ABSTRACT
Manufacturing's importance was partly due to the rapid rise of the cotton industry, and by 1830 this was by far the largest manufacturing industry. Cotton and other textiles remained extremely important, but their importance relative to other manufacturing industries was reduced. It is estimated that in 1851 only 25 per cent of industrial workers were in mechanised industries, and a number of these were in mining, which was only mechanised in the sense that steam engines were used for pumping. The development of iron and steel technology also largely involved improvement rather than radical innovation, although cheap steel was a major exception to this. The small size of most British manufacturing firms was reflected in their simple organisational structures. The increased circulation of newspapers facilitated advertising and, hence, the ability to build up brand loyalty for consumer goods, the demand for which was underpinned by growing consumer incomes in the later nineteenth century.
