INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION
The Victorian Era saw the expansion of the British Empire, and with it, the nation’s industrial, military and financial interests. During this time, Britain produced two thirds of the world’s coal, half of its iron, five sevenths of its steel supply and half of its cotton cloth. This was done more cheaply in Britain than anywhere else. Exports grew from £25.4 million to £76 million between 1809 and 1839. Ten years later they were worth £124.5 million. Major export markets included; Europe, India, Asia and the United States. Before 1840, Britain’s industrial expansion relied on cotton and wool textiles. The improvements to the steam engine, first by James Watt, who patented his steam condenser in 1769, and then Richard Trevithick who invented high pressure steam engines in the early nineteenth century, meant the growing industrialisation and mechanisation of factories, mines, agriculture, transport and most other areas of everyday life.
As factories became established in towns, people moved from rural parts of the country to the growing cities to find work. As towns and cities grew and industrialisation increased, ways of transport and communication became increasingly essential to move goods around the world.
Before the coming of the railways, roads were often poorly kept and difficult to use. The main road in West Dunbartonshire ran from Glasgow Cross to Dumbarton, travelling through the Barns O’Clyde, where Clydebank is now situated. Road traffic consisted of carts, carriages and horse-drawn buses, while stage coaches operated throughout the area, an example is the daily service between Duntocher and Glasgow.
Canal building also had an effect on the area. The Forth and Clyde canal was opened in 1790 and a spur was added from Cart Junction (Whitecrook) towards the Clyde in 1839. Ferries operated up and down the Clyde, a ferry service from Dalmuir to the opposite side of the Clyde (withdrawn in 1870) and six steamers also ran from Broomielaw in Glasgow to Dumbarton.
The first long distance railway line was opened in the first years of Queen Victoria’s reign: London to Birmingham in 1838. By 1845, 2 441 miles of railway had been built, carrying 30 million passengers. The first local railway was built by the North British Railway Company in 1858, running from Glasgow to Dumbarton and Helensburgh, followed by the Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank railway in 1882 to serve the new Clydebank Shipyard. Singer Station was built in 1906 and this served the new factory. Railways were also used inside the factory to transport goods, as they were in the Glassworks in Dumbarton.
Employees could now travel to work cheaply throughout the area.
Communication also improved: the telegraph revolutionised Victorian life. Invented by William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, it became widely used after the first experimental line was set up in 1837. Samuel Morse improved the ease in which messages could be sent with his Morse Code, a system that used electric currents in long and short bursts – dashes and dots. The first permanent transatlantic cable was laid in 1866 and cables very quickly spread around the world. By 1890, all parts of the British Empire, except Fiji, the British Honduras, Tobago, the Falkland Islands, the Turks Islands and New Guinea had telegraph cables Seventy-five percent of the world’s under water lines were owned by the British. A telegram to India would cost four shillings per word, whilst one to Australia would cost 6s9d.
The Post Office after introducing the first stamp, the Penny Black, in 1840, experimented with bicycles in the 1860’s and used steam packets sailing vessels to carry mail abroad. Mail from the Empire was carried back on return journeys.
At the end of Victoria’s reign as Queen Empress, Britain dominated world industry, communication and geography. The industries in West Dunbartonshire contributed to this global dominance and had a huge impact locally, nationally and internationally.
