ABSTRACT
The Industrial Revolution was the third breakthrough in world history in which the British participated. The other breakthroughs were representative government and the scientific revolution. Many scholars have proposed plausible theories to explain the first Industrial Revolution, but all these theories have proved disappointing. The first Industrial Revolution was not driven by overseas commerce, as Floud and McCloskey discovered. Blacksmiths did not build the new machines of the Industrial Revolution. It should not be thought that the Industrial Revolution brought about 'mass production' as it is understood today. Machine parts were not interchangeable, for precision machine tools for making them did not exist before 1850. Those who profited most from the first Industrial Revolution were members of established trading families. Such families had the advantage of accumulated capital and business skill. In the first half of the nineteenth century modern science began to influence technological innovation. The telegraph was one of its early contributions.
