Страница 61 из 87
Chapter 14
The Making of Modern Scotland (1832–1918)
In This Chapter
Seeing the spectacular growth of industry
Recognising the social consequences of industrialisation
Watching the continuation of the Highland Clearances
Looking at the evolving political system
Understanding the growth of empire
Seeing the effects of the First World War
The years from 1832 to 1918 witnessed the modernisation of Scotland. During the Victorian period, Scotland evolved from a country whose wealth was drawn from textiles and agriculture into an industrial powerhouse at the centre of the British Empire. The sweeping changes in the economy were accompanied by urban growth on an equally spectacular level.
These changes combined to create one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but this change was achieved at tremendous human cost. Social life in 19th-century Scotland was nothing short of miserable. The need to address social problems raised the issue of parliamentary reform; only by extending the vote to the excluded working class could its interests be represented in the corridors of power.
By the outbreak of the First World War, Scotland had been transformed into a recognisably modern country – industrialised, urbanised and part of a mass democracy – capable of fighting a total war with the rest of the UK and its allies against Germany.
The Victorian Economic Miracle
In the 18th century (and even up to 1830), Scotland lagged far behind England economically. But well before the end of the 19th century, Scotland caught up and even surpassed its southern neighbour in certain areas of production. This is why historians have labelled the achievement in this period the ‘Victorian economic miracle’.
The origins of the miracle lay in one important invention – James Beaumont Neilson’s hot-blast furnace of 1828. This furnace cheapened the cost of producing iron so much that costs in Scotland were lower than in the rest of Europe. Because iron was so cheap, it was used more. And on the back of this invention emerged the jewel in the country’s industrial crown – iron shipbuilding. Clydeside, previously a minor centre of shipbuilding, became dominant in Britain and the rest of the world.
The cheapness of iron production wasn’t the only thing that spurred the development of shipbuilding. There were a few other factors to consider:
Skill:
There were large numbers of workers skilled in metal working that shipbuilders could draw on, and their wages were lower than in England.
Science:
There were close links between industry and Scotland’s universities, which gave the Scots an advantage in marine engineering.
Energy:
Scotland had large reserves of cheap, accessible coal.
It wasn’t only in shipbuilding that the Scots were world leaders in. They excelled in lesser-known industries such as sugar crushing and refinery machinery, with 80 per cent of world production of these machines produced in Glasgow.
The 19th century was the great age of the steam railway, and the Scots made a major contribution. From 1870, Glasgow and its satellite towns dominated engine making, not just in Britain but in the British Empire as well. More than half of the 7,024 locomotives ru
Although cotton had laid the basis of industrialisation by the middle of the 19th century, it was in decline due to fierce competition from Lancashire. But its demise saw Scotland take the lead in the world production of jute and sewing thread. The largest jute factory in the world – the Cox Brothers’ Camperdown Works – was in Dundee and employed 5,000 people. The thread industry of Paisley grew spectacularly after the invention of the sewing machine. The world demand for sewing thread was so great that J.P. Coats of Paisley became Britain’s first multinational, with branches throughout the world; it was ranked the fifth largest company in the world.
The rewards of industry
Wages grew relative to English earnings after 1830. By the end of the century, Scotland had caught up with other cities in the UK (with the exception of London). Even the formerly very poorly paid agricultural workers of Ross and Cromarty were paid more than similar workers in Dorset and Suffolk. In spite of this, poverty and bad housing remained a feature of Scottish life and were reflected in emigration statistics.
Profits also grew and can be measured in the growth of overseas investment from Scotland. In 1870, £60 million left Scotland; in 1900, it was £300 million; in 1914, £500 million. Between 1870 and 1914, one-eighth of British foreign investment came from Scotland, with most of it going to North America, Australasia and Asia.
Slowing down
Sometimes appearances can be deceptive. On the face of it, the Scottish economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was booming. A few statistics bear this out:
Coal production grew from 22 million tons in 1870 to 42 million in 1913.
