1796 to swell the ranks of'the native weavers of Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, and especially Ayrshire, in° which parts of Ardrossan and Girvan, two of the main I r i s h packet-stations, were situated. I I Working conditions i n the m i l l s were the subject of considerable comment throughout the period from the foundation of the f i r s t m i l l s , from 1779 onwards, u n t i l well into the nineteenth century. They were also the object of a certain amount of attention on the part of Parliament, which resulted i n the passing of l e g i s l a t i o n to govern the hours and conditions of work imposed on the labour force, especially on children, between 1802 and 1833, most of i t directed s p e c i f i c a l l y at cotton-mills. Peel's Act of 1802 prohibited the employment of "barrack-children", or apprentices for 1. S i r Thomas Munro, Letter to Kirkman F i n l a y , 15th August, 1825, quoted i n Cleland, Enumeration of 1831, 271. „more than ten hours per day, i t s operation being confined to cotton-mills. Another Act sponsored by Peel, an emasculated version of a b i l l originally introduced through the influence of Robert Owen, was passed in 1819, by which no children under nine years of age were to be employed in cotton mills, and the hours worked by children aged between 9 and 16 were limited to 12 per day. This was reinforced in 1831 by the passing of a b i l l sponsored by Sir John Hobhouse which extended the twelve-hour day, 69 hour week, to a l l employees under 18 years of age. Hobhouse had aimed at reducing the hours to 11J per day and had intended that his b i l l should cover other factories besides cotton mills, but he failed to achieve either of these objects. One important after-effect of Hobhouse's Act however, was that a Royal Commission was set up to investigate the actual observance of the Act by m i l l -proprietors , and a series of inspections of mills was carried out by the D i s t r i c t Factory Commissioners. As a result of the Factory Commission's investigations and report in 1832, a further Act was passed by the Peel administration of 1833 which, while not altering the hours of work laid down by the Hobhouse Act, extended the 69-hour week to a l l workers in a l l types of textile mill and, most important, set up a permanent inspectorate to ensure that the terms of the Act were observed and to report back regularly to the Home Office about hours and conditions. 1 This step meant that the terms of any "1. For a contemporary discussion of factory legislation as i t affected cotton mills, see Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 477-9. A detailed, modern, left-wing account of the operation of the acts in Scotland i s in T. Johnston, History of the Working Classes in Scotland, Glasgow 1929, 321-7. 92 factory l e g i s l a t i o n could no longer be avoided with impunity by employers, as had only too often been the case i n the past, and that the main b a r r i e r to e f f e c t i v e l e g i s l a t i v e c o n t r o l , that of enforcement, was overcome f o r the f i r s t time. Because of the composition of the labour-force, any l i m i t a t i o n on the working hours of children became e f f e c t i v e l y a l i m i t a t i o n on a l l working hours, so great was the number of children engaged i n spinning, and l a t e r i n power-weaving. At New Lanark i n 1793, children aged between 6 and 17 formed 69% of the t o t a l labour force of 1,157;1 at Catrine, the proportion of children employed was considerably lower, 55% of the t o t a l labour force being under 20 years of age; by 1833, the proportion was lower s t i l l - of the t o t a l labour, force employed i n the m i l l s examined by the Factory Inspector i n Glasgow, 35% were under 16 years of age, 62.5% being under 21. Since the piecers to the cotton-spinners came within the 12-21 age group, the extension of the 12-hour day to a l l persons aged up to 18 by Hobhouse's Act meant that a l l spinning was, i n theory at l e a s t , confined to the same hours, since, u n t i l the introduction on a large scale of the s e l f - a c t i n g mule c. 1833, the operation simply could not be carried out without the aid of piecers. The Highlanders of K i l m a r t i n , A r g y l l s h i r e , i t has been noted, considered the work i n cotton m i l l s somewhat p r e j u d i c i a l 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XV, 36-7. 2. I b i d . , XX, 176-7. 3. Factory Enquiry Commission, Supplementary Report, part 1, H.M.S.O. 1834, 33. 93 _ to health, and t h i s point was one which generated considerable dispute among commentators i n the period under discussion. The minister of Doune Parish, Perthshire, observed i n the Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Deanston m i l l that, "The confinement of so many people i n one house rendered the a i r they breathed very impure; the heat necessary i n preparing the cotton kept the workmen constantly i n a sweat... the noise of the machinery rendered them soon deaf; and the f l y i n g p a r t i c l e s of cotton, and constant labour of the eye i n watching the texture of the threads, , weakened and destroyed the sight". This and s i m i l a r judgments from other ministers i n whose parishes cotton m i l l s were situated, led S i r John S i n c l a i r i n his analysis of the account to conclude that factory-labour was uniformly unhealthy. "Eager a p p l i c a t i o n , scanty food and want of proper exercise", he wrote of factory-hands, "enfeebles the co n s t i t u t i o n , produces nervous disorders and brings on various i n f i r m i t i e s which render t h e i r l i v e s uncomfortable and 2 hurry them on to a premature old age". From the Reports of the Factory Commissioners of « 3 1832-34, i t i s apparent that the conditions condemned by S i r John S i n c l a i r and many of his correspondents s t i l l existed i n the early t h i r t i e s . The temperature i n some m i l l s was kept as high as 136°F,4 and i n many the atmosphere remained clogged with fine p a r t i c l e s of cotton dust, especially i n 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX, 88. 2. S i r John S i n c l a i r , Analysis of the S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland Edinburgh 1825, 325. " "~ ~~ 3. Factory Inquiry Commission 1832, 1st and 2nd Reports H.M.S.O. 1833, Supplementary Reports, parts 1 and 11, 1834. 4. I b i d . , 1st and 2nd Reports, Examination by D i s t r i c t Commissioners, Northern Region, Sect. A.2, 80. -those i n which poor-quality cotton was being processed. Messrs. Mackintosh and Stuart, D i s t r i c t Commissioners charged with inspecting Scottish m i l l s i n 1833, commented that such conditions apparently affected the health of operatives, 2 especially the respiratory system, and t h i s may account for the high incidence of consumption, phthisis and tuberculosis among the population of Glasgow around the middle of the 3 nineteenth century. Although no cases of physical d i s t o r t i o n as a re s u l t of labour i n cotton m i l l s were reported, and no cases of blindness or deafness such as the minister of Doune attributed to the work, many of the workers interviewed complained of swollen ankles and leg-pains as a r e s u l t of long hours standing at machinery, and i n many m i l l s accidents involving machinery which usually resulted i n some degree of mutilation, were not infrequent - indeed, the loss of a. finger appears to have been something of an accepted occupational hazard for workers i n power-weaving m i l l s . Sanitary arrangements were often unsatisfactory, and i n the case of James Oswald and Company's m i l l i n Glasgow, were said to contribute to the prevalence of fevers among the workers As the Commissioners no doubt r e a l i z e d , conditions i n a l l m i l l s were not a l i k e , and to balance the picture of ' unhealthiness and squalor presented by the c r i t i c s of factory 1. I b i d . , A.2, 84. 2. I b i d . , A.2, 84: A . l , 88. 3. T. Ferguson. The Dawn of Scott i s h S o c i a l Welfare, Edinburgh 1949, 74-5. 4. Factory Commission 1832, A . l , 81. labour, there was no lack of support for the factory system. S i r John S i n c l a i r apparently ignored evidence which c o n f l i c t e d with his own viewpoint, but even his S t a t i s t i c a l Account contains statements from possibly disinterested parties which tend to indicate that a l l was not quite as bad as he tended to believe. The minister of Catrine parish, for instance, observed that, " I t i s but jus t i c e to add, that both old and young enjoy uniformly good health. The d i f f e r e n t apartments are kept as clean and free of dust as possible; and stated that hours are allowed for amusement and exercise. The writer of t h i s report...has met with fewer diseases of any kind than might reasonably have been expected among the same number of people, engaged i n any other employment." And i n i t s f i r s t report the Factory Commission of 1832 singled out three Scottish m i l l s for s p e c i a l mention because of the excellent conditions which prevailed i n them and because of the general appearance of good health manifested by th e i r 2 operatives. Although t h e i r examples of a l l that was worst i n cotton-mills conditions were also very largely drawn from 3 Scotland, even they i n no way compared with the appalling conditions which prevailed i n some of the flax-spinning m i l l s of F i f e and Angus. 4 Working conditions were, i n f a c t , dependent on the attitude of i n d i v i d u a l mill-managers and proprietors to t h e i r workers. In the three m i l l s set up by the Factory Commission 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX, 177. 2. Factory Commission 1832, 1st Report, 16-18. 3. I b i d . , 1st Report, 18-20. 