ABSTRACT
Textile industries of course did not begin in England in the eighteenth century. The woolen industry had existed for five centuries when the revolution in cotton production began in the late eighteenth century. Eighteenth-century export figures for woolens began to be published around mid-century. Before the revolution in cotton at the end of the eighteenth century, the linen industry was important for it provided the middle classes and the well-to-do with the kind of light, moderately expensive, washable clothing which woolens, by their nature, could never be. Statistics exist for the output of the Irish linen industry. For 1770 a parliamentary account provides the value of linen cloth sent to market, by each county. The use of the word 'cotton' by Lewes Roberts in 1641 appears to have been the first mention of that staple in England. There are numerous sources for the figures of cotton wool imports.
