Reasons for the Rapid Industrialisation in England 1750-1850

Reasons for the Rapid Industrialisation in England 1750-1850

Historians and economists have constantly debated this question since

the aforementioned dates, and the answer is different depending on

whose evidence you read. For there to be rapid industrial growth there

needs to be many factors present at the beginning and throughout the

period. There needs to be drastic improvements in technology, which

will be the power to drive the factories. A large and increasing

population, and cheap labour to work in the factories. An improving,

inexpensive and easy method of transport to move the goods around the

country is also a necessity. An affluent and growing middle class to

buy all the mass-produced goods, a market driven economy and a

political system that will allow all these to happen. England of the

time had all these factors.

Probably the most influential of all these factors were the many

inventions, because without these inventions the factories wouldn't be

able to produce goods in such numbers at the speed they did. The

technological change '…was sudden and violent. The inventions were all

made in a comparatively short space of time… In little more than 20yrs

all the great inventions of Watt, Arkwright and Boulton had been

completed… and the modern factory system had begun'1. The driving

force behind the inventors and entrepreneurs was not necessarily to

improve the economy of the country; their ingenuity was driven by the

thought of great profits, however these efforts were allied with the

risk of failure. Entrepreneurs did not settle for an invention if it

just did the job, they tried to improve it and build on ideas alr...

... middle of paper ...

...sions in

industry and the improvements in the countries economical standing,

increased rapidly between 1750 and 1850.

Bibliography

============

1 GIBBONS H de B., 1897, Industry in England, London: p 341. (See

Hartwell R.M., The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in England; p

11)

2 HARTWELL R.M., 1967, The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in

England:Methuen and Co Ltd: London. p 113.

3 HARTWELL R.M., 1967, The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in

England:Methuen and Co Ltd: London. p 93.

4 JEVONS W.S., 1865, The Coal Question: London. (See Hartwell R.M.,

The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in England; p 120)

5 CHAMBERS J.D.,1960, Population change in a Provincial town:

Nottingham1700-1800, London. . (See Hartwell R.M., The Causes of the

Industrial Revolution in England; p63)