The Domestic System
Cottage Industry
•Small homes in Britain that were not large
estates were often referred to as “cottages”.
A cottage was often a single story home,
with a central dwelling area. These cottages
were almost always found in the
countryside or in small villages.
•Throughout British history, the
peasants who lived in these cottages provided England with all
domestically made textiles.
•Most of the domestically produced textiles
were woolen or cotton cloth (the cotton had
to be imported because England’s climate
was not suitable for growing it).
•All of these cottages, together made up the
Domestic System. They produced handmade textiles which were sold to clothiers,
who then created clothes. Up until the
1700s, this was a very functional system
which did not need to be upgraded.
Developments
•New inventions were being created to
speed up the production of thread, yarn and
cloth. Many of these inventions were physically large
machines. They could not fit
in the small living-room of a
cottage, not to mention, most peasants
couldn’t afford to buy them. Eventually,
large buildings would be constructed to accommodate several large machines.
•Additionally, many of the new inventions
needed a source of running water for power.
Few cottages were situated right next to
rivers or streams. The Domestic System had
outlived its usefulness by the late 1700s.
SLMS/10
Advantages/Disadvantages
•The advantages of the Domestic System
were humanitarian in nature. People worked
at home in a decent environment, they set
their own hours, took lunch
and breaks when necessary,
and could look after their children while working.
•The disadvantages of the Domestic System
were primarily economic in nature. The
process of making textiles was both slow
and inefficient. Time was lost as materials
were transported from cottage to cottage
for each stage of textile creation.
•As New World goods were imported to
Britain, and as the Agricultural Revolution
improved nutrition, the population of Britain expanded dramatically. These people
needed clothes, and the Domestic System
needed to be improved or changed to accommodate demand.
The Future?
•With a growing population that needed
feeding and clothing, new methods of production were needed to meet these increased demands.
•This would lead to the creation of new factories, large
and deep coal mines, and
huge ship building ports. It
would also lead to the
growth of industrial cities, along with all the
problems they were to bring.
•The Industrial Revolution began as a revolution in the way textiles were produced,
but it would yield unforeseen changes in
other industries, in society, economics, politics and culture.
Global History
The Domestic System
1. What is a cottage?
Name _____________________________________
6. Why did the Domestic System need to be
changed or upgraded?
2. What was the British cottage industry?
7. Why did the development of new machines spell the end of the Domestic System?
3. What, then, was the Domestic System?
4. What were the advantages of the Domestic System?
8. What new demands were the British facing?
5. What were the disadvantages of the Domestic System?
9. What did these demands lead to? (At least
three impacts)
10. What was the Industrial Revolution?