Cotton Industry

Cotton is a white fibrous substances composed of the hairs surrounding the seeds of the cotton plant. It was first imported to England in the 16th century. Initially it was mixed either with linen or worsted yarn. By 1750 some pure cotton cloths were being produced in Britain. Imports of raw cotton from the West Indies and the American Colonies gradually increased and by 1790 it had reached 31,447,605 lbs.

The Cotton Industry developed in three main districts: North West England, centred on Manchester; the Midlands, centred on Nottingham; and the Clyde Valley in Scotland, between Lanark and Paisley. By the 1780s the industry was becoming more concentrated in Lancashire, with a considerable number of mills within the Oldham, Bolton, Manchester triangle. By the end of the 18th century a large proportion of the population of Lancashire was dependent on the cotton industry.

By 1802 the industry accounted for between 4 and 5 per cent of the national income of Britain. By 1812 there were 100,000 spinners and 250,000 weavers working in the industry. Production had grown to 8 percent and had now overtaken the woollen industry. By 1830 more than half the value of British home-produced exports consisted of cotton textiles.

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(1) Edward Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain (1835)

Cotton is a white substance, and in some of its varieties cream-coloured, or of a yellow hue; it possesses downy softness and warmth, and its delicate fibres are sufficiently long, flexible, and tenacious, to admit of being spun into an extremely fine thread. It grows upon the plant enclosed within pods, which protect it from injury by dust or weather, until it is ripe and fit to be gathered, with the heat of the sun causes it to expand, and burst open the pod.


(2) Cotton Imported to Britain between 1701 and 1800.

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Year lbs.
1701 1,985,868
1710 715,008
1720 1,972,805
1730 1,545,472
1741 1,645,031
1751 2,976,610
1764 3,870,392
1775 4,764,589
1780 6,766,613
1790 31,447,605
1800 56,010,732

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(3) Cotton Goods Exported by Britain between 1701 to 1800.

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Year £
1701 23,253
1710 5,698
1720 16,200
1730 13,524
1741 20,709
1751 45,986
1764 200,354
1780 355,060
1787 1,101,457
1790 1,662,369
1800 5,406,501

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(4) Export of British Cotton Goods, 1784 to 1856.

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Date £ (thousands) % total exports
1784-86 766 6.0
1794-96 3,392 15.6
1804-06 15,871 42.3
1814-16 18,742 42.1
1824-26 16,879 47.8
1834-36 22,398 48.5
1844-46 25,835 44.2
1854-56 34,908 34.1

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(5) Employment in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1801 to 1861.

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Date number of workers in industry % of working population
1801 242,000 35.9
1811 306,000 36.9
1821 369,000 35.0
1831 427,000 31.9
1841 374,000 22.4
1851 379,000 18.6
1861 446,000 18.3
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Birth of Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

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