Expatriate British Engineers in the Industrial Revolution

Introduction

Many countries were keen to adopt technology developed in Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution. Buying machinery, or gaining knowledge of designs and techniques, was often not sufficient to make progress, and there was a demand for the direct involvement of experienced engineers and other workers.

For a time, British government policy was firmly against such transfer of technology, discouraging emigration of skilled workers and banning the export of machinery and information. Many British industrialists disagreed with this policy, partly because it limited the market for their products, and partly because other countries would be encouraged to make strenuous efforts to develop their own machinery, and become competitors.

For the present purposes, the period of interest is up to the 1850s.

The list generally excludes people working for British firms on overseas construction contracts. There were very many such workers, particularly during the construction of the early railways.

Engineers and Entrepreneurs

Benjamin Adkins of Rouen - Engineer and millwright

Aitken et Steele of France - steam engines, etc.

Allcard, Buddicom and Co of France - Railway equipment

Michael Alcock (1714-1785) of France

John Baildon Poland (iron and engineering)

Charles Brown (1827-1896) Switzerland

John Cockerill of Belgium

William Cockerill of Belgium

John Collier (France)

Job Dixon of France, Belgium and Holland

James Edward Earnshaw of Germany

Henry Hinde Edwards of Chaillot, France

Hall, Powell and Scott of Rouen

John Hardy of Rouen and Vienna

John Haswell of Austria

John Holker of Rouen

John Levers of Rouen

Manby, Wilson and Co

Aaron Manby France

Charles Manby France

James Martin (France) of Rouen

Samuel Owen of Sweden

William Richards (Hettstedt)

William Richards (1816-1893) Spain - gas industry

Wharton Rye Germany

Thomas Scott (Rouen)

John Steele of Rouen

Sudds, Adkins et Barker of Rouen

Henry Sykes (France) of Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre

Samuel Slater USA - Textile production

Philip Taylor of Marseilles

Thomas Waddington (France) of Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre

William Wilkinson (1744-1808) France - iron production

Daniel Wilson France

Other Workers

It was often the case that merely acquiring a machine or process was of no use to the purchaser, making it necessary to hire skilled operators from Britain or Ireland. Rarely do we know their names, but a notable exception applies to workers employed by a number of textile producers in Norway

Some operatives in the cotton industry who had been temporarily employed overseas gave evidence before the House of Commons Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery in the 1820s. For example, James Lever, a carder, had been encouraged in 1822 to go to the cotton spinning mill of Victor Jolly at St. Quintin (Quentin?) in France, where John Fell from Manchester had been recruited as a manager. There he was paid £2 a week instead of 34s. One of his reasons for returning to England was that he preferred English food to that on offer in France! He mentioned that the contractor for the machinery at Jolly's mill was John Marsden, who had left Manchester about 1819.

William Shoults and John Greenwood were bobbin-net lace makers from Nottingham, and represented themselves and fellow lace-makers in giving evidence to the Committee about the smuggling of lace-making machinery and technology to France. They were concerned about the loss of their business to overseas makers, and gave a great deal of information about the smuggling of information, patent infringement, etc. They referred to a family named Levers who had emigrated to France and set up business at Grancion, near Rouen, and to a man named Derbyshire, who intended to go to France to start making bobbin-net machinery. Other names given were a Mr Barrett, from New Radford, who took machinery to Dunkirk. George Shore went to Lisle (Lille?). Mr Bates from Leicester established a business in Antwerp.

A figure of about 16,000 artisans arriving in France from Britain, and registered in Paris, was given for the two years 1823 and 1823. They were employed in practically all industries, including iron mills and foundries, woollen, cotton, calico-printing, engraving, steam engine and machine factories. Only about 5 or 6 Englishmen were then employed at Chaillot, 'Mr. Edwards does not wish to have Englishmen now, as he can manage the French better.

Various reasons impelled people to seek work overseas, and the push, or pull, continued in the 1840s. Here's one example: 'On Friday, seven mechanics sailed from Sunderland for the continent, in search of employment. Several English artisans, masons, sawyers, &c, have of late, from time to time, emigrated from the Wear for France, with a view to better their condition. What a glorious thing to have a Corn Law to secure marriage portions for the aristocracy, and to drive our best artisans from the country!'. Later, the push would go the other way.....

Some idea of the extent to which British artisans continued to be employed in French textile mills comes from reports of unrest in the 1840s, during the crises in France. One newspaper reported in 1848 that 'There are 2500 English workmen employed in Normandy', and hundreds were being driven out of the flax mills by angry mobs. 'The managers of a large factory at Boulogne have been compelled to dismiss their English workmen, who, with their families, number nearly 700 persons.' Large numbers of people were returning to Britain.

Other Aspects of Technology Transfer

Although beyond the scope of this entry, much has been written about the acquisition of technical know-how, particularly by France, by means of overt and covert intelligence gathering. The sources provide fascinating information, and often include the names of expatriate workers. .

An excellent account of early technology transfer, with particular reference to John Holker, was written by J. R. Harris. Aspects that come across clearly include the relatively primitive nature of many aspects of French industry in the mid-18th century, and the extent to which Holker, for example, though his web of contacts in Britain, was able to effect improvements in a broad range of facets of textile and machinery production. Another insight from Holker, in the context of importing British expertise, is 'that it is no small matter to find [a dyer] who would suit; men of talent and good behaviour do not readily agree to leave their country .... it is not possible to find a dyer who can make himself understood when he gets to France, and sometimes [the employers] to whom one entrusts this kind of worker [abandon them] when they have got hold of their secret and can manage without them.'

See Also

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