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.
Engineers and Entrepreneurs
Benjamin Adkins of Rouen - Engineer and millwright
Allcard, Buddicom and Co of France - Railway equipment
Michael Alcock (1714-1785) of France
Charles Brown (1827-1896) of Switzerland
John Cockerill of Belgium
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 Holker of Rouen
John Levers of Rouen
Aaron Manby France
Charles Manby France
Samuel Owen of Sweden
William Richards (1816-1893) Spain - gas industry
Wharton Rye Germany
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[1]
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.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8].
An excellent account of early technology transfer, with particular reference to John Holker, was written by J. R. Harris[9]. 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
Sources of Information
- ↑ 'British Technology and European Industrialization' by Kristine Bruland, Cambridge University Press, 1989
- ↑ [1] Selection of Reports and Papers of the House of Commons: Vol 17, 1836: 5th Report of the Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery, pp335-340
- ↑ [2] Selection of Reports and Papers of the House of Commons: Vol 17, 1836: 5th Report of the Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery, p.374ff.
- ↑ [3] 'Examples of industrial and military technology transfer in the eighteenth century / Des exemples de transferts techniques industriels et militaires au dix-huitième siècle, by Margaret Bradley, 2e semestre 2010 : Les techniques et la technologie entre la France et la Grande-Bretagne XVIIe-XIXe siècles
- ↑ [4] Selection of Reports and Papers of the House of Commons: Vol 17, 1836: 5th Report of the Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery
- ↑ [5] 'Quelques remarques sur le rôle des Anglais dans la Révolution industrielle en France, particulièrement en Normandie, de 1750 à 1850' J. Vidalenc, Annales de Normandie, 1958, Volume 8 No. 2 pp. 273-290
- ↑ [6] 'Des Aventuriers' by Jean-Pierre Hervieux, 2013
- ↑ [7]Google translation of the Jean-Pierre Hervieux article
- ↑ 'John Holker: a Lancashire Jacobite in French Industry' by J. R. HARRIS, Transactions of the Newcomen Society Vol. 64 , Iss. 1,1992