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Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.
The fear of unemployment made women workers hostile to the introduction of new technology. When the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woollen industry, women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines. This conflict over the introduction of the jenny continued for a long time.
Tips: -
M. Imp.
In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market.
(i)With the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world, the demand for goods began growing.
(ii)But merchants could not expand production within towns. This was because here urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful.
(iii)These were associations of producers that trained craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted the entry of new people into the trade.
(iv)Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products.
(v)It was therefore difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. So they turned to the countryside. In the countryside poor peasants and artisans began working for merchants.
The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
By the 1750s the network, controlled by Indian merchants, was breaking down.
(i)The European companies gradually gained power – first securing a variety of concessions from local courts, then the monopoly rights to trade.
(ii)This resulted in a decline of the old ports of Surat through which local merchants had operated.
(iii)Exports from these ports fell dramatically, the credit that had financed the earlier trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt.
(iv)In the last years of the seventeenth century, the gross value of trade that passed through Surat had been Rs 16 million.
(v)By the 1740s it had slumped to Rs 3 million.Trade through the new ports came to be controlled by European companies, and was carried in European ships.
The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India
The appointment of Gomastha:
(i)The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade, and establish a more direct control over the weaver.
(ii)It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
(iii)It prevented Company weavers from dealing with other buyers. One way of doing this was through the system of advances.
(iv)Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material for their production.
(v)Those who took loans had to hand over the cloth they produced to the gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
Tips: -
M. Imp.
Explain what is meant by proto-industrialisation.
Histories of industrialisation very often begin with the setting up of the first factories. There is a problem with such ideas. Even before factories began to dot the landscape in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This was not based on factories. This phase of industrialisation is referred as proto-industrialisation.
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M. Imp.
Why did some industrialists in nineteenth century Europe prefer hand labour over machines?
How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers?
Imagine that you have been asked to write an article for an encyclopaedia on Britain and the history of cotton. Write your piece using information from the entire chapter.
An encyclopaedia on Britain and the history of cotton:
(i) Before the establishment of British East India Company, England used to get manufacture Indian textile mainly cotton textiles indirectly from European traders and merchants. After the establishment of British East India Company, the same was done through direct import.
(ii) Calico Cloth Mill in Calicut and Muslin mill in Dacca as also shawls making cottage industries in Kashmir were brought to the condition of closure by passing prohibitory rules and alluring craftsmen/artisans in favour of East India Company and its underways.A number of inventors of cotton machines and plants including Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton etc., had assured to manufacturing of cotton textiles in England.
(iii) Gradually powerloom, cotton gin etc., machines were invented by Cart Wright and Eli-Whitney and thus, England began import of raw cotton from India to the tune of 250 million kilogram in 1840 C.E. Import however, was started since 1760 C.E. when about two million kilogram of cotton was bought from India and shipped to England.
(iv) Machine made textile was cheaper, attractive and well-finished hence, people of India began putting on imported clothes. This trend however, led to closure of handlooms and cottage industries in India thereby several lakh people had become unemployed and export of Indian cotton textile plumped from 33 per cent of 1811-12 C.E. to 3 per cent in 1850-51 C.E.
(v) Weavers in India began starving when American Civil War had cut-off cotton export to England by 1860. By the end of nineteenth century plants and machines of cotton manufacturing installed in India, the weavers in handloom sector and allied industries, suffered a lot.
Why did industrial production in India increase during the First World War?
Tips: -
V. Imp.
Select any one industry in your region and find out its history. How has the technology changed? Where do the workers come from? How are the products advertised and marketed? Try and talk to the employers and some workers to get their views about the industry's history.
Cotton textile in Ahmedabad, Gujarat :
(i)Cotton textiles are among the oldest industries of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. One can trace it back to the day of Indus Civilisation when cotton fabrics from Lothal (port) were send to different parts of Asia.
(ii)Initially, old technology was followed by the weavers. The spinning wheel constituted its sole machine. Ladies of the village used to spin the cotton. During the British period, technology changed and several cotton textile mills were set-up in different parts of the country. Powerloom was used in place of handloom. Factories were opened for twenty-four hours. Several types of machines were used. Machines of advanced technologies invented in England and other countries in Europe were also installed.
(iii)The workers for cotton textile mills used to come from rural areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Some of them used to come daily by cycles and most of them settled nearby the factory. Slums developed and they created several types of problems for the city dwellers.
(iv)The industry provided living to farmers, cotton ball pluckers and workers engaged in ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, designing, packaging, sewing and tailoring.The products were advertised by the agents of mills under the British East India Company and local merchants and traders. The European traders used to buy fine quality of cotton textile from Ahmedabad and that was taken to Surat.
