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Time: 12 hours
Level: Intermediate
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 Introduction Resource- This unit focuses on the economics of empire, and, in particular, of the British empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. It starts by introducing some of the debates surrounding the economics...
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- 1 Dundee: a case study Resource
- Throughout this unit we will focus on a case study of one town, the city of Dundee in eastern Scotland, and its close connection with jute, a fibre grown in Bengal that was widely used for packaging in...
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| | 2 Introducing the historical debate: industry, empire and gentlemen capitalists
- 2.1 Industry and empire Resource
- That there should be a link between Britain's early industrialisation and the British empire is something that we take for granted, unexamined. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Britain...
- 2.2 The Cain and Hopkins thesis Resource
- In the early 1990s, the debates about the economic dimension to British imperialism were transformed by the work of two economic historians, P. J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins. In two massive volumes (British...
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| | 3 Dundee and the jute industry
- 3.1 Why jute? Why Dundee? Resource
- To British people in 1900 – and for long afterwards – Dundee was associated with one product: jute. Dundee was ‘Juteopolis’ – synonymous with its main industry. This association of place and product was...
- 3.2 Competition from Calcutta Resource
- Now click on Plate 1 below, which charts imports of jute and other fibres. How much does this graph tell us about the development of the Dundee textile industry?
- 3.3 Summary Resource
- This section has looked at the rise of the Dundee jute industry and its subsequent difficulties. Overseas links have been emphasised: the raw material came from India and markets were global. Yet, the...
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| | 4 The organisation of the jute industry
- 4.1 Firms and competition Resource
- So far, we have discussed the jute industry as a whole. But any industry is composed of enterprises. Further insights into Dundee's links to empire can be gained from taking the case study approach a stage...
- 4.2 A high-risk trade Resource
- Why was there so much turnover in the stock of companies? You will recall the peaks and troughs in Plate 1. ‘The Dundee local trade in 1892’ (from the Rachel Gibbons book referred to in the Introduction)...
- 4.3 Harry Walker & Sons Ltd Resource
- Harry Walker & Sons, jute spinners and manufacturers, was founded in 1873 by Harry Walker, after he had split up with his brother (J. & H. Walker is no. 60 in Warden's 1864 list). A modern factory, the...
- 4.4 Summary and implications Resource
- Consider what we have learnt about the structure of the Dundee jute industry. It was composed of many firms, most of them carrying out only one part of the process of buying, transporting, manufacturing...
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- 5.1 Maps and photographs Resource
- So far, the focus has been on the development and the organisation of the jute industry. The next section turns to how Dundee was shaped by the industry, and in particular to a number of contemporary views...
- 5.2 A ‘women's town’ Resource
- Figure 8 and Figure 9 (below) bring out another side of Dundee at the end of the century: its appalling poverty. The following quotation is Wentworth D'Arcy Thomson, appointed professor at Dundee's new...
- 5.3 Summary Resource
- In this section, we have looked at some of the ways contemporaries perceived Dundee. One striking feature is the importance of production in these perceptions. The tourist guide, the photos, and the Dundee...
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- 6 Conclusion Resource
- Before starting on the case study of Dundee, I asked you to keep a note of points where you felt the Cain and Hopkins thesis provided insights or raised questions. I would now like you to reflect on your...
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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