3.4 Industrialisation in Ulster, 1825-55 Flashcards
Importance of the textile industry
- created a merchant class
- Belfast 1820 - 20,000 people in 15 mills
- 1712, 2m yards of Linen
- 1790s, 40m yards of linen
- 1/3 exports to GB were linen
- 1811 - 50,000 people manufactured cotton
- 1821 - 40% of Irish population worked in manufacturing, mainly in Ulster
- 1805-09, 13 mills constructed
Decline of cotton
- 1770-1824, cotton industry protected by Irish Parliament
- 1850 - only 4/5 cotton mills left
- cotton spinning to flax spinning
= increased competition from GB producers
= Linen more attractive
= stock market crash in 1825, affected cotton industry - 1824, protective tariffs removed
Decline of wool
- increased competition from GB
- mechanical powered looms
Railways and its impact on the linen industry
Significant for linen - could attach to the main cities
- allowed province to prosper
Late 1820s, investment in creating a railway network bega - supported by gov, sponsored Royal Commission
- reports 1837 and 1938
- recommended that the gov fund an Irish railway
- dropped in 1842, no compromise and a reluctance in GB to spend public money on an Irish railway
Private work had already begun
- an affective communications network had to be created
= to link the outlying mills and small factories to the growing hub of Belfast
= reached climax 1844-45 - 80% of the total investment on the railways 1835-50
end of c19th, 1000 miles of line linked 90% of the population
The effects of mechanisation
- Ulster textile industries declined - out produced/priced by mills in Lancashire and Glasgow
- necessary to mechanise
- wet spinning - Ulster businesses took advantage of the flax ability
= made own yarns, cost of making linen decreased
= regular supply of raw materials and ability to offer competitive prices - 1st wet spinning mill established by James and William Murland
- 1834 = 12 flax spinning mills in Ulster
= end of 1830s, risen to 35 - weaving the linen, still traditional, hand loom affair
= Ulster finer linen
= remained handloom for another 20 years
= became expensive - slump in earnings of hand spinners
- USA new market
= 40% of Ulster’s linen exports by 1850
Shipbuilding in Ulster
- starts towards the end of the c18th
- by 1825, there are 3 yards
= Ritchie and MacLaine
= Charles Connell and Sons
= Thomson and Kirwan - 1820-50, built more than 50 ships between them
- smaller than other cities (i.e. Glasgow/Liverpool) but helped establish city as a prominent centre
- later, Harland and Wolff and Workman Clark and Co = Belfast was a shipbuilding centre of international importance
- BUT hasn’t been clear it would go in this direction
- River Lagan, too bendy = difficult for ships to pass
- small industry until 1830s, when Lagan opened up
- benefitted from using new techniques and helping other cities to sulfil orders
- owed success to some factories outside its control
Shipbuilding in Ulster
EARLY INDUSTRY
- 1826, 1st steam ship - ‘Chieftain’ built in Belfast at Ritchie and MacLaine
- started modernisation of industry
- there were still wooden shops
- first iron ship, ‘Countess of Caledon’ in 1838 - lake steamer for Lough Neagh, built by Victor Coates
- slow transition but well developed by 1850
Shipbuilding in Ulster
DOCKS
- expanded due to textile industry
- 1815 - 91,000 tonnes of shipping in Belfast
- 1835 - 291,000 tonnes
- area around Dublin was well developed
- Cork shipped more than Belfast, but Belfast eclipsed it by 1850
Shipbuilding in Ulster
POPULATION
- 1821 = 37,000
- 1841 = 75,000
- encouraged by jobs and then helped develop industry further
- sense of job security
The importance of Charles Connell & Sons and Thompson & Kirwan Yards
CHARLES CONNELL & SONS
- William Ritchie’s shipyard taken over in 1820 by Connell
= brother John entered partnership with Alexander MacLaine, 1808
= produced 1st steamship in 1826
- Connell, Scottish shipbuilder, yard of River Clyde
- 1832, 310 tonne ship ‘Fanny’ designed to service trade in the far east (1st ship to bring tea to Belfast)
- Promoted Ireland/Ulster’s economic development by transporting home-produced goods such as linens to foreign markets
- new markets = Italy and Turkey
- produced 32 vessels by 1842
- helped development of city
THOMPSON AND KIRWAN
- Queen’s Island in the Mouth of the River Lagan, 1851
- later served as secretary to the Harbour Commissioners, 1857-83
- built wooden vessels
- hoped to expand business
- 1853, the yard taken over by Robert Hickson
- decline due to the demand for iron ships
- Hickson and Co. sold 1858
Shipyards and expanding industry
- Shipyards added to economic development
= offered employment opportunities
= encouraged more people to Belfast, largest town - linen also expanded the growth of Belfast
- 1840s, USA overtook GB as the biggest importer of Irish cloth
- 1851, value of exports leaving Belfast = £2,667,100
- rope manufacturing and machine engineering for engines and boilers
= Victor Coates and Co, able to expand and develop their own line of shipbuilding up until 1860s - shipbuilding offered an opportunity for Ulster to develop, transformed region = international reputation
The work of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners
- required a body to manage and develop the port facilities in Belfast
- natural restriction = shallow water and river bends, difficult of larger ships to dock
- 1785, Irish Parliament established the corporation for preserving and improving the port and harbour of Belfast (ballast board)
- 1830, fully laden ships needed high tides to access/leave the port, delays affects the merchant’s profits margin
= 1830, ballast board commissioned the engineering firm Walker & Burgess to find a solution
= solutions = £190,000-£200,000
= cuts in the river bends and deepening the river
= local interests opposed idea - August 1831, compromise reached
= allowing MPs to sit on board and for a further 16 members to sit on a 4-year rotational basis - to be elected by the local owners of the shipping port - act for the further improvement of the port and harbour in Belfast
= allowed the Ballast Board to purchase land for creating the channel
= Ballast Board applied for £60,000 from the Board of Public Works, brought approx. 900 acres around the mouth of the River Lagan - 1837, work began, new 18-member board constituted to oversee the improvements
William Dargan and the creation of Queen’s Island
- civil engineer
- previously built the Ulster Canal and Newry Canal
- first cut in river in 1840, took 1 year, £42,000
- material dug out and deposited in the Co. Down side of the river
= created approx., 59 acres in size - cut a channel at the front to allow for the natural flow of the Lagan = island
- 1841, named Dargan’s Island, 17 acres for a public park
- renamed Queen’s Island in 1845
- remaining space given to the development of shipbuilding
- 1st shipyards, Thompson & Kirwan in 1851
- replaced by Robert Hickson & Co.
