ABSTRACT
One of the most striking developments to have occurred during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain was the rise of the factory system. Until the closing decades of the eighteenth century the majority of manufactured goods were produced by the domestic or putting out system. At the heart of the domestic system was the cottage workshop where the domestic artisan, often assisted by journeymen, apprentices and family members, used simple tools to perform one or more stages of the manufacturing process. The materials processed might belong to the artisan but they were frequently supplied by a merchant capitalist who paid for the work to be done on a piece rate basis. By 1871, however, the situation had radically changed, for the bulk of manufactured goods was now produced in the factory. This was certainly true for textiles, by far the largest single source of employment, whilst considerable quantities of pottery, hardware and other items of consumption also came from the factory (Usher 1921:362). The control of production had also changed, the role of the domestic artisan being taken over by the manufacturer who now supplied the plant and machinery as well as the materials and directed a factory labour force that might number hundreds of workers.
