Why Industrialists Preferred Hand Labour
In Victorian Britain there was no shortage of human labour. Poor peasants and vagrants moved to the cities in large numbers looking for work. When there is plenty of labour, wages are low, so industrialists had no problem of labour shortage or high wage costs — and they did not want to introduce machines that got rid of human labour and required large capital investment.
In many industries the demand for labour was seasonal. Gas works and breweries were busy in the cold months; book-binders and printers needed extra hands before Christmas; at the waterfront, ships were repaired in winter. In such industries, industrialists preferred hand labour, employing workers only for the season.
Handmade Goods and Skill
A range of products could be produced only with hand labour. Machines produced uniform, standardised goods for a mass market, but the market often demanded goods with intricate designs and specific shapes. In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, for instance, 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes were produced — these required human skill, not mechanical technology.
In Victorian Britain, the upper classes — the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie — preferred handmade goods, which came to symbolise refinement and class; they were better finished and carefully designed. Machine-made goods were for export to the colonies. (In countries with a labour shortage, such as nineteenth-century America, industrialists were keen to use machines instead.)
The Hard Life of the Workers
The abundance of labour affected the lives of workers. Getting a job often depended on networks of friendship and kinship — those without connections waited weeks, sleeping under bridges or in Night Refuges and Casual Wards run by the Poor Law authorities. The seasonality of work meant long periods of unemployment.
Though wages rose somewhat in the early nineteenth century, this tells us little about welfare: during the Napoleonic War, rising prices meant the real value of wages fell. About 10 per cent of the urban population were extremely poor even in good times, and in slumps like the 1830s unemployment rose to 35–75 per cent. The fear of unemployment made workers hostile to new machines: when the Spinning Jenny (devised by James Hargreaves in 1764) was introduced, women who survived on hand spinning attacked the machines.
Questions and Answers
Q1. Why did industrialists in Victorian Britain often prefer hand labour to machines? Ans. Because there was no shortage of labour and wages were low, so there was no need to buy expensive machines that required large capital. Also, much demand was seasonal and for specialised, hand-made goods, so hand labour suited these needs.
Q2. Why did the upper classes in Britain prefer handmade goods? Ans. Handmade goods symbolised refinement and class — they were better finished, individually produced and carefully designed. Machine-made goods, being standardised, were mainly exported to the colonies.
Questions and Answers (continued)
Q3. Why did women workers in Britain attack the Spinning Jenny? Ans. The Spinning Jenny (invented by James Hargreaves in 1764) allowed one worker to spin many threads at once, reducing the demand for labour. Women who survived on hand spinning feared unemployment, so they attacked the new machines.
Q4. Describe the hard life of workers in industrial Britain. Ans. With plenty of labour, jobs were hard to get and depended on personal networks; the jobless slept in Night Refuges and Casual Wards. Work was seasonal, wages could fall in real value (as during the Napoleonic War), and in slumps unemployment reached 35–75 per cent.