4. I b i d . T Examinations, A . l , 61 No. XXVI, Finhaven f l a x - m i l l s were among the worst. -as examples of the best i n the country, New Lanark, Deanston and Bannerman's of Aberdeen, the proprietors had taken care to ensure that the f l a t s were kept clean and well-ventilated, that the rooms were spacious and w e l l - l i t , that the machinery was "fenced" to avoid i n j u r y to worker-and that sanitary arrangements were adequate for the numbers and kept i n good r e p a i r . 1 The difference i n attitudes between one management and another can be i l l u s t r a t e d i n the case of Deanston m i l l s ; the conditions of which the minister of Doune . complained were those which prevailed when the m i l l s were owned and managed by John Buchanan of Carston, the founder; when, i n 1793, the works passed into the hand of Benjamin Flounders, an English Quaker, the minister of Doune observed that his "laudable conduct" "has, however, wrought a very great reformation of these abuses, and i n a great measure provided 2 remedies to the e v i l s mentioned above." •The proprietors and managers of those m i l l s i n which conditions were condemned by the Commission appear to have been unaware of what went on i n t h e i r works, and to have cared l i t t l e about i t , either because they were interested only i n the commercial side of the business, and consequently were seldom actually i n the works, or because they r e l i e d f o r t h e i r knowledge of conditions on the "shop-floor" on reports from foremen and overseers, who were anxious to present things i n the most 1. Factory Commission 1832, 1st Report, 16-18. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX, 89. .favourable possible l i g h t . L i t t l e information i s available at present on the wages paid to cotton factory-workers. I t has been seen that, i n the early years of the industry's growth, these tended to be higher than i n other occupations because of the need to a t t r a c t 2 labour to the m i l l s : but wages seem to have varied considerably from one m i l l to another, and even from worker to worker within the same m i l l . Thus, at Deanston i n 1794, although some hands could earn 2 guineas per week, nett weekly wages depended on 3 the qu a l i t y and quantity of each individual's output. At about the same.time, i n a small m i l l at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, "an ordinary cotton spinner can gain about 10s. a week",4 a fa r cry from the top l e v e l of wages at Deanston. The upper l e v e l of wages i n another small m i l l , t h i s time at Irvine i n Ayrshire, was about 9 s h i l l i n g s per week - presumably paid to spinners - while the lowest-paid workers received one s h i l l i n g . ^ The lowest-paid group i n Glasgow i n 1791, the pickers and cleaners, were given 6 to 8 s h i l l i n g s per week.^ The same s i t u a t i o n apparently prevailed i n 1831. At that time, the 29 Glasgow-owned m i l l s from which Cleland received wage-returns paid wages varying from 9 to 35 s h i l l i n g s per week to men i n the over-21 age-group, with s i m i l a r variations f o r other 1. E.g. Stewart's of Johnstone, Factory Commission 1832 Examinations, A.2, 83-4. Oswald's of Glasgow Ib i d . , A . l , 80-81. 2. See above, 73. 3. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XX 87. 4. Ibid . . V, 259. 5. Ibid . , VII, 174. 6. Ib i d . , V, 505-6. 7. See Appendix, table IV. 9a vage-groups. A number of factors contributed to t h i s s i t u a t i o n . The general prevalence of the piece-work system was one: t h i s meant that, as at Deanston i n 1794, a worker's nett weekly earnings depended on the quantity of his output. The q u a l i t y of his output, again as at Deanston, could also a f f e c t his nett weekly earnings: i f a spinner's yarn did not reach the required standard of q u a l i t y he could be f i n e d ; a l t e r n a t i v e l y , i f he was spinning a coarse yarn, say number 40, the rate of pay per piece would be lower than for a f i n e yarn, say number 150, which required more care and s k i l l . 1 The type of machinery used could also a f f e c t nett wages: coarse-yarn spinners i n Glasgow i n 16*35 were paid at d i f f e r e n t rates for working mules of ISO and 300 spindles. Local factors such as the a v a i l a b i l i t y of labour i n a given d i s t r i c t could raise or depress wage-rates i n d i f f e r e n t m i l l s : Deanston, a large m i l l i n a sparsely populated parish, may have been forced by t h i s factor to offer higher rates than the small m i l l at I r v i n e , a f a i r l y large town and one of the ports of entry for immigrants from Ireland. The lack of material for the years between the publication of the Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account and of the Factory Commission and other reports of the 1630's makes i t d i f f i c u l t to comment on the movement of wages. One commentator, Cleland, postulated a high degree of wage-stability, at least 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 442. 2. L o c . c i t . 99 after 1810. In a report on wages in Glasgow mills published in 1833, he said, "The wages of cotton spinners did not vary much in the 10 years preceding 1820, and very l i t t l e since that period" . Other evidence suggests that, in fact, wages fluctuated considerably with the state of the market for cotton goods. Wages in Manchester almost certainly did this: the average nett weekly wage of Manchester spinners, for example, f e l l from 42/6 in 1810, when the South American boom was at its height, to 18/- in 1811, after the boom had collapsed. In his evidence to the 1833 Select Committee, Houldsworth stated that spinners in Glasgow had their wage-rates cut by 15-20% during the depression that followed the end of the Napoleonic 3 war. Graham attempted to cut his spinners wages in 1833, as has been noted.^ Indeed, i t is inconceivable that an industry which suffered such severe trade fluctuations as the Scottish cotton industry should have enjoyed a high degree of wage-stability as suggested by Cleland. As Adam Smith pointed out in 1776, the masters in every industry were in 5 permanent combination, tacit or open, to reduce wages. It seems most unlikely that, at a time when profit margins were declining, they did not do so. In fact, the violent trade union activity conducted by the cotton-spinners in Glasgow 1. Tables of Revenue, Commerce, etc., quoted by Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 442. 2. Ibid., 438. 3. Select Committee of 1833, min. 5198, 309. 4. See above, 86. 5. Smith, The Wealth of Nations, I, 75. a f t e r 1816 suggests that the masters t r i e d hard to cut t h e i r wage c o s t s . 1 Information i s more r e a d i l y available on the wages of handloom weavers, probably because almost every parish i n central Scotland had i t s community of weavers either engaged i n l o c a l work or working for the "manufacturers" of the main t e x t i l e centres, and because the decline of wages i n handloom weaving with the d i s t r e s s which accompanied i t was a notable topic of contemporary comment. Weavers i n Glasgow i n 1791 earned between 12 and 20 s h i l l i n g s per week depending on the 2 q u a l i t y of work they undertook. An industrious weaver i n Paisley at the same time could earn between 25 and 30 3 s h i l l i n g s per week, probably because the f i n e s t work i n the country was undertaken by weavers i n Paisley and d i s t r i c t . In the Barony of Glasgow, where the largest single concentration of handloom weavers was situated, t h e i r wages ranged from 10 to 20 s h i l l i n g s per week, again depending on the q u a l i t y of the work done. 4 By 1833, however, the handloom weavers' wages were very much below the l e v e l of the seventeen-nineties: average nett wages for weavers of p l a i n goods had f a l l e n to between 4/6 and 5/6 per week, while weavers of fancy goods then earned about 8 s h i l l i n g s per week. The decline appears 1. See below, 107. Smith also pointed out that v i o l e n t unionism was the workman's only answer to the masters' combination; Smith, o p . c i t . , I , 75. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V, 5O5. 3. I b i d . , VII 90. 4 . I b i d . , X I I , 117, note. 5. Baines, o p . c i t . , 487 based on evidence from Glasgow manufacturers to Select Committee on Handloom Weavers 1834. , to have begun very early i n the period of the cotton industry's development, i n 176*7, but i t did not immediately affect a l l weavers. With the passage of time, however, more and more weavers were affected, for a variety of reasons, u n t i l i n 1623 Esilman could say that, i n general, weavers' earnings on any given piece of work i n that year were but one t h i r d of the wages paid for the same piece of work i n 1792.1 The decline does not appear to have been a constant one, judging from information available on handloom weavers' wages i n Glasgow 2 between 1810 and 1831, probably because of fluctuations i n trade; but the o v e r a l l trend was downward, and the o v e r a l l e f f e c t on the weavers was to take them from a p o s i t i o n of modest prosperity to one of r e a l poverty. Contemporary opinion i s divided as to the causes of the decline. The New S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Glasgow states that "The extension of the use of the powerloom has for the l a s t twenty years borne hard upon the power hand-loom weavers, who have long suffered ^ from low wages with exemplary patience". Baines, however, discounts the influence of the power-loom, on the basis of evidence presented to the Select Committee of 1834 on Distress among Handloom Weavers by William Kingan, a. Glasgow w e a v i n g - m a s t e r K i n g a n pointed out that the power loom was used i n Scotland for a completely new type of f a b r i c , heavy cambrics and p r i n t i n g cloths, which had not been woven 1. See above, Sect. 1,89. 2. Baines, op.cit., 488, See Appendix, table I I I . 3. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 154. 4. Baines, op.cit., 498-9. -in Scotland before by handloom weavers. The r e a l reason f o r the decline i n handloom weavers' wages, according to Baines, was that the trade was so easy to learn that there were simply too many people i n i t . 