The Scottish Masters, 1780-1914

What is it about?

This is a study of the Scottish Cotton Masters, a business elite who played an important role in the early industrialisation of Scotland. It examines the composition of this elite by a study of their origins, education, family and religious backgrounds, marriage alliances, wealth left at death etc. It questions the Smilesian view of Scottish business elites, by showing that most of the Scottish cotton masters came from a well established mercantile background, many born in the Glasgow area, with fathers who were prosperous Glasgow overseas merchants. Many of the Scottish cotton masters received a good grounding in education, attending schools in the Glasgow area, and spending time as a matriculated student at Glasgow University. After this, they generally received practical training in the cotton industry, in Scotland, England, or, later in the nineteenth century, in Germany, by then the world market leader in the dyeing and finishing trades. The article explores the increasing diversity of the investment portfolios of Scottish cotton masters, as they moved into 'newer' areas of investment more profitable than cotton manufacturing, including coal mining, iron and steel manufacturing, engineering, chemicals, shipbuilding and shipping. This gives some clues for the reasons for the relatively early decline of the Scottish cotton industry, in the face of increasing competition from Lancashire, and from overseas competitors, like Germany, France and the USA.

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Why is it important?

Cotton was Scotland's leading manufacturing industry in the early stages of industrialisation in Scotland. It saw pioneering developments in areas such as the substitution of water power for steam power as the main energy source for the industry, although this was slower in Scotland than in England, and in the early use of gas lighting and central heating in cotton mills. Scotland also pioneered the use of more efficient chemicals in the bleaching, dyeing and finishing processes. Cotton manufacturing was heavily based on slave grown cotton from the British Caribbean and the southern states of the USA. The Scottish cotton industry stimulated the manufacture of bricks and of other building materials ,such as iron used in building cotton mills. It stimulated port expansion, the construction of canals and later railways, Scottish shipping and shipbuilding. It was particularly important in strengthening and creating networks of credit, insurance and finance in overseas markets, that would stand Scotland in good stead in the second phase of industrialisation, based on coal mining, railways, heavy engineering, shipbuilding, shipping chemicals, and so on.

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