(v)We have talked with employers and some workers of the cotton textile. Employers said that they used to face tough competition with the British cotton textile before the independence but after India's independence, they could receive certain incentives. The globalisation since 1990s have however, opened the way for “Wealth is Right” in the form of MNCs.
Industrial Revolution referred to
Mass production
Collection of raw material
Factory system of production
Processing of natural resources
C.
Factory system of production
Why could not the merchants expand production within towns in Britain?
Because towns, the police was very corrupt.
Because in towns, urban crafts and trade guilds were very powerful.
Because in towns, the Government rules and regulations were very strict.
Because their the electricity was available only for a short duration.
B.
Because in towns, urban crafts and trade guilds were very powerful.
The early phase of industrialisation, in which large scale production was carried out for industrial market, not at factories but in decentralised production unit, was referred to as:
Rapid industrialisation
Early industrialisation
Proto industrialisation
Local industrialisation
C.
Proto industrialisation
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The cotton mill was created by
William Siemens
Richard Arkwright
Richard Jordan Gatling
Alexander Wood
B.
Richard Arkwright
Which were the two most dynamic industries in Britain?
Silk and paper industries
Cotton and metal industries
Electronic and chemical industries
None of these
B.
Cotton and metal industries
Which of the following was not a feature of proto industrialisation era of Britain?
Goods were produced by a vast number of producers working within their family farms.
Goods were produced by a vast number of producers working within their family factories.
It was controlled by the merchants and traders.
Income from proto industrial production supplemented the income of local farmers.
B.
Goods were produced by a vast number of producers working within their family factories.
Where was first jute mill set-up in India?
In Rishra
In Murshidabad
In Surat
At Amritsar
A.
In Rishra
Which industry led the way in Britain after 1840s?
Petroleum Industry
Railway Industry
Iron and Steel Industry
Cotton Industry
C.
Iron and Steel Industry
The ports of Surat and Hoogly declined by the 1750s because
The European companies secured monopoly rights to trade
India could not produce fine cotton
There was a strike of textile workers
All of these
A.
The European companies secured monopoly rights to trade
Which of the following steps were taken by the East India Company to control the market of the cotton and silk goods in India?
It appointed a paid servant called the Gomastha
It prevented weavers, from dealing with other buyers
It waged a war against the local weavers
It increased the price of the raw cotton and the silk
A.
It appointed a paid servant called the Gomastha
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Who was a jobber?
A person employed by the industrialist to get new recruits
A person employed by the farmers to sell their products
A person who was doing the most important job in a factory
A paid servant of the East India Company
A.
A person employed by the industrialist to get new recruits
British companies try to capture the psychology of Indian consumers:
by drawing beautiful images of Indian Gods and Goddesses on the labels
by drawing images of hero and heroines on the labels
by giving the details of the company on the labels
none of these
A.
by drawing beautiful images of Indian Gods and Goddesses on the labels
What was the work of a fuller?
Fight the enemy
Gather cloth
Arrange labourers
None of these
B.
Gather cloth
Which one of the following problems was not faced by cotton weavers in India?
Export market had collapsed
They did not have good quality cotton
Imported goods were cheap
There were frequent strikes in Indian industries
D.
There were frequent strikes in Indian industries
Who devised the Spinning Jenny?
Richard Arkwright
James Watt
James Hargreaves
Samuel Luke
C.
James Hargreaves
What was referred to as 'iron monsters'?
Industrial cities
New factories
Tenements
London Underground Railway
D.
London Underground Railway
What do you mean by factory production? Write two reasons for the emergence of it.
Large scale production of machine is known as factory production.
Reasons for the emergence:
(i)Growth of towns and cities.
(ii)Increase in demand for luxury items.
Where did the Industrial Revolution start first? Explain the effect of it on the living and working conditions of the working class?
The Industrial Revolution started in England.
The effects:
(i)They were severely exploited by the factory owners. They were force to work for longer hours.
(ii)Their wages very low. They were forced to live in slums with poor conditions.
Write a brief note on:
(a) Jameshetjee Bhoy?
(b) Dwarkanath Tagore?
(a) Jameshedjee Bhoy: Jameshedjee Bhoy was the son of a Parsi weaver. Like many others of his time, he was involved in the China trade and shipping. He owned a large fleet of ships, but competition from English and American shippers forced him to sell his ships by the 1850s.
(b) Dwarkanath Tagore: Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade before he turned to industrial investment, setting up six joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s. Dwarkanath Tagore believed that India would develop through westernisation and industrialisation. He invested in shipping, shipbuilding, mining, banking, plantations and insurance.
Explain with examples how the British manufacturers attempted to take over the Indian market with the help of advertisements.
Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary.
(i)They used to put labels on the cloth bundles where MADE IN MANCHESTER was written in bold.