1 In coming to t h i s conclusion, Baines seems to be underestimating the contribution of the power-loom which was continually being adapted to new uses: without doubting the accuracy of Kingan's evidence as regards the i n i t i a l use of the machine, i t i s u n r e a l i s t i c to assume, as Baines seems to do, that i t was not taking over other types of weaving i n the time between i t s introduction into the Scottish cotton industry i n 1792 and the time of Kingan's evidence, 1834. In f a c t , i t appears to have been developed to such a point by 1835 that i t was capable of weaving most p l a i n f a b r i c s , even the f i n e s t muslins, and was threatening the l i v e l i h o o d of even the e l i t e group of h i g h l y - s k i l l e d weavers 2 of fancy figured patterns. Baines' assessment of the s i t u a t i o n may be r i g h t i n so f a r as the factor of the root of the handloom weavers' troubles was the overabundance of labour, c e r t a i n l y the downward s p i r a l of wages appears to have begun before the power-loom could exert much influence: but the increasing r a p i d i t y with which wages declined, by 33% between 1795 and 1806 and by almost 60% between 1806 and 1817 3 i n Bolton, may well have been the r e s u l t of increasing competition from the power-loom. Some handloom weavers, i t 1. I b i d . , 500. See above, Sect. I , 5*9-90. 2. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 153 (Glasgow). 3. Baines, op . c i t . , 489. i s t r u e , might not have s u f f e r e d q u i t e so b a d l y from t h e d e c l i n e i n wages as most commentators c l a i m . Those w i t h f a m i l i e s c o u l d f i n d employment f o r t h e i r wives and c h i l d r e n i n t h e s p i n n i n g m i l l s , o r even t h e power-weaving m i l l s , and so m a i n t a i n t h e f a m i l y ' s t o t a l income a t a l e v e l s u f f i c i e n t t o p r o v i d e a t o l e r a b l e l i v e l i h o o d . Those weavers whose f a m i l y income was d e r i v e d s o l e l y from the handloom, on t h e o t h e r hand, c o u l d b a r e l y r e a c h an i n c o m e - l e v e l s u f f i c i e n t t o s u p p l y t h e n e c e s s i t i e s of l i f e , and t h e y were i n t h e m a j o r i t y . 1 I l l I t had been r e c o g n i z e d f o r some time b e f o r e t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n of l a r g e - s c a l e u n i t s o f p r o d u c t i o n i n t h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y - and i n d e e d b e f o r e t h e i n d u s t r y ' s f o u n d a t i o n - t h a t t h e i n t e r e s t s o f c a p i t a l and l a b o u r d i d n o t c o i n c i d e . Adam S m i t h , i n 1776, had n e a t l y summed up the d i f f e r e n c e s between the two i n t h e s t a t e m e n t t h a t "The workmen d e s i r e t o o g e t as much, the m a sters t o g i v e as l i t t l e as p o s s i b l e " . Each p a r t y , he 'continued, formed i t s o r g a n i z a t i o n s t o f u r t h e r i t s i n t e r e s t s and t o r e s i s t t h o s e of t h e o t h e r . I n the s i t u a t i o n of which S m i t h was w r i t i n g , when i n d u s t r y was 1. Only a few o f the handloom weavers i n t e r v i e w e d by S t u a r t and M a c k i n t o s h i n t h e S c o t t i s h a r e a f o r the F a c t o r y Commission i n 1833 had f a m i l i e s who worked i n t h e m i l l s . Many of them would n o t hear of such a t h i n g ; s e e , e.g., F a c t o r y Commission, 1832, E x a m i n a t i o n s , A.2,.82, nos. 5 and 6. Wages i n power-weaving m i l l s were on much t h e same l e v e l as i n s p i n n i n g ; see Appendix, t a b l e I V . 2. S m i t h , The Wealth of N a t i o n s , I , 74. 104 organized i n small domestic units of production, the masters had a l l the advantages. They were fewer i n number than t h e i r workers, and generally gathered i n the commercial centres, which made ef f e c t i v e combinations easy to form. The workers, i n t h e i r dispersed domestic u n i t s , were d i f f i c u l t to organize e f f e c t i v e l y . The economic resources of the masters were greater than those of the workers, and consequently t h e i r a b i l i t y to conduct a prolonged struggle was greater. The masters were not hampered by the forces of law and order i n forming t h e i r organizations, the workers were. 1 As a r e s u l t , the masters seldom, i f ever, l o s t a dispute. The development of large-scale units of production i n the cotton industry offset some of the masters' advantages. Factory labour, concentrated i n the new un i t s , was much easier to organize than domestic labour, esp e c i a l l y for action against i n d i v i d u a l c a p i t a l i s t s . The high wages paid i n many of the facto r i e s also tended to increase the workers' a b i l i t y to f i g h t prolonged actions. But factory-labour i n the cotton industry was not organized very quickly; the f i r s t recorded jspinners' combination did not come into existence u n t i l 1. Simple combination was not an offence i n Scots law. But, as Smith s a i d , the workers often resorted to violence to bring a, dispute to a speedy conclusion: the violence was in d i c t a b l e . Scots judges, anxious to preserve the separate i d e n t i t y of the Scottish l e g a l system never applied the Combination Acts of 1799-1800, which did not conform to Scottish precedents and le g a l phraseology; but a. reinterpr e t a t i o n of exi s t i n g law i n 1813, after the Glasgow weavers' s t r i k e , made combination an offence i f i t were proved to involve conspiracy, either to commit violence or i n r e s t r a i n t of trade. For the l e g a l p o s i t i o n , see J.L. Gray "The Law of Combination i n Scotland " Economica T v o l . V I I I , 1928, 332-50.. 1806. I t remained a rather weak body u n t i l 1810, after which i t embarked on a wave of m i l i t a n t action which lasted well 2 into the 1830' s. By that time, i t was the most powerful textile-workers' organization i n B r i t a i n , and was opposed to the most powerful masters' combination i n B r i t a i n , the Glasgow 3 master cotton-spinners' association. The f i r s t labour combinations i n the industry were formed by the handloom weavers, and they suffered the fate which Smith had f o r e t o l d , ending " i n nothing, but the punishment and ruin of the ringleaders".^ In 1787, the weavers of Paisley combined to r e s i s t an attempt by the masters to reduce the wage-rates f o r certain types of work. The combination organized a s t r i k e , during which webs woven at the new rates were burned and dissenting weavers molested. This brought i n the m i l i t i a , who f i r e d on a group of weavers, k i l l i n g a few and wounding many. The intervention of the authorities put an end to the s t r i k e . The weavers accepted the new rates and the leaders of the combination were 5 imprisoned. In 1812, the weavers t r i e d again to r e s i s t wage reductions, which were becoming increasingly common i n hand-loom weaving by that time. At f i r s t they sought l e g a l redress f o r t h e i r grievances, and managed to secure a decision 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 284. 2. S.J. Chapman, The Lancashire Cotton Industry, Manchester 1904, 193; Bremner, op.cit ., 284. 3. I b i d . , 207. 4. Smith, Wealth of Nations, I , 76. 5. For a description of the s t r i k e , see Bremner, Industries Scotland, 283. i n t h e i r favour from the Court of Session i n Edinburgh, which empowered the l o c a l magistrates to ar b i t r a t e i n wage-disputes and f i x wages i n t h e i r areas. But the magistrates sympathized with the masters - i n many cases they were the masters anyway1 - and did not make use of t h e i r powers. The weavers' union, accordingly, called a s t r i k e , which involved 40,000 weavers a l l over Scotland and even i n C a r l i s l e i n the ; north of England. The s t r i k e was peaceably conducted and lasted f or several weeks, but the resources of the s t r i k e r s were exhausted before they gained t h e i r point. Once again the reductions had to be accepted, and once again the strike-leaders i n Glasgow faced imprisonment, t h i s time 2 on charges of conspiracy. ' The s t r i k e of 1812-13 broke the power of the handloom weavers' union 'in the Scottish cotton industry. They were involved i n small disputes thereafter, such as the attempted boycott of a master-weaver c a l l e d Hutchieson i n 1824, but afte r the f a i l u r e of t h e i r great e f f o r t i h 1813 they were unable to impose the union's p o l i c i e s even within t h e i r own 3 ranks. But at the time when the weavers were making t h e i r l a s t - d i t c h attempt to h a l t the decline i n t h e i r wages, the spinners were just beginning to r e s i s t t h e i r employers. The 1. 'David Dale and Henry Monteith both became Lord Provosts of Glasgow, and many other manufacturers served on the c i t y council. 2. For an account of the dispute, see Bremner, o p . c i t . T 284; Chapman, Lancashire Cotton Industry, 186-8. 3. Such as that of l i m i t i n g the number of apprentices which each S c o t t i s h weaver was allowed to take on besides his own children, drawn up i n 1824; see Chapman, Lancashire Cotton Industry, 197. For the Hutchieson incident, I b i d . , 193, note 1. -strategy they seem to have employed was the one.to which t h e i r concentration best suited them; they did not stake a l l i n one great s t r i k e , but rather seem to have taken action against i n d i v i d u a l masters. The spinners appear to have used violence quite f r e e l y to further t h e i r aims. Threats of mill-burning, the assassination of oppressive masters, the mutilation or disfigurement of r e c a l c i t r a n t spinners, a l l of these seem to have been part of t h e i r p o l i c y . 