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Scottish, Irish, and imperial connections: Parliament, the three kingdoms, and the mechanization of cotton spinning in eighteenth‐century Britain1

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  • TREVOR GRIFFITHS
  • PHILIP HUNT
  • PATRICK O’BRIEN

Abstract

This paper offers a new perspective on the emergence of machinery in the cotton spinning trade during the third quarter of the eighteenth century. It does so by examining the interplay between economic, political, and national interests within the early Hanoverian state. Changes in trading relationships between textile producers across the three kingdoms of England/Wales, Ireland, and Scotland created escalating supply‐side problems, which, by the 1760s, would precipitate a quest for solutions based on new technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Trevor Griffiths & Philip Hunt & Patrick O’Brien, 2008. "Scottish, Irish, and imperial connections: Parliament, the three kingdoms, and the mechanization of cotton spinning in eighteenth‐century Britain1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 61(3), pages 625-650, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:61:y:2008:i:3:p:625-650
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00414.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. N. F. R. Crafts & C. K. Harley, 1992. "Output growth and the British industrial revolution: a restatement of the Crafts-Harley view," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 45(4), pages 703-730, November.
    2. Griffiths, Trevor & Hunt, Philip A. & O'Brien, Patrick K., 1992. "Inventive Activity in the British Textile Industry, 1700–1800," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 881-906, December.
    3. Maxine Berg, 2002. "From imitation to invention: creating commodities in eighteenth-century Britain[I am grate]," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 55(1), pages 1-30, February.
    4. Maxine Berg & Pat Hudson, 1992. "Rehabilitating the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 45(1), pages 24-50, February.
    5. C. Knick Harley, 1998. "Cotton Textile Prices and the Industrial Revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 51(1), pages 49-83, February.
    6. Temin, Peter, 1997. "Two Views of the British Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 63-82, March.
    7. Landes, David S., 1986. "What Do Bosses Really Do?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(3), pages 585-623, September.
    8. Williamson, Oliver E., 1980. "The organization of work a comparative institutional assessment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 5-38, March.
    9. Daunton, M. J., 1995. "Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700-1850," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198222811.
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    1. The Calico Acts: Was British cotton made possible by infant industry protection from Indian competition?
      by pseudoerasmus in Pseudoerasmus on 2017-01-05 11:01:14

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    Cited by:

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