The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 Notes and Questions

These notes on The Age of Industrialisation for Class 10 go through the chapter in order: life before factories, the rise of the cotton mill, why change was slow in Britain, workers' lives, the decline of Indian textiles and the growth of Indian industry. Key terms are explained simply, and the important questions at the end come with model answers.

Images of progress, and life before factories

In 1900, a music book cover called "Dawn of the Century" showed an angel of progress with railways, cameras and factories. Trade magazines contrasted the old "magic" of the East (Aladdin) with the new "magic" of the Western mechanic who built bridges and ships. Such images linked industrialisation with development, but the real history is more complex.

Proto-industrialisation is the phase before factories, when a large-scale system of production already existed. In the 17th and 18th centuries, European merchants moved to the countryside because town guilds were too powerful: they controlled production, prices and entry into trades.

Poor peasants and artisans welcomed this work. Many had lost common lands to enclosures and had tiny plots, so the whole family could earn extra income without leaving the village.

The chain of production: a merchant clothier bought wool from a stapler (who sorts wool by fibre), and passed it to spinners, weavers, fullers (who gather cloth by pleating) and dyers. Finishing was done in London before export. Carding is preparing cotton or wool fibres before spinning.

The coming of the factory

Cotton was the first symbol of the factory age. Britain's raw cotton imports rose from 2.5 million pounds in 1760 to 22 million pounds by 1787. Inventions improved carding, twisting and spinning. Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill, bringing all processes under one roof and one management. This allowed close supervision of quality and regulation of labour.

Change was slow:

• Cotton led until the 1840s; then iron and steel took over as railways expanded. By 1873 Britain's iron and steel exports were worth £77 million, double its cotton exports.
• At the end of the 19th century, less than 20% of the workforce was in technologically advanced sectors; most textiles were still made in homes.
• Machines were costly, broke down often and were expensive to repair.
• James Watt improved Newcomen's steam engine in 1781, but at the start of the 19th century there were only 321 steam engines in all of England.

Hand labour and workers' lives

Victorian Britain had plenty of workers, so wages were low and industrialists preferred hand labour to expensive machines.

• Seasonal industries (gas works, breweries, bookbinding before Christmas) hired people for the busy season instead of keeping machines all year.
• Many goods needed hand skill: Britain made 500 varieties of hammers.
• The aristocracy saw handmade goods as refined; machine-made, standardised goods went to the colonies.
• In 19th-century America, by contrast, labour was short, so mechanical power was preferred.

Workers' lives: job-seekers waited weeks, sleeping under bridges or in night shelters. Getting a job depended on kinship, a friend or relative already in the factory. High prices during the Napoleonic Wars cut the real value of wages. In the 1830s, unemployment ranged from 35% to 75% in different regions. Fear of job loss made people hostile to machines: women who lived by hand spinning attacked the Spinning Jenny, devised by James Hargreaves in 1764, which spun several threads at once. After the 1840s, building railways, tunnels and sewers created more work.

Indian textiles and the gomasthas

Indian silk and cotton were famous for quality. Indian merchants and bankers financed production and exported through Surat and Hoogly. Trade through Surat fell from Rs 16 million in the late 17th century to Rs 3 million by the 1740s. By the 1750s, European companies had gained power and monopoly rights. Surat and Hoogly declined; colonial ports like Bombay and Calcutta grew, with trade controlled by European companies.

The East India Company appointed paid servants called gomasthas to supervise weavers, collect supplies and check quality. Weavers who took advances (loans) had to sell only to the Company. Unlike earlier village-based supply merchants, gomasthas were outsiders who came with sepoys and peons and punished delays by beating or flogging. Many weavers deserted their villages or turned to farm labour.

Manchester comes to India

British industrialists got import duties placed on Indian cloth and persuaded the Company to sell British goods in India. Indian cotton exports fell from 33% in 1811–12 to 3% by 1850–51.

Indian weavers faced three problems:

1. Their export market collapsed.
2. The home market filled with cheap Manchester cloth.
3. In the 1860s, the American Civil War cut cotton supply to Britain, so Britain bought Indian raw cotton. Raw cotton prices in India shot up and weavers could not afford it.

Indian factories, entrepreneurs and jobbers

• First cotton mill in Bombay: 1854. Jute mills in Bengal: 1855. Elgin Mill, Kanpur: 1860s.
• Early entrepreneurs like Dwarkanath Tagore, Dinshaw Petit and J.N. Tata built capital through the China trade (including opium) or by shipping raw cotton to England.
• Colonial rules barred Indian merchants from trading manufactured goods with Europe. Until the First World War, European Managing Agencies made most investment decisions.

Many mill workers came from nearby villages and went home for planting or harvest. Mills used a jobber, usually an experienced worker, to recruit. He helped villagers find jobs and settle, but this gave him power, and some demanded money or gifts.

Peculiarities of growth and advertising

Early Indian mills made coarse yarn, not cloth, to avoid competing with Manchester; it went to handloom weavers or to China. After 1906, Chinese and Japanese mills took the China market, so Indian mills shifted to cloth.

The First World War was a turning point. British mills were busy with war work and imports fell, while Indian mills supplied jute bags, uniforms, tents and boots. Britain never regained its old position in the Indian market.

Handlooms survived: weavers adopted the fly shuttle to work faster, and special fabrics kept their buyers.

Advertising: Manchester labels said MADE IN MANCHESTER and often showed Indian gods and goddesses such as Krishna or Saraswati to make goods feel familiar. Calendars reached people who could not read. Indian makers added a nationalist message: if you care for the nation, buy Indian. Advertising carried the Swadeshi message.

Remember this

• Proto-industrialisation came before factories.
• Arkwright: cotton mill. Hargreaves: Spinning Jenny (1764). Watt: improved steam engine (1781).
• Gomasthas: Company's paid supervisors of weavers.
• First Bombay cotton mill: 1854.
• First World War boosted Indian industry.

Important questions with answers

1. Why did merchants move production to the countryside? Town guilds held monopoly rights, controlled prices and restricted new entrants.

2. What was the significance of Arkwright's cotton mill? It brought all processes under one roof and management, allowing supervision of quality and regulation of labour.

3. Why were British industrialists cautious about new machines? Machines were expensive, often broke down, were costly to repair, and did not always work as claimed.

4. Why did workers attack the Spinning Jenny? Women who lived by hand spinning feared it would reduce demand for their labour and leave them unemployed.

5. Who were the gomasthas? Paid servants of the East India Company who supervised weavers, collected supplies and examined cloth quality.

6. How did the American Civil War affect Indian weavers? Britain bought raw cotton from India instead of America, so Indian raw cotton prices rose and weavers could not afford it.

7. Name two early industrialists who made money in the China trade. Dwarkanath Tagore and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata.

8. Why did Indian industry grow during the First World War? Manchester imports fell while Indian mills supplied war goods such as uniforms and jute bags.

9. How did advertisements support Swadeshi? Indian makers told people that caring for the nation meant buying Indian goods.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming factories replaced hand work quickly. Change was slow and uneven.
• Mixing up Arkwright (mill) and Hargreaves (Spinning Jenny).
• Saying early Indian mills made cloth for export. They first made yarn.

To revise the key people, dates and terms with quick questions, study this chapter with Joy.