1 Some of the threats were, i n f a c t , carried out. This i n e v i t a b l y brought the law against them, and spinners were imprisoned on several occasions and transported to Botany Bay on at least one, i n 2 1838. Unlike the handloom weavers, however, t h e i r e f f o r t s did enjoy a measure of success, despite the existence of an extremely powerful, i f informal, employers' combination. In 1832, they succeeded i n fo r c i n g Henry Houldsworth and Sons into granting wage concessions, after c a l l i n g a s t r i k e and 3 picketing the works. When, i n the same year, J. Dennistoun and Co. t r i e d to bring i n female spinners at lower wages than were paid to males, the spinners' association demanded that the undercutting of male wages cease. After both managers and female spinners had been threatened, the l a t t e r with disfigurement by v i t r i o l , Dennistoun's agree to pay women at 1. Select Committee on Combinations of Workmen, 1838, Minutes of Evidence, min. 1851-91, 97-101. 2. Two .of the t r i a l s , i n 1825 and 1838, produced a considerabl number of pamphlets, s e t t i n g out both the masters', and the spinners' points of view, and each led to investigations by Parliamentary committees. The transported spinners were pardoned i n 1840. 3. Select Committee on Combinations, 1838, min. 23-8, 2 (evidence of Thomas Houldsworth). .the same rates as men, though the women were retained. As a r e s u l t of these l i m i t e d disputes, the spinners 1 association had succeeded i n forcing fine-spinning wages up to such an extent that Glasgow masters were fi n d i n g f i n e work unprofitable by 1838. 2 Two problems emerge from t h i s . The f i r s t i s to discover why the factory employees were so slow to organize, or a l t e r n a t i v e l y , why the weavers organized f i r s t . The second i s to discover why the spinners were more successful than the weavers. The second question i s probably the easier to answer. As has been suggested above, the concentration of spinning-labour i n large-scale units of production offset some of the advantages enjoyed by management when industry was organized on a basis of domestic production such as existed i n 3 handloom weaving. The adoption of a strategy which made the best use of l o c a l concentrations of labour was also important i n the r e l a t i v e success of the spinners. When' i t comes to answering the second question, the solution i s not so r e a d i l y discoverable. I t may well l i e i n the p r o b a b i l i t y that early cotton factory employees did not appreciate the divergence of interests which existed between themselves and t h e i r employers, and which Smith described so w e l l . This had, no doubt, been made abundantly clear to the weavers employed by the c a p i t a l i s t s of the l i n e n and s i l k 1. Factory Commission, 1832, Examinations, A . l , 84-5. 2. Select Committee on Combinations, 1838, min. 44-8, 3. 3. Above, 104. 109 trades, and the need to combine f o r t h e i r own protection had probably been brought home to them i n the days before the cotton industry's development. To them, the cotton industry brought no change i n the conditions of employment, nor even of employer. Thus, while the cotton handloom weavers were i n no doubt of t h e i r p o s i t i o n and of the need for protective organization, the labour employed i n the early m i l l s may not have appreciated that need. Many of them, recruited from the ranks of a g r i c u l t u r a l labour, and es p e c i a l l y those from the Highlands, would be entering an environment which was not only completely strange to them, but i n which they were materially better off than they had been i n t h e i r previous pursuits. The high wages, schools, churches, low-rental housing and medical services which the early millowners provided i n order to a t t r a c t labour to t h e i r works probably tended to foster the i l l u s i o n of a community, rather than a divergence, of i n t e r e s t between master and man. As a r e s u l t , the emigrant from Sutherland who was given work at New Lanark or Deanston, g r a t e f u l f o r the alternative to s a i l i n g for America or eking a l i v i n g from an acre or so of sour Highland s o i l which t h i s presented, was very u n l i k e l y to be good union material. But the successors of t h i s f i r s t generation, who knew no l i f e but that of the m i l l and whose wages had suffered from successive cuts i n the depressions which started with the outbreak of the French wars i n 1793, were less l i k e l y to accept the apparent harmony of t h e i r i n t e r e s t s with those of the employers. This generation was more , l i k e l y to appreciate the true position as defined by Smith and experienced by the handloom weavers. The formation of combinations among spinning operatives, accordingly, had to wait u n t i l t h i s second generation came to maturity between 1805 and 1810. I l l 5 THE EFFECTS ON SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 19th CENTURY I The expansion of cotton cloth output after 1780 had an obvious corollary in the expansion of the industries in which the cloth-finishing processes were carried out, bleaching, printing and dyeing. It was observed in Glasgow in 1791 that, as a result of the cotton industry's growth in the years after the American War of Independence, "bleachfields and printfields have been erected , on almost a l l the streams in the neighbourhood..." and new dyeworks, at Barrowfield and Dalmarnock in Glasgow for instance, were set up after 1785 to cope with the rapidly growing output of cotton fabrics. New processes were developed in the finishing trades: Charles Tennant introduced a solid bleaching agent in 1799 which cut bleaching costs to one halfpenny per yard, and permitted the bleaching process to be completed in a matter of hours, where i t had required ' i 3 several months i n 1750: George Macintosh and David Dale had imported a French dyer, M. Papillon, to set up a Turkey-red dyework i n 1785, the f i r s t of i t s kind in the United Kingdom.^ 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V, 502. 2. Ibid., XII, 112-3. 3. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 253. 4. Old St a t i s t i c a l Account, XII, 112; Baines, op.cit., 277. Attempts to introduce the process in Manchester failed, and Glasgow "has ever since then been famous for dyeing Turkey red." 112 In printing, a Mr. Bell of Glasgow developed the technique of cylinder-printing, also in, 1785.1 Impressive as the development of the finishing trades was after the establishment of the independent cotton industry in Scotland, the fact was, of course, that in this sphere, as in spinning and weaving, the cotton industry was heavily indebted to the linen industry, whose growth since the late 17th century had fostered the establishment of the finishing trades. The improvements of 1785 and after were being applied in industries which were highly developed by that date; indeed, some of the improvements then being applied were the logical outcome of research which had been going on for almost half a century. Tennant's bleaching powder, for example, was the l i n e a l descendent of the sulphuric acid bleaching mixtures developed independently by Roebuck, Home, Cullen and Black before 1754 under the auspices of the Board of Trustees, and improved upon by Scheele in Sweden and Berthollet in France, as well as by James Watt in Glasgow. Cloth-printing had been introduced into Scotland in connection with the linen industry in 1738, and Bell's process was simply a mechanized refinement of the process then used. Only in dyeing did i t prove necessary to develop a completely new process, that of Turkey-red 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 297. 2. Stewart, Curiosities of Glasgow Citizenship, 37-40; Hamilton, Eighteenth Century, 140-1. 3. Bremner, op.cit., 302. Cylinder printing had not entirely replaced block-printing by hand even by 1868. \ 1 1 3 -dyeing, since the techniques and materials in use prior to 1785 were suitable only for dyeing the traditional fabrics, linen, wool and s i l k . 1 But even in this f i e l d , the prior „ existence of a dyeing industry, with which George Macintosh was closely connected, must have helped in the rapid development of the Turkey-red trade for which Glasgow and the Vale of Leven subsequently became famous. With one exception, the growth of the cotton industry in Scotland after 1780 did not lead to the establishment of any new cloth-finishing trades. But i t s expansion necessitated the expansion of existing bleaching and printing f a c i l i t i e s and to the provision of new f a c i l i t i e s in these trades and in dyeing, using new and traditional techniques. It also led to some expansion in the size of the production-units in thse trades, but no major changes in industrial organization took place as a result. Production had been concentrated i n factory-type units before mechanized 2 cotton production was f i r s t undertaken. The sole exception, the new only branch of the textile sector to develop as a result of the establishment of the cotton industry in Scotland, was the embroidered muslin trade. In 1 8 6 1 , when i t was already on the decline, this branch employed 7,224 women in Scotland, chiefly in Ayrshire. Its 1 . Stewart, pp.cit., 72. Macintosh had opened a substantial Dyework at Dennistoun, Glasgow^ in 1777 for the manufacture and application of "cudbear" dyes. 2. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 2 9 8 ; Stewart, Curiosities of Glasgow Citizenship 121 124. E.g., Stirling's Dalquhurn,bleachfield (1723; and Cordale printworks ( 1 7 7 0 ) , and George Macintosh's Dennistoun dyewbrks. 