Shipbuilding output on the Clyde was 756,000 tons in 1913, more than that produced by either the United States or Germany.
But in spite of appearances to the contrary there were signs that the Victorian economic miracle had run its course and the economy was begi
One indication that something was wrong was the emigration figures. Some 282,000 people left Scotland in the first decade of the 20th century, which was roughly equivalent to over half the natural increase in the Scottish population. Many of these emigrants were skilled workers from urban areas who obviously thought that prospects looked better elsewhere.
After the 1830s, the process of transforming a backward rural society was completed. Scotland became part and parcel of the ‘workshop of the world’ – indeed, part of the largest global economy the world had even seen. Yet within half a century, there were signs that the boom was over.
Living in the City
The growth of industry encouraged a simultaneous increase in the numbers of people living in cities and towns. Scotland moved from fourth in the world league of urbanised countries in 1800 to second (behind England and Wales) in 1851. By 1900, Scotland was 50 per cent urbanised (on the basis of a town being 20,000 or more inhabitants), which was 10 per cent less than England and Wales but a lot more than France or Germany.
The pattern of urban growth was similar to what happened south of the border, but there were important differences. A larger proportion of the population in England and Wales remained in smaller urban settlements, while in Scotland the cities dominated to a much greater extent. By 1871, around one in five Scots lived in the four main cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee); 40 years later, it was one in three. However, Scotland had no metropolitan centre comparable to London. Glasgow was the largest, but as late as 1911 it was only two and half times bigger than Edinburgh, whereas London was nearly six times larger.
Why did cities grow? Two reasons:
Migration:
People came to Scottish cities, particularly from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.
Legislation:
Boundary changes in 1846, 1891 and 1912 increased the size of Glasgow from 1,767 acres to 12,686.
Each of the main cities had its own distinctive economic and social structures. Glasgow was industrial, with 70 per cent of males and 65 per cent of females working in industry, as was Dundee. However, there was a major difference: after getting married, women in Glasgow left work and entered the home, while in Dundee a large proportion of married female workers found employment in the jute industry.
Although both cities could be described as industrial and working class, the same could not be said about Aberdeen and Edinburgh. They contained a number of industries within their boundaries – in Aberdeen the granite industry, and in Edinburgh extensive brewing concerns – but they were more middle class than other cities and towns in Scotland. They provided services – legal, medical, financial and retail – not only for their own inhabitants but also for the surrounding areas. Reflecting its middle-class status, Edinburgh had more domestic servants than any other city or town in Scotland.
Figure 14-1 shows a map of modern Scotland by county.
Figure 14-1:
Modern Scotland by county.
Squalor and overcrowding
The economic miracle and the unpla
In the very centre of the city there is an accumulated mass of squalid wretchedness which is probably unequalled in any other town in the British dominions.
According to the Census of 1861, more than 1,500 single-room homes in Edinburgh were occupied by 6 to 15 persons. (A room was measured as 4.3 meters by 3.4 meters [14 feet by 11 feet].) In Dundee in 1861, 92,000 inhabitants had only five toilets between them, and three of them were in hotels!
The problem was that overcrowding still existed 50 years after the 1861 Census; over half the population of Scotland was living in one- or two-room houses, compared to only 7 per cent in England. To make matters worse, most people had to share a toilet and had no bathing or showering facilities. Why were things so bad north of the border?
Fueing
(an a
Various reforms were introduced, but they never solved the problems. One example was ticketing, which tried to regulate the number of people living in slum housing. A metal ticket was fixed to the door of the property stating the maximum number of people allowed to inhabit the house. Although well-meaning, the tenants of these ticketed properties were subject to a level of interference and control unthinkable now. Midnight raids were carried out by police and sanitary inspectors to enforce the system. But it was all to no avail because the raids were constantly frustrated by warnings passed from close to close (building to building, or tenement to tenement).