- became Harland & Wolff after 1861
- 2nd cut began in 1846, completed by July 1849 = Victoria’ Channel
The Belfast Harbour Act, 1847
- Ballast Board replaced by Belfast Harbour Commissioners
- worked closely with shipbuilders
= resulted in more land being purchased for the creation of more quays and shed - motivated into developing more industries
= 1853, allowed Gladstone & Pace to open an iron shipyard on Queen’s Island
= brought out Hickson in 1853
= 1st iron ship, 1854
Mullholland - Linen Industry
- Andrew (and brother Thomas) had been cotton mill owners
- mill destroyed in fire in 1828
- changed to flax spinning - fire = chance to start again whilst cotton industry was declining
- re-built on their York St site - Ulster’s first steam powered wet spinning for flax - started operating in 1829
- by 1852, employed 800 people
- end of c19th - employed over 5000
- Mullholland elected Mayor in 184, retired in 1846
- success, encouraged others to switch from cotton to Linen
- by 1834, at least 12 other flax mills around Belfast
- 1850 - 29 mills
Hickson - Shipbuilding
- began as timber - merchant with brother in Tralee, Co. Kerry
- after 1830, moved to Liverpool
- where he entered into a partnership with John Spence ]= brought newly opened ironworks - Hickson and Co
- opened by Gladstone & Pace in 1851, believed there was coal in the surrounding area
= had to import it, so had taken lease on Queen’s Island for iron shipyard to try and increase profits - Hickson & Co also took Queen’s Island lease - 21 year lease, cost £50 per year then £200 after 15 years - 4 acres in size
- in return, he asked Harbour Commissioners to spend £1,5000 on new slipways and sheds and ensure river was at least 15 feet deep to launch ships
1854 - employed Edward Harland to manage shipyard - tightened up practices and reduced wages to make yard more competitive
POSITIVE impact of industrialisation on living conditions
- growth in employment opportunities
- population grew
- rural migration increased
NEGATIVE impacts of industrialisation on living conditions
- poor sanitation - contaminated water
- cheap, terraced houses, poorly built - back to back, little privacy
- population growth impact on standard of living - shortage of homes
- infrastructure in towns remained limited
POSITIVE impacts of industrialisation on working conditions
- Factory Act, 1844 = dangerous machinery fenced off
NEGATIVE impacts of industrialisation on working conditions
- high demands - linen, 11-12hrs a day
- noisy, poorly ventilated sheds = respiratory problems
- average working life expectancy = 16 years
- low wages
- individual skills not sought after
Belfast Cholera Epidemic
1848
- Cramped housing + poorly designed sewage systems – water became polluted and diseased
- 1st victim of cholera: February 1832
- 1832 ended a year later: 400 dead in Belfast and 25,000 dead nationally
- Bodies burned
- Board of Health, policy of street cleaning, whitewashing houses and fumigation
- 1848, 35,000 dead nationwide – nation weakened by famine + populated industrial areas
BELFAST: - Densely populated
- Easily contaminated water supply
- 1,163 deaths
- 3,583 diagnoses
- Dublin mortality rate of at least 40% compared to Belfast’s 33%
- Due to board of Guardians, 1841 + Dr Andrew Malcolm
- Board of Guardians responsible for running the local warehouse + a 2nd hospital
= Creation of sanitary committee headed by Dr Malcolm in 1848 – to improve conditions in the town
= Empowered to order new sewage systems and order better conditions from landlords - Aftermath, 1849 – Malcolm continued to investigate and produce several reports
= Recommendations were the overcrowding and the need to improve facilities
Discrepancies between Catholics and Protestants in employment
- 1820 – ratio of P:C capital in Belfast trade and industry was 40:1
- End of c19th no C owners of large businesses
- P dominated within industrial spheres, noticeable in Belfast Chamber of Commerce
- C very much the workforce
- C across I migrated to Ulster in search of work – increased population of Ulster
- As a result of the Penal Laws, discriminated C were unskilled so the industrial type of work suited them
- P were employed more as they were more skilled in welding and riveting
- Apprentice system gave jobs to P
- 1843 – Belfast P Operative Association (BPOA) established – protected P workers and their jobs from the increasing number of C interlopers