114 novelty lay in the formal organization as an'industry of what had been, before the mechanization of cotton-spinning, a recreation for ladies of quality and fashion - the embroidering on a frame or "tambour" of fine fabrics. Mechanized spinning virtually destroyed domestic spinning in the south-western counties of Scotland, and the women who were thus deprived of a source of income sought an alternative occupation in tambouring for "manufacturers" in Glasgow such as Messrs. MacDonald, whose share of the trade amounted to £500,000 i n 1357.1 Attempts to mechanize the embroidering processes were made early i n the nineteenth century, by "manufacturers" in 2 the flowered muslin trade, but these do not appear to have come to anything, as production was s t i l l carried out on a domestic, hand-craft basis when the trade declined after 1357, when MacDonald and Company failed. II The cloth-finishing industries were, of course, inherently dependent on the expansion of the cloth-producing industries for their own growth. Other industries, however, which had also started l i f e as subsidiaries of the textile industries, were able to break the ties and develop 1. Bremner, op.cit. T 306-7. 2. John Duncan, "manufacturer" in Glasgow, had patented a tambouring machine in 1304. S.R.O., Chancery Records, Specifications of Inventions, John Duncan, 1804. 3. Contributing to the failure of the Western Bank, see CA. Malcolm, The Bank of Scotland, 1695-1945, Edinburgh, n.d., 122. 115 -independently. By the middle of the nineteenth century these industries - chemicals, mechanical and marine engineering -had reached an advanced state of development, where they were almost as important to the economy of south-west Scotland as the cotton industry. Even these industries stood deeply i n debt to the cotton industry for t h e i r i n i t i a l growth, t h e i r r e l a t i o n s h i p being i n some ways s i m i l a r to that of the cotton industry's rel a t i o n s h i p with the li n e n industry i n the 178X)'s. This i s perhaps most obvious i n the case of the mechanical engineering industry. In 1868, Glasgow was the centre of great a c t i v i t y i n t h i s f i e l d , between 12,000 and 15,000 people being employed i n i t . A f l o u r i s h i n g export trade i n machinery had been b u i l t up, to the value of £500,000 i n that year, and Glasgow's engineers and mechanics enjoyed a reputation second to none. 1 The development of t h i s industry appears to have been the outcome s o l e l y of the mechanization of cotton-spinning and weaving. Although the e a r l i e s t spinning and weaving machinery had been developed i n England, the Scots were, by 1790, developing and putting into use machines which were te c h n i c a l l y superior to English machines, such as William Kelly's s e l f - a c t i n g and water-powered mules and 2 RobertMiller*s power-looms. In 1791, i t was remarked 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 132-33. 2. See above, 32-34. 116 -that the introduction of the cotton industry "has given r i s e to many new manufactures, and to the making of machinery of a l l kinds, which, with a l l kinds of work i n cast and malleable i r o n , and i n brass and lead, are now made here (Glasgow) i n great quantities." No such industry had existed i n Glasgow previous to the introduction of mechanized cotton-spinning, although certain s k i l l s such as the smith's or the carpenter's, which could be u t i l i z e d for machine-making, did e x i s t i n the area. There simply had not been any substantial demand for machinery pr i o r to the time of the cotton industry's growth, since no highly-mechanized industry existed. In 178*3, there were no 2 machine-makers or engineers i n Glasgow. By 1789, two 3 "cotton machine-makers" were l i s t e d i n the c i t y d i rectory, and i n 1801 the number had r i s e n to four, with three engineers also l i s t e d . 4 In the 1810 dire c t o r y , nine machine-making firms were l i s t e d , with f i v e engineering firms. C e r t a i n l y , the coincidence i n the timing of t h i s development with the growth of the cotton industry i s very s t r i k i n g . Some cotton-spinning firms set up machine-making branches to supply t h e i r own requirements and those of others: James Finlay and Co., for instance, made machinery at Deanston to the patents of James Smith and Archibald Buchanan, two of the firm's managers,^ and the f i r m of Douglas, Cook and Co. of Glasgow 1. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, V, 504. 2. At l e a s t , none were l i s t e d i n J. T a i t , Directory of the Cit y of Glasgow, etc., Glasgow 1783, 13-71. 3. N. Jones Directory for the year 1789, Glasgow, rep. 1866, 1-64. 4. W. McFeat, The Glasgow Directory, Glasgow 1801, 5-101. 5. W. McFeat, The Glasgow Directory, Glasgow 1810, 9-139. 6. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, X, 123o. also combined cotton-spinning and machine-making. By 1833, however, Glasgow was undergoing severe competition from Manchester i n the production of cotton machinery, and t h i s o branch of industry had begun to decline. Finlay's gave up t h e i r Deanston machine-shop i n 1834, and 1833 one-half of the mechanics trained i n Glasgow were said to be emigrating.^ But the mechanical s k i l l s which had been b u i l t up i n the manufacture of cotton machinery could also be applied to the making of machines f o r other purposes, and the personnel displaced by the run-down of cotton machine-making put to other work. The f i r m of Girdwood, Pinkerton and Co., l i s t e d as cotton machine-makers i n the 1798 Glasgow di r e c t o r y , were employed i n 1832 i n making l i f t i n g - g e a r for the new Glasgow 5 docks, as wel l as making sawmill equipment. I t may wel l be the case that other r i s i n g businesses l i k e B l a i r s , Ltd., Duncan Stewart and Co., Mirlees Watson and Co. - a l l manufacturers of sugar-refining equipment and a l l founded between 1836 and 1840 - and Neilson and Co., general engineers founded i n 1836, were b u i l t up by u t i l i z i n g mechanical s k i l l s which had been developed i n the manufacture of cotton machinery.^ 1. Glasgow Directory of 1810, 39. 2. Select Committee of 1833, Houldsworth's evidence, min. 5213, 310; Graham's evidence, min. 5443-5, 325. Houldsworth said Manchester had the edge over Glasgow simply because i t had always served a more extensive . demand for machinery. 3. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account X, 1239-40, note. 4. Select Committee of 1833, min. 5330, 317. 5. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account, VI, 198. 6. For the growth of these firms, see Miller and Tivy, The Glasgow Region, 191. 116 The same may well be true of the growing marine-engineering industry, which later became the main growth-industry i n the Scottish economy. The significant factor i n i t s growth was the existence in and around Glasgow of a steam-engine building industry, and i t was by assisting in the development of this that the cotton industry may have played a part in shaping the future of Clyde shipbuilding. "When the possibility of propelling vessels by steam was successfully tested on the Clyde," wrote one commentator in the mid-nineteenth century, "the enterprising mechanicians of the west did not neglect to improve the occasion. As soon as the demand for steam-vessels arose, ^ they were ready to supply the motive power..." Between 1812, the year in which Henry Bell's "Comet" was 2 launched, and 1831, 57 steamships were built on the Clyde and o f i t t e d out with engines built at Glasgow or Greenock. Before 1812, the demand for rotary steam-engines, the type of power-unit used in ship-propulsion, had almost certainly come from the cotton industry, which used this type of engine for powering spinning, weaving, scutching and calendering machinery.4 It was demand from that industry which promoted the growth of steam-engine building i n and around Glasgow between 1801, when Watt's patent on rotary-motion lapsed, and 1. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 132. 2. The f i r s t steam-boat for open-water use i n Britain. 3. Cleland Enumeration of 1831, 159. 4. Of the 3l0 steam-engines in use i n 1825 i n the Glasgow area, 176 were employed in various branches of the cotton industry; Ibid., 262. 119 1812, when the "Comet" was b u i l t . Indirectly the cotton industry was largely responsible for the fact that in 1831 Glasgow possessed, in Charles Tennent's St. Rollox chemical-works, the largest chemical plant in Europe. 1 This was one of a number of chemical works in the city, a l l of which had started up to produce materials required for various textile-finishing processes. Tennent, in partnership with a man named Knox, had set up his works in 1800 with the express purpose of producing in quantity the bleaching-powder he had patented i n 1799 to satisfy the demand of the textile trades of Great Britain, of which the cotton industry was by that time the largest. The other chemical companies, too, owed their growth primarily to the increased demand for chemicals arising from the expansion of the cotton industry. Charles Macintosh, for instance, had set up plant in the Barony of Glasgow in 1790 to produce the "sugars" of alum and lead used i n Turkey-red dyeing, a process only 2 applicable to cotton. The cotton industry was directly responsible for the establishment of a number of individual chemical-producing concerns, but not for the foundation of the Scottish chemical industry. The f i r s t Scottish chemical-plant, the sulphuric-acid works of John Roebuck and Samuel Garbett set up at Prestonpans i n 1749, was set up to produce acid for linen-3 bleaching. It was, however, only after the cotton industry 1. Cleland, Enumeration of 1831T 137. 2. Old S t a t i s t i c a l Account, XII 113. 3. Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland, 141. 120 provided a d d i t i o n a l demand for chemicals, that new chemical-works were set up. The build-up of plant to meet t h i s considerable demand enabled the chemical industry to develop other processes not connected with t e x t i l e s . Thus, i n 1830, Tennent's works were not only producing bleaching-powder but also soda, soap and sulphuric-acid for steel-making. 