ABSTRACT

The line that could be drawn between service and production industries varied from one trade to another and in different decades, for many workers were craftsmen who bought raw material, made a product and then personally sold it to the customer, for example, the saddler, blacksmith or cabinet-maker. Further down the craft scale were such men as shoemakers, with products that ranged from the high fashion, individually made, to the cheapest footwear, and this latter group were, like watchmakers and textile workers, to find their livelihood threatened as machine techniques replaced hand skills. Essentially, however, production industries included those who worked in leather, metal and textiles, as well as the building trades and agriculture, some of these localized, others virtually universal.