Chapter 3: Source and Use of Power

Question 1

Until the late eighteenth century, what were the basic sources of power?

Answer 1

Man, horse, wind, and water.

Question 2

What was the limitation of harnessing water power?

Answer 2

The manufacturer had to build his factory close to the source of power; it wasn’t transferable.

Question 3

What revolutionised every aspect of manufacturing and transportation?

Answer 3

The possibilities of steam power were realised.

Question 4

What did steam power allow?

Answer 4

A massive increase in the volume of goods produced in almost every area of manufacture, and provided the technology to create the means of moving those goods almost anywhere in the country and across the world.

Question 5

Who is often associated with the successful development of the steam engine?

Answer 5

James Watt, although he did not invent the steam engine.

Question 6

Where did Watt’s part in the development of the steam engine lie?

Answer 6

He invented a steam engine with a separate condenser, to cool the steam and make the engine more efficient circumvented defects of earlier attempts and made the concept of steam power commercially viable.

Question 7

What did Watt invent in 1781?

Answer 7

Rotary motion, allowing steam power to be used more effectively, initially in cotton manufacturing, with entire mills able to be driven by steam power. It was an important turning point as the steam engine became predominant in the production and use of industrial power.

Question 8

Who did Watt partner up with?

Answer 8

Matthew Boulton, who financed the enterprise, and made Watt able to build his new steam engine. Their successful partnership brought together business ability and inventiveness to produce a major technical advance, and was a key element in the process of industrialisation.

Question 9

What had Boulton and Watt done by 1800?

Answer 9

They had hundreds of engines in operation in Britain.

Question 10

Where were Boulton and Watt’s steam engines?

Answer 10

Less than a third of these were in the cotton industry- an indication that steam power was revolutionising several other industries. Watt’s steam engines were used extensively in mines, coal mines, ironworks, breweries and distilleries and the engineering of canals.

Question 11

What was the effect of steam power, and according to historian C.P Hill?

Answer 11

Completely altered the old patterns of life, and according to historian C.P Hill “extended the range of man’s economic activities”.

Question 12

What did steam power do in coal mines and ironworks?

Answer 12

Brought cheap and plentiful iron and coal.

Question 13

What did steam power do in the textile industry?

Answer 13

Brought cheap and plentiful clothing

Question 14

What did steam power do in the transport industry?

Answer 14

Its application revolutionised the method, speed and accessibility of transport, and in the nineteenth century, brought about the development of the railway and the development of engineering as a highly skilled industry.

Question 15

What had always been the main source of income and employment in Britain for centuries?

Answer 15

Agriculture, the most traditional form of economic activity.

Question 16

What had happened to the agriculture industry by 1800?

Answer 16

Although there had been a steady increase in the number of people working on the land, in percentage terms it had fallen to less than half of the total labour force. For the first time in Britain, more people were employed in Industry than farming.

Question 17

What was happening to production levels in agriculture?

Answer 17

They were rising, and by 1800, one farm worker on average was producing enough to feed 2.5 people, whereas a century earlier the average was 1.7.

Question 18

Why were the prices of food driven up? What result did this have?

Answer 18

Due to the increased population. The high food prices encouraged farmers to keep up levels of production in order to benefit as much as possible from the higher prices.

Question 19

What was enclosure?

Answer 19

The new system of dividing agricultural land into compact fields closed in by fences, hedges or walls. It replaced the old open field system, where the land was divided into strips. Creating legal property rights to land, where it was previously considered common.

Question 20

What was the result of the enclosure of land?

Answer 20

Resulted in higher crop yields and healthier livestock, and this helps to explain the surge in enclosures at this time. Historians Williams and Ramsden are in no doubt that enclosure of the land ‘quickened the pace of agricultural improvement’.

Question 21

Why was the close-field system (enclosure) of farming more efficient than the open?

Answer 21

With enclosure a system of crop rotation could be developed, ensuring that all the land was under cultivation every year, with a good selection of crops.

Question 22

What improvements were made to agriculture?

Answer 22

Root crops, like turnips, were introduced to provide winter feed for cattle and as a bonus they put goodness back into the soil, which made it rich enough for wheat or corn the following year. Spreading manure further improved soil quality. Experiments in scientific stock-breeding improved the quality of farm animals and produced bigger quantities of meat.

Question 23

How quickly were mechanical improvements introduced to farming?

Answer 23

In spite of the overwhelming production of new machines in the textile and other industries, mechanical improvements came slowly to farming.

Question 24

What mechanical improvements were introduced to farming?

Answer 24

Seed drill, a horse drawn hoe, a lighter-weight plough, but nothing spectacular at this time to revolutionise farming methods.

Question 25

What were the benefits of enclosure?

Answer 25

In terms of the agricultural industry and the population at large, enclosure was an outstanding success. Landowners and farmers who brought up the land and created bigger farms increased overall production and tended to make healthy profits. Growing populations from growing Industrial towns had bnefit of a greater variety of fresh food

Question 26

What were the drawbacks of enclosure of land?

Answer 26

Emphasised inequality in the countryside, as more land was in the hands of fewer people and the once hard-working smallholding class virtually disappeared. This left the social structure of the landowner who rented out his land to several tenant farmers, who employed the landless agricultural labourers for a pitiful wage.

Question 27

What happened to smallholders who sold land?

Answer 27

Not all of them thrived. Some invested their capital in new industrial enterprises with mixed success, but many of them drifted to the northern indistrial centres, where the population was already rising and contributed to a shift in population.

Question 28

What was the work like on tthe new farms?

Answer 28

There was sufficient work, but poor wages led to demoralisation and many people were forced to fall back on poor relief.