1 In addition to stimulating the growth of new industries by providing a demand for t h e i r products, the cotton industry provided a d i r e c t f i n a n c i a l stimulus to some other sectors of the S c o t t i s h economy. C a p i t a l accumulated i n the production i of cotton-goods was often directed towards financing other projects. One of the major beneficiaries was overseas trade, which i s not surprising i n view of the cotton industry's complete dependence on foreign and c o l o n i a l raw-materials and i t s heavy commitment to overseas markets. To give a few examples, John Freeland, grandson of the founder of the Gryfe m i l l at Houston i n Renfrewshire, became a prominent West-India merchant i n Glasgow, while maintaining an interest i n 2 cotton-spinning: Kirkman F i n l a y , for many years an outspoken c r i t i c of the East India Company's monopoly of the Indian trade, pioneered Scottish trade with India a f t e r the Company's monopoly was revoked i n 1813, and had trading-int e r e s t s going f a r beyond cotton. Industry benefitted as w e l l as trade: i n 1796, David Dale invested, and l o s t 1. Cleland, Enumeration of 1831, 137. 2. Stewart, C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow Ci t i z e n s h i p , 210. 3. James Finlay and Company, 6-32. 121 £20,000 i n a coal-mining project at Barrowfield, i n the Barony of Glasgow. 1 The Houldsworths, Henry and Thomas, l e f t the cotton industry completely to set up a large ironworks at Coltness, S t i r l i n g s h i r e , i n 1842. Few others followed the Houldsworths i n t h e i r desertion, but many emulated Dale, Freeland and Finlay and extended t h e i r i n t e r e s t s , especially when p r o f i t margins i n cotton were f a l l i n g a fter the Napoleonic Wars. I l l The growth of new i n d u s t r i e s , which the expansion of the cotton industry stimulated, and the diversion of c a p i t a l from cotton to other sectors of the economy i n the pursuit of higher profit-margins i n e v i t a b l y meant a decline i n the position of the cotton industry r e l a t i v e to other S c o t t i s h i n d u s t r i e s . Some wr i t e r s , i n f a c t , have suggested that the cotton industry went into an absolute decline between 1835 and 1860.-^ There i s l i t t l e evidence to support such an argument. The number of m i l l s i n operation i n 1838 was well above the number i n 1834 - 198 as against 134.^ In 1850, the number of m i l l s i n operation was, i t i s true, lower than that of 1838 - 168 as against 198 - but the industry's productive capacity was; 1. Chambers' Biographical Dictionary, I I , 422. ". W.H. MacLeod and S i r H.H. Houldsworth, The Beginnings of the Houldsworths of Coltness Glasgow 1937, 121 f. 3. For example, G.M. M i t c h e l l , ,?The English and. Scottish Cotton Industries," Scot.H.R., 1924-25, 113. 4. Bremner. Industries of Scotland, 286. 5. I b i d . , 287. actually higher in 1850 than in 1838: 23,564 power-looms were in use and the total labour-force employed was 36,325, compared with 15,000 power-looms and 35,576 employees in 1838. Production was simply becoming concentrated in fewer, and probably larger, units. In 1856, however, the number of mills in operation, the number of power-looms, and the size of the total labour-force were a l l smaller than in 1850, at 152, 21,624 and 34,698 respectively. On the other hand, spinning capacity was higher in 1856 than i n 1850 - with 2,041,129 spindles against 1,683,093.1 There i s evidence of a recovery by 1860. The number of mills in operation in that year was 163, eleven more than in 1856 but five fewer than in 1850. The number of power-looms and the size of the total labour-force in 1860 - 30,110 and 41,237 respectively - were the highest ever recorded; and the number of spindles - 1,915,398 -was almost up to the level of 1856 and well above that of 2 1850. It seems, then, that the cotton industry continued to expand towards i860, though the number of units in production was contracting, presumably to offset f a l l i n g margins. There i s certainly more evidence to support this conclusion than there i s for absolute decline. It has been argued from other evidence that the cotton industry entered on a period of stagnation and decay from 1840 onwards. This argument rests primarily on the estimated weekly consumption of raw cotton in Scotland 1. Loc.cit. 2. Bremner, Industries of Scotland 287. 3. Campbell, Scotland Since 1707T 108-111. 123 .contained i n the records of the Clyde Sugar Market, the main Scottish centre of deals i n raw cotton. In 1831, an average of 1,652 bales were consumed per week. This rose to 2,035 bales weekly i n 1835, and to 2,364 bales per week i n 1840. Thereafter, the trend was stable, at about the 1840 l e v e l with fluctuations according to the state of the market, u n t i l the American C i v i l War broke out i n 1861. Convincing as t h i s evidence looks, i t i s nevertheless open to serious objection. The measurement of consumption i n bales i s unrel i a b l e , as the weight of raw cotton per bale varied considerably according to the bale's place of o r i g i n . A B r a z i l i a n bale weighed, on the average, 183 l b s . ; 1 the average weight of a bale from the U.S.A. was 354 l b s . ; the average weights of Egyptian, East Indian and West Indian bales were 220, 330 and 300 l b s . r e s p e c t i v e l y . 1 In any case, no industry i n a state of stagnation and decay could have recovered ra p i d l y from such . a setback as the Cotton Famine of 1861-66, which resulted from the American C i v i l War. This was the industry's greatest period of t r i a l : as one contemporary observed, "At no time was i t so seriously disturbed as during the period between the years 1861 and 1866. The 2 American war almost completely disorganized the trade." Yet i n I867, exports of cotton piece-goods and yarn from Scotland were some 30% greater i n volume and 50% higher i n 1. Baines, Cotton Manufacture, 367. The Sugar Market Reports do not state the number of bales drawn from each possible source. 2. Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 288. 124 .value than the previous peak-levels of 1861, and the same writer could comment in 1868:-"The cotton manufacture has now nearly resumed 2 i t s normal condition." Apparently the industry had not lost any of i t s buoyancy and resiliency during the two decades preceding the war. More information than i s at present available i s required before an accurate assessment can be made of the Scottish cotton industry's condition after 1840. Such information may, of course, confirm the traditional pessimistic point of view, but there seem to be grounds for believing that the state of the industry between 1840 and 1870 was not as unhealthy as i t i s normally assumed to have been. 1. Ibid., 288. Average weekly consumption of raw cotton in Scotland f e l l from 2,500 bales in 1866 to 1,700 in 1867 (Bremner, Industries of Scotland, 288). This may, however, have been the result of a return to American cotton and, since American bales appear to have been the heaviest, may not represent any real decline i n the quantity of raw cotton consumed. See note 1 above, p. 123. 2. Ibid., 290. 125 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS The development of the Scottish economy between the Union with England i n 1707 and the American War of Independence l a i d the foundations for the establishment and growth of the Scottish cotton industry af t e r 17#0. From the t e x t i l e industries which had been b u i l t up from 1707 to 1780, and especially from the f i n e - l i n e n and s i l k industries of the south-west, came most of the c a p i t a l which financed the cotton industry. The entrepreneurial and technical s k i l l s which had been acquired as a r e s u l t of t h e i r development were put to use i n organizing the cotton industry and i n developing products which enabled the industry to survive i n Scotland i n the face of English and East Indian competition. The markets which the cotton industry served i n the early stages of i t s development had been served by the older t e x t i l e i n d u s t r i e s . The development of Scottish overseas trade i n the period 1707-1783 assured the cotton industry of ready access both to i t s raw materials and to the overseas markets which eventually absorbed over one-third of i t s output. The cotton industry's expansion af t e r 1780 was r a p i d , but i t was beset by considerable fluctuations i n output as a r e s u l t of the loss of markets and raw-material supplies during the French and American wars of 1793-1815, the highly speculative a c t i v i t i e s of i t s participants a f t e r the wars, and the narrowness of i t s range of products. Despite these d i f f i c u l t i e s , however, i t became the country's most important industry within f o r t y years of the establishment of Scotland's 126 f i r s t cotton m i l l - i n 1778, i t s products accounting for over 60% of the value of exports from Scotland. By that time, the industry was becoming heavily concentrated i n the south-west, around Glasgow, aft e r an i n i t i a l tendency tpwards di s p e r s a l throughout the country had been checked by a change i n t he r e l a t i v e importance of the various factors governing i t s l o c a t i o n . The means by which the expansion of output was undertaken was the adoption of new techniques and forms of organization of i n d u s t r i a l production which had been developed i n England before the American Revolution and which could not be applied to the older t e x t i l e i n d u s t r i e s . The establishment of the cotton industry brought a change-over from the t r a d i t i o n a l manual production-techniques and small-scale domestic units of production to mechanized production concentrated i n large-scale factory un i t s , though t h i s process was not complete i n weaving by 1835. The expansion of consumer demand, and therefore the expansion of output, was maintained p a r t l y by the regular introduction of improved machinery throughout the period 1780-1835, and par t