How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World: 1851 - 1951

The peoples of the British Isles gave to the world the foundations on which modern manufacturing economies are built. This is quite an assertion, but history shows that, in the late eighteenth century, a remarkable combination of factors and circumstances combined to give birth to Britain as the first manufacturing nation. Further factors allowed it to remain top manufacturing dog well into the twentieth century while other countries were busy playing catch up. Through two world wars and the surrounding years, British manufacturing remained strong, albeit while ceding the lead to the United States.

This book seeks to tell the remarkable story of British manufacturing, using the Great Exhibition of 1851 as a prism. Prince Albert and Sir Henry Cole had conceived an idea of bringing together exhibits from manufacturers across the world to show to its many millions of visitors the preeminence of the British. 1851 was not the start, but rather a pause for a bask in glory.

This book traces back from the exhibits in Hyde Park’s Crystal Palace to identify the factors that gave rise to this preeminence, then follows developments up until the Festival of Britain exactly one century later. Steam power and communication by electric telegraph, both British inventions, predated the Exhibition. After it came the sewing machine and bicycle, motor car and airplane, but also electrical power, radio and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries where Britain played a leading part.