HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

When the transition from large early modern workshops and manufactories to industrial factories occurred is debatable. The title of first modern factory could be claimed by two eighteenth-century English textile factories, both of which employed about 300 workers in a newly built five-story structure: Thomas Lombe's silk mill, built in Derby in 1721, and Richard Arkwright's spinning mill in Cromford, founded in 1771. Already in the early eighteenth century, fulling mills, dyeing mills, silk mills, weaving mills, calico presses, and sail makers pointed toward the imminent transition to the factory.

Lombe's silk mill made extensive use of engines and production machines, water power and throwers; in contrast, this only occurred occasionally in manufactories. The impulse to the introduction of machines should be seen as a result of the Franco-British wars around 1800, during which the costs of silk production soared and shipments became unreliable. Mechanization arrived via a transfer of Italian technology, made possible by spying and smuggling on the part of Lombe's brother John, after which it was steadily improved. Similar forms of espionage also commonly supported the adoption of technological innovations during the Industrial Revolution; then, however, British technology became the object of continental European spying.

Arkwright's first factory, founded in 1771 , represents a gradual development, as more capital was invested and the workers were subjected to stricter discipline. According to the definition proposed above, Arkwright's facility can even be understood as the first modern factory: the qualitative and quantitative use of machines had changed, and the idea of (partial) automation emerged. Arkwright's spinning mill relied comprehensively on the principles of the division of labour and line production. Nevertheless, in the first large-scale operations of the early eighteenth century, including Lombe's silk mill, the pace of production was determined not by machines but by human beings. There were still irregular work periods punctuated by periods of rest.

To a large extent, work was performed in a traditional manner; the shock experienced by textile workers in the Industrial Revolution was not felt. Nor did any sweeping shift in production patterns take place. After Lombe's patent expired in 1732, only a few large silk factories were opened. For the most part, the term "silk mills" denoted small workshops which were often located quite close to dwellings.

Only at the end of the eighteenth century did the conditions exist for the construction of large, modern factories. Now shafts and drives, which previously had to be constructed of wood, could be made with cast iron. Starting in 1820, wrought iron was increasingly used for this purpose. This advance in building materials is what first enabled factories to be built in larger dimensions Another essential element in the transition to industrial production was the use of gas lamps after 1800, on account of which production grew increasingly independent of natural daily rhythms.

The steam engine, that important symbol of industrialization, should, however, not be given too much weight in this context. Whether one used water or steam power depended on regional conditions. Even in Lancashire, water power still accounted for one fifth of drive power in the cotton industry around 1840. On the European continent, it retained its foundational importance throughout the nineteenth century, and thus industry remained tied to rural water mills much longer and entered the towns much later than in Great Britain. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the process of industrialization ran slow on the Continent and was restricted mainly to those areas that would eventually gain significance as core industrial regions.

Yet even in these areas factories thrived in only a few sectors. Furthermore, at this time only a small portion of the workers used machines. Even in the late nineteenth century, factories – such as in the Lyon region – tended to resemble a collection of artisan workshops. Indeed, workshops continued to exist inside factories for a long time to come. The organization of labour was also characterized in part by long-term processes of transformation. In early factories, families often worked together, and familial hierarchies, presided over by the father, persisted. With increasing mechanization and the attendant role played by the foreman, a distinctive feature of the factory developed. It was now necessary for the time and pace of production to be regulated, work discipline to be enforced, and the organization of work in general to be managed. Foreman with the proper technical qualifications took over supervision of the work environment.

Child labour remained widespread in Europe throughout the entire nineteenth century; the earliest prohibitions, passed in the middle of the century, could not be enforced initially. One distinguishing feature of early factories persisted into the last third of the nineteenth century: the exercise of power in the workplace was based on personal relationships and verbal instructions; the bureaucratization of authority was yet to emerge. On the one hand, work was determined by the caprice of the master; on the other hand, workers still initially retained a certain influence over work times and rhythms.