l y by d i v e r s i f y i n g output, es p e c i a l l y a f t e r 1815. The c a p i t a l required f o r the application of the new techniques was rec r u i t e d , as has been s a i d , from the old t e x t i l e industries and, to a much lesser extent, from other sectors of the economy. I t i s , however, rather dangerous to f i t the participants into r i g i d categories as some recent historians have t r i e d to do. The American War of Independence 127 ^was probably an important factor i n securing the release of resources for the i n i t i a l c a p i t a l i z a t i o n of the cotton industry, and the high rate of return on c a p i t a l invested i n the early stages of the industry's growth, u n t i l 1802 at l e a s t , ensured that an adequate flow of c a p i t a l f or further expansion was maintained. The concentration of production i n large-scale units brought problems of labour-recruitment, which were solved by a heavy reliance on immigrant labour, f i r s t from the Highlands and l a t e r from Ireland. Wage-rates higher than those paid i n other a c t i v i t i e s were also resorted to as a means of a t t r a c t i n g labour to the m i l l s . As regards wage3 and conditions of work, however, the labour-force was very much at the mercy of management. Conditions of work varied from m i l l to m i l l depending on the i n t e r e s t of the man i n charge i n the welfare of h i s workers. Wage-rates varied from m i l l to m i l l and from job to job, and were raised or lowered by management according to the state of trade. But concentration also increased the effectiveness of resistance on the part of the labour-force to such treatment, although the f i r s t generation of mill-hands did not seem to r e a l i z e t h i s because of the benevolent paternalism of the early masters. Other industries i n Scotland benefitted from the r i s e of the cotton industry. The secondary t e x t i l e industries expanded i n response to the increased pressure placed on t h e i r f a c i l i t i e s by the expansion of cotton c l o t h output; new bleachworks, dyeworks and printworks were set up, and e x i s t i n g 128 ones were enlarged. This i n turn led to expansion i n the chemical industry, which provided the materials f o r c l o t h f i n i s h i n g , and gave Glasgow the largest chemical-works i n Europe i n 1830. The demands of the cotton industry f o r machinery of a l l kinds led d i r e c t l y to the foundation of a mechanical engineering industry i n and around Glasgow, and rather i n d i r e c t l y , contributed to the growth of the marine engineering industry which became basic to the economy of Clydeside towards the end of the nineteenth" century. Through the engineering i n d u s t r i e s , the cotton industry also contributed to the development of the Sc o t t i s h i r o n , s t e e l and coal i n d u s t r i e s . C a p i t a l accumulated i n the cotton industry found i t s way int o several other sectors of the economy, including iron, and coal as well as overseas trade. 6 129 BIBLIOGRAPHY I. MS. Sources a) In the Public Record O f f i c e , London, for raw cotton import figures and d e t a i l s of cotton-goods exported: Inspector-General of Imports and Exports for Scotland, annual ledgers, 1801-1827 (P.R.O. Customs 14, v o l s . 14-39). b) In H.M. Register House Edinburgh, for d e t a i l s of the Hamilton-Dunlop m i l l and the l o c a t i o n of Penicuik m i l l : Hamilton of Pinmore Muniments. Clerk of Penicuik Muniments. Certain volumes of the Inspector-General's ledger held by Register House were also used to check available information on Scottish raw cotton imports, 1755-1801, and for information on cotton-goods exported i n 1786 and 1792. I I . Reference Books t Directories Burke, S i r B., Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great B r i t a i n and Ireland, London, Chambers' Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, revised ed., 6 v o l s . , London, 1874. Jones, N., Directory ... of Glasgow for the year 1787, Glasgow, 1787. Jones, N., Directory ... of Glasgow f o r the year 1789, Glasgow, 1789. Post Office Directories of Glasgow, 1799-1830 (M i t c h e l l Library C o l l e c t i o n , Glasgow). Post Office Directories of Paisley, 1812-1830 (Paisley Public Library C o l l e c t i o n ) . T a i t , J . , Directory of the C i t y of Glasgow f o r the year 1783, reprinted Glasgow, 1871. 130 III. Parliamentary Papers Select Committee on Children Employed in the Manufactories of the United Kingdom, Report and Evidence, 181,6. Select Committee on Manufactures, Commerce and Shipping, Report and Evidence 1833. Factories Enquiry Commission:-F i r s t Report and Evidence, 1832. Second Report and Evidence, 1833. Supplementary Report, 1834. Select Committee on Combinations of Workmen, Report and Evidence, 1838. IV. Pamphlets "Address delivered to the inhabitants of New Lanark on 1st January, 1816, at the opening of the Institution established for the formation of character," Glasgow, 1816. Esilman, A., "A comprehensive view of the rise and progress of the cotton trade of Scotland," Glasgow, 1823. Finlay, K., "Letter to the Rt. Hon. Lord Ashley on the cotton factory system and the Ten Hours Factory B i l l , " Glasgow, 1833. Liddell, A., "Memoirs of David Dale, Esq. " Glasgow, 1854, reprinted in Chambers' Biographical Dictionary, Mackenzie, P., "Reply to the letter of Kirkman Finlay,, Esq., to Lord Ashley on the Ten Hours B i l l , " Glasgow, 1833. "Rights of labour defended; or the t r i a l of the Glasgow cotton-spinners for the alleged crime of conspiracy," Glasgow, 1837. "Statement by the proprietors of cotton-works in Glasgow and the vi c i n i t y : case of the operative cotton-spinners i n answer to that statement: reply by the proprietors," Glasgow, 1825. 131 V. A r t i c l e s Anon., "An early Glasgow-West Indian miscellany," Three Banks Review, no. 54, June, 1962. Campbell, R.H., "An economic hi s t o r y of Scotland i n the eighteenth century," Scottish Journal of P o l i t i c a l Economy, v o l . X I , 1964. Campbell, (R.H., "The Anglo-Scottish Union of I7O7: the economic consequences," Economic History Review, 2nd s e r i e s , v o l . XVI, 1964"^ '. Chapman, D., "The establishment of the jute industry: a problem i n location"theory?" Review of Economic Studies, v o l . VI, 1938-39. C r i s p i n , B., "Clyde shipping and the American War," Scottish H i s t o r i c a l Review, v o l . XLI, 1962. Daniels, G.W., "The cotton trade during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars," Transactions of Manchester S t a t i s t i c a l Society, 1915-16. Daniels, G.W., "The cotton trade at the close of the Napoleonic War," Trans. Manchester S t a t i s t i c a l Society, 1917-18. Gray, J.L. "The law of combination i n Scotland," .' Economic a, nb. 24, 1928. Mcintosh, N.A., "Changing population d i s t r i b u t i o n i n the Cart Basin i n the 18th and early 19th centuries," I n s t i t u t e of B r i t i s h Geographers, Transactions and Papers, 1956. Marwick, W.H., "The cotton industry and the I n d u s t r i a l Revolution i n Scotland," Scottish H i s t o r i c a l Review, v o l . XXI, 1 9 2 4 . M i t c h e l l , G.M., "The English and Scottish cotton industries: a study i n i n t e r - r e l a t i o n s , " S c o t t i s h H i s t o r i c a l Review, v o l . XXII, 1 9 2 5 . Prospectus of the T h i s t l e Banking Company, dated 15th November, 1761, The Scots Magazine, no. 23, 1761. Robertson. M.L., "Scottish Commerce and the American War of Independence," Economic History Review, . 2nd s e r i e s , v o l . IX, 1956. • 132 Scott, W.R.,"Economic Resiliency," Economic History Review, v o l . I I , 1929-30. Smout, T.C., "The Anglo-Scottish Union I: the economic background," Economic History Review, 2nd s e r i e s , v o l . XVI, 1963-64. Smout, T.G. "Scottish landowners and economic growth, 1650-1850," Scott i s h Journal of P o l i t i c a l Economy, v o l . XI, 1964. ' , Strang, J . , "On the altered condition of the embroidered muslin trade of Scotland and Ireland since 1857," Journal of the S t a t i s t i c a l Society, v o l . XXIV, 1861. Turner, W.H.K., "The t e x t i l e industry of Perth and d i s t r i c t , " I n s t i t u t e of B r i t i s h Geographers, Transactions and Papers, 1957. VI. a. Books published before 1850 Baines, E. J r . ; History of the Cotton Manufacture of Great B r i t a i n , London, 1835.. Cleland, J . , Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the C i t v of Glasgow and County of Lanark for the Government Census of 1831, Glasgow, 1832. Cleland, J . , The Rise and Progress of Glasgow, 2 v o l s . , Glasgow, 1 8 2 0 . ! ^ Forbes, S i r W., Memoirs of a Banking House, f i r s t published 1803, reprinted, Edinburgh, 1860. Gibson, J . , History of Glasgow from the E a r l i e s t Accounts to the Present Time, Glasgow, 1777. Macpherson, D., Annals of Commerce, 4 v o l s . , London, 1805. New S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland. 14 v o l s . , Edinburgh, 1845. Pennant, T., A Tour i n Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, Chester, 1772. S i n c l a i r , S i r J . , S t a t i s t i c a l Account of Scotland, 21 v o l s . , Edinburgh, 1791-99. , S i n c l a i r , S i r J . , Analysis of the S t a t i s t i c a l Account, Edinburgh, 1825. 133 Smith, A., The Wealth of Nations, 2 v o l s . , f i r s t published 1776; E. Cannan ed., 6th ed., London, 1961. VI. b. Books published 1850-1914 B l a i r , M., The Paisley Thread Industry, Pais l e y , 19O7. Bremner, D., The Industries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1869. Campbell, J . , History of the Rise and Progress of Power Loom Weaving, Rutherglen, 1878. Chapman, S.J. The Lancashire Cotton Industry: a study i n economic development, Manchester, 1904. Marwick, J.D. The River Clyde and the Clyde Burghs, Glasgow 1909. M i t c h e l l , J.O., Old Glasgow Essays, Glasgow, 1905. "Senex", Glasgow. Past and Present. 