(ii)Images of Indian gods and goddesses regularly appeared on the labels. It was as if the association with gods gave divine approval to the goods being sold
(iii)They had began printing calendars and was hung in tea shops and in poor people’s homes just as much as in offices and middle-class apartments. And those who hung the calendars had to see the advertisements, day after day, through the year.
Mention two inventions alongwith the names of inventors that helped in the growth of textile industry.
The inventions:
(i) Spinning Jenny: Devised by James Hargreaves in 1764, this machine speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand.
(ii) Flying Shuttle: This machine for weaving was invented by John Key. It is a mechanical device used for weaving, moved by means of ropes and pullies. It places the horizontal threads, the weft into the verticle threads (called the warp). The invention of the fly shuttle made it possible for weavers to operate large looms and weave wide pieces of cloth.
Write any three important inventions in the field of transport and communication.
The inventions were:
(i) Locomotives
(ii) Steam ships
(iii) Telephone
Write briefly on Spinning Jenny.
Spinning Jenny aws devised by James Hargreaves in 1764, this machine speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand. By turning one single wheel a worker could set in motion a number of spindles and spin several threads at the same time.
Why Indian cotton export had declined in the beginning of 19th century?
Why merchants could not expand production within towns?
Describe the problems faced by the cotton weavers in India during mid 19th century.
Write a note Jobbers?
The note:
(i)Jobbers were employed by Industrialists usually to get new recruits.
(ii)Very often the jobber was an old and trusted worker.
(iii)He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city and provided them money in times of crisis.
(iv)The jobber therefore became a person with some authority and power.
(v)He began demanding money and gifts for his favour and controlling the lives of workers.
Describe the coming up of factories in India.
Coming up of factories in India:
(i)The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in 1854 and it went into production two years later. By 1862 four mills were at work with 94,000 spindles and 2,150 looms. Around the same time jute mills came up in Bengal, the first being set up in 1855 and another one seven years later, in 1862.
(ii)In north India, the Elgin Mill was started in Kanpur in the 1860s, and a year later the first cotton mill of Ahmedabad was set up. By 1874, the first spinning and weaving mill of Madras began production.
(iii)In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade before he turned to industrial investment, setting up six joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s. In Bombay, Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata who built huge industrial empires in India, accumulated their initial wealth partly from exports to China, and partly from raw cotton shipments to England.
(iv)Seth Hukumchand, a Marwari businessman who set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917, also traded with China. So did the father as well as grandfather of the famous industrialist G.D. Birla.
(v)While factory industries grew steadily after the war, large industries formed only a small segment of the economy. Most of them – about 67 per cent in 1911 – were located in Bengal and Bombay. In fact, in some instances, handicrafts production actually expanded in the twentieth century.
Tips: -
V. Imp.
Strike the ‘odd one’out from the following:
Spinning Jenny
Flying shuttle
Dyer bucket
Water frame
C.
Dyer bucket
Match the following options:
| A. Sepoy | (i) A person employed by the company to recruit workers |
| B. Orient | (ii) Association of craftsmen or merchants for supervision and control of quality of crafts. |
| C. Gomastha | (iii) The countries to the east of Mediterranean. |
| D. Guild | (iv) Indian soldier of the British army. |
| E. Jobber | (v) An official appointed by the company to work as its agent to supervise wearers and collect supplies. |
A. Sepoy | (i) Indian soldier of the British army. |
B. Orient | (ii) The countries to the east of Mediterranean. |
C. Gomastha | (iii) An official appointed by the company to work as its agent to supervise wearers and collect supplies. |
D. Guild | (iv) Association of craftsmen or merchants for supervision and control of quality of crafts. |
E. Jobber | (v) A person employed by the company to recruit workers |
Write true (T) or (F) false in the following statements:
A.
Manchester merchants began selling cloth to India.
B.
Dwarka Nath Tagore was an early entrepreneur of Bombay.
C.
In North India, the Elgin Mill was set up at Kanpur.
D.
The first cotton mill was set up in Bombay in 1820.
Mention the two most dynamic industries inBritain. How did it help in export?
The two most dynamic industries in Britain were:
(i) Cotton Textile
(ii) Metals
With the expansion of railways, in England from the 1840s and in the colonies from the 1860s, the demand for iron and steel increased rapidly. By 1873 Britain was exporting iron and steel worth about £ 77 million, double the value of its cotton export.
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'In the twentieth century, handloom cloth production expanded steadily'. Explain.
Explain the problems faced by weavers in 1860s.
By the 1860s, weavers faced a new problem. They could not get sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality. When the American Civil War broke out and cotton supplies from the US were cut off, Britain turned to India. As raw cotton exports from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up. Weavers in India were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices. In this situation, weavers could not pay.
After the war, Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market. Explain.
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