3 vo l s . , Glasgow, 1884. Stewart, G., C u r i o s i t i e s of Glasgow C i t i z e n s h i p , Glasgow, 1881. Stewart, G., The Progress of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1883. VI. c. Books published since 1914 Campbell, R.H., Scotland since 1707: the r i s e of an i n d u s t r i a l society, Oxford, 1965. Cole, M., Robert Owen of New Lanark, London, 1953. Ferguson, T., The Dawn of Scottish S o c i a l Welfare: a survey from medieval times to 1863. Edinburgh. 1948. Fi n l a y , J . & Co., James Fin l a v and Company. Limited, 1750-1950, Glasgow, 1951. F i t t o n , R.S., and Wadsworth, A.P., The St r u t t s and the Arkwrights: a study of the early factory system, Manchester, 1958. Gayer,,A.D., Rostow, W.W., and Schwartz, A.J., The'Growth and-Fluctuation of the B r i t i s h Economy. 1790-1850. 2 v o l s . , Oxford, 1953. 134 Gray, M., The Highland Economy, 1750-1850, Edinburgh, 1957. Hamilton, H. The I n d u s t r i a l Revolution i n Scotland, Oxford, 1932. Hamilton, H., An Economic History of Scotland i n the eighteenth century, Oxford, 1964. Handley, J.E., The I r i s h i n Scotland, Glasgow, 1964. Johnston T., History of the Working Classes i n Scotland, Glasgow, 1929. Kerr A.W., History of Banking i n Scotland, 4th ed., Glasgow, 1928. Mackinnon, J . i S o c i a l and I n d u s t r i a l History of Scotland: from the Union to the present time, London, 1921. MacLeod, W.H., and Houldsworth, S i r H.H., The Beginnings of the Houldsworths of Coltness, Glasgow, 1937. - Maicolm, C.A., The Bank of Scotland, 1695-1950, Edinburgh, n.d. Malcolm, C.A., The B r i t i s h Linen Bank, 1746-1946. Edinburgh, 1950. M i l l e r , R., and Tivy, J . The Glasgow Region: a general survey, Glasgow, 195o. Pryde, G.S. The Treaty of Union of Scotland and England, 1707, Edinburgh, 1950. Unwin, G., Hulme, A., and Taylor f G. Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights: the I n d u s t r i a l Revolution at Stockport and Marple, Manchester, 1924. Wadsworth, A.P., and Mann, J. de L., The Cotton Trade and I n d u s t r i a l Lancashire. 1600-1780. Manchester, 1931. TABLE I. 7 02 CO •P o E H CO > •P to to •H 3 C Ct$ H > ctf o •H CP 3s (P rH CO > CO 5H m w H O t O N ^ N N O H H O H H i A O OA OA -4- -4 f>- t>- -4-CM CM rH rH rH n r| >A 4 H CM. rH CA O v O r H i A - * i r \ O O O O O C M c M C ^ i H t O t O t » ( A t O N v O < O m N o n c\ I A v\ to vO - ^ O - v O u f N O ^ - ^ v O v O c M C M t>- O O O !>-\0 vO C h O » 4 l A < 0 > A H v O CM vO «0 CM 0^ CM -4 rH rH C M C M C M C M C M C M C M C n v O I A I A I A 4 N N 4 H O H 4 4 m O O A O O t O c ^ t O v O C ^ - r H O v O ^ O U N O C ^ O u S ( \ | r l t O N N v O N N O t O * O t f \ t O r l i A O OA OA -4 -4 I>- O -4 CM CM CM O UA oA rH O CM rH rH rH H «H CA UA \0 H 4 (V Ol N H to u A t O O t O C M C M t O U A O O N n IA 4 O M D f>MDcM 4 N f r \ « 0 « 0 ( O N 4 i A O \ 0 4 n vO tr\ UA OA _t vO OA UA -4 to O O-\ 0 ^ 0 ^ ( > 4 m ( 1 0 i A r l i A O \ 0 ( O N f r \ N -4 H r H C M C M c M i H C V i C M C M O A v O C^ - UA CM UA CM UA MD CM I CM I UA I UA OA O O O rH N iA ON N 4 CM -4" CM I CM -4 O O «0 c«A O O UA H CM 4 CM rH H O -4 o 1 o UA o o O o o vO o o O OA UA o to -4 to •te UA as CM rH UA o -4-O H C M C A - d - U A v O l N t O O - O O O - t N C ^ O - O - C - -H H r H r H H r H r H i H H as O rH CM OA o- to to to to o-rH rH rH rH H -4 UA to to Y e a r A m e r i c a Wt. ( l b . ) V a l u e (£) West Wt. ( l b . ) I n d i e s V a l u e (£) T o t a l s Wt. ( l b . ) V a l u e (£) 1786 - — 845,953 42,298 845 ,953 42,298 1787 - 1,364,193 68,210 1,364,193 68,210 1788 27,426 1,372 1,496,243 74,812 1,523,669 76,184 1789 2,998 150 2,165,732 108,285 2,168,730 108 ,435 1790 2,086 104 2,723,160 136,158 2,725,246 136,262 1791 - - . 2,757,458 137,869 2,757,458 137,869 1792 604 30 3,076,111 138,557 3,076,715 138 ,587 1793 2,400 106 2,650,142 132,505 2,652,542 132,611 1794 15,000 750 1,402,340 70,117 1,417 ,340 70,867 1795 52,800 2,640 2,094,631 104,732 2,147,431 107,372 1796 196,260 9,812 1,334,678 66,734 1,530,938 76,546 1797 392,040 19,602 1,316,274 65,813 1,708,314 85,415 1798 1,191,648 59,581 1,621,053 81,051 2,812,701 140,632 1799 1,411,275 70,564 1,804,331 90,215 3,215,606 160,779 1800 2,610,222. 130,610 2,254,932 112,745 4,865,154 243 , 3 5 5 F r o m : H. H a m i l t o n , Economic H i s t o r y o f S c o t l a n d i n t h e E i g h t e e n t h C e n t u r y , A p p e n d i x V I I , 412-3. W h i l e e x c l u d i n g i m p o r t s f r o m s o u r c e s o t h e r t h a n A m e r i c a a n d t h e West I n d i e s , H a m i l t o n ' s f i g u r e s p r o b a b l y c o n v e y a n a c c u r a t e p i c t u r e o f t h e S c o t t i s h c o t t o n - t r a d e ' s f l u c t u a t i o n s s i n c e t h e s e were t h e two m a i n s o u r c e s o f s u p p l y t h r o u g h o u t t h e p e r i o d 1770-1827• Cotton wool imports into Scotland, 1770-1827 Section II - 1801-1824 America West Indies Other Sources Totals Wt. (lb) Value (£) Wt. (lb.) Value (£) Wt. (lb.) Value (£) Wt. (lb) Value (£5) 1801 3,731,814 186,623 3,802,054: 190,103 675,686 33,784 8,209,554 410,510 1802 5,411,124 270,553 3,328,701 166,432 1,563,033 78,151 10,302,858 515,136 1803 4,661,382 233,158 2,195,594 109,775 1,289,962 64,497 8,146,938 407,410 1804 4,277,058 213,847 3,852,122 192,603 1,033,918 51,695 9,163,098 458,145 1805 4,854,205 242,710 2,636,793 131,838 979,995 49,000 8,470,993 423,548 1806 4,532,940 226,645; 3,478,813 173,937 1,120,884 56,127 9,132,637 456,709 1807 6,589,953 329,476 4,379,336. 218,965 571,216 28,560 11,540,505 577,001 1808 1,325,096 66,234 3,399,953 169,990 30,270 1,513 4,755,319 237,737 1809 Customs Ledger Missing 1810 4,934,283 211,868 5,680,086 283,699 1,725,608 86,279 12,339,977 581,846 1811 6,598,016 329,900 4,095,597 205,924 835,111 41,754 11,528,724 577,578 1812 3,409,025 170,448 4,145,242 175,242 1.,185,442 59,269 8,739,709 404,959 1813 195,686 9,784 4,022,942 201,146 2,247,867 112,395 6,466^495 323,325 1814 80,543 4,027 4,447,051 222,352 1,223,165 61,657 5,760,759 288,036 1815 3,701,785 185,089 3,760,101 188,004 1,083,581 54,184 8,545,467 427,277 1816 5,206,189 260,309 2,950,884 147*544 258,747 12,938 8,415,820 420,791 1817 8,572,005 428,583 2,739,940 136,997 1,257,285 62,864 12,569,230 628,444 Year America West Indies Other Sources Totals; Wt.. (lb.) Value (£) Wt. (lb.) Value (£) Wt. (lb.) Value (£) Wt. (lb.) Value(£) 1818 8,742,507 437,125 3,531,433 176,570 1,784,993 89,249 14,058,933 702,944 1819 7,291,972 364,598 2,442,428 122,107 2,584,383 129,219 12,318,783 615,924 1820 7,376,079 358,717 2,268,894 113,445 1,083,969 54,198 10,728,942 526,360 1821 7,248,001 362,399 1,391,256 69,564 1,059,743 52,988 9,699,000 484,951 1822 9,147,002 449,146 2,051,209 102,560 550,808 27,541 11,749,019 579,247 1823 9,798,947 489,947 1,350,570 67,529 112,866 5 ,643 11,262,383 563,119 1824 7,530,848 376,542 1,445,455 73,276 388,422 19,421 9,364,725 469,239 From: Inspector-General of Imports and Exports for Scotland, M. S. Ledgers (Customs 14) v o l s . 14-36. Entries i n the "Other Sources" column include imports from Portuga the East Indies, B r i t i s h North America, South America, etc. Section I I I , 1825-1827 Year Total cotton-wool imports Into Scotland Wt. (lb.) Value (£) 1825 9,655,335 482,767 1826 8,343,442 417,172 1827 19,609,710 980,485 Source: Customs 14, vols. 37-39, abstracts. Separate Scottish customs records were not kept a f t e r 1827, but Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture', estimates that approximately 26.8 m i l l i o n l b s . of raw cotton- was imported into Scotland i n 1833 f o r ;the use of the Scottish cotton industry (pp. 366-7). t—• OX Exports of Cotton Manufactures from Scotland - selected years Value of cotton goods Value of home-produced! Value of Scottish total (£). Year exported (£J> exports (£) exports, including re-exports 1792 66,398 886,238 1,230,884 ' 1801 1,343,973 2,449,185 2,844,516 1818 4,104,876 6,254,725 6,769,534 1827 4,740,941 5,932,852 6,059,503 From: P.R.O. Customs 14, vols. 5, 14, 30, 37. In the entries for 1818 and 1827, the value given i s the o f f i c i a l value, as for 1792 and 18CQ. Daily wages of cotton handloom weavers i n Glasgow, 1810-1819 and 1831. Fabrics 1 8 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 8 1 2 1&L3 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1831 Woven s;. di. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. di. s. d. a. d. s. d. 4/. Gam-* b r i e , 2 74 1 3> 1 6 2 0 2 6 2 0 1 9 104 1 3 9 1 0 1,300 6/, Book * muslin, 2 7 1 8 1 l l j 2 3 i 2 11 2 6| 1 8 1 24 1 8 1 24 1 4 1,400 Jacon« et, 1,200 4/i on-* et, 1 0 1 0 • 1 6 i 1 74 2 04 1 8f lOf 94 1 0 8£ 11 4/. P u l l i -* cate, 2 0 1 0 1 8 2 2 2 4 1 8 1 1 1 0 1 0 10 1 1 1,300 4/. Checks, J ^ ® e & 1 74 1 3 1 5 1 7i 1' 7* 1 7i 94 94 1 l i S i 11 1,000* • . . 5 / 4 ' " 2 44 1 10 2 04 2 3 2 3 2 3 1 24 1 24 1 74 1 0 1 2 l l / 8 G h a I " 1 11 1 3 1 74 2 0 i 2 2 1 11 11 H i 1 1 10 1 0 1,300 - • • • — — — — — — ; — " " ' ' " ' ' \ '. "~ '. '. ' ni" From: E. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, 488. These are d a i l y nett CD wages, after deductions for loom-rent, heat, l i g h t , etc., on an average £ of 12 hours work per day. M M Specimen weekly wages i n cotton-spinning, Glasgow-based firms, 1831 Age-9-group: 10 Age-group: 12-14 Age-group: 16-18 Age-group: 21 and over Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s, . d. s, . d. s. d. s. d. J . Batholomew & Co. - 2 6 3 3 4 9 6 10 6 6 24 5 9 2 J . F i n l a y & Go. Catrine B a l l i n d a l l o c h Deanston 1 2 mm 0 1 1 2 a 6 0 3 2: 3 6 9 0 3 2 3 6 9 0 7 5 5 6 0 0 6 5 5 9 0 0 14 10 12 0 6 0 6 6 10 6 7 6 J . M. Graham - - - - - 23 5 6 6 H. Houldsworth & Co. 1 3i 1 3i 3 3 6. 0 6 0 9 1 9 1 R. Marshall & Co. 2 0 2 3 5 0 4 1 7 0 6 6 35 0 7 6 H. Monteith & Co. 2 0 2 6 4 3 3 0 8 5> 6 0 24 1 8 2 J . Oswald & Co. 2 6 2 6 4 0 4 0 6 0 6 0 24 0 7 0 Shields & S i n c l a i r - - 6 0 6 0 6 0 - 20 0 20 0 Lancefield Spinning Co. Spinning Power-Weaving (Lancefield m i l l ) 2 6 2 6 4 3 4 5 3 9i 6 6 10 8 6 6 10 ±2 25 19 0 0 8 3 7 1 From: J. Cleland, Enumeration of the Inhabitants of Glasgow, 1831, 291. »-3