British Imperialism and its Legacies: Imported Cotton

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Glasgow Museums has a collection of over 3,000 items, predominately in the European Dress and Textiles and Glasgow History collections, made of imported cotton or related to the transportation, and processing, of imported cotton.

Cotton is a natural yarn spun from the fibres attached to the seeds of the cotton plant Gossypium. Native to tropical and sub-tropical areas it was originally imported from Egypt and India, especially Bengal. However, the early years of the Industrial Revolution saw the mass production of processed cotton as a result of inventions such as the flying shuttle by John Kay (1704–80/81) in 1733, the spinning jenny by James Hargreaves (baptised 1721–78) in 1764, spinning frame machines by Richard Arkwright (1732–92) in 1768–69 and the power loom by Edward Cartwright (1743–1823) in 1784. As a result, cotton became one of the staple crops grown in British colonies in the Caribbean and Americas, where it was cultivated on plantations that used enslaved labour. The first major shipment from the Carolinas arrived in London in 1763 and over the following 100 years raw cotton became one of the major imports to Britain. In 1775, 503 bags of cotton from enslaved-labour plantations in the West Indies were imported into ports along the Clyde. In Glasgow the cotton was unloaded at the Kingston Docks. By 1805 that had grown to 40–50,000 bags of cotton.

This raw cotton was processed and spun into threads and yarns in cotton mills, with the first established in Scotland in 1774 at Penicuik, Midlothian. Crum & Co. established their mill in Gallowgate, Glasgow, in 1779, Woodside Mill, Glasgow, followed in 1784 and David Dale's New Lanark was founded in 1784. By 1837 there were 134 cotton mills operating in Scotland, the vast majority within a 15-mile radius of Glasgow, where the damp climate aided production. Many of these were large enterprises, such as John Monteith’s in Pollokshaws, Glasgow, which by 1803 had 200 spinning frames, and Henry Houldsworth & Sons, which in 1831 was the second largest cotton spinner in Glasgow.

The industry prospered until the American Civil War of 1861–64 when the Union blockaded goods to and from the southern Confederate States of America, including cotton exported from the plantations. While the cotton industry in Lancashire was drastically affected, the Scottish industry was less so due to the blockade runners who continued to bring in some supplies of cotton.

Once spun into yarns and threads, most of this imported cotton was then passed to Scottish manufacturers, such as Brown, Sharp and Co., Paisley, to weave into cotton cloth. Secondary industries, such as the Turkey Red [insert link to Exported Turkey Red Textiles CLD] industry, produced embroidered, tamboured or printed cotton cloth. While some, focused primarily on producing items such as whitework, including Ayrshire work, for the domestic market, many turned their attention to manufacturing cotton goods for the larger export markets, especially those countries colonised by the British Empire.

Broader term

British Imperialism and its Legacies: Imported Textile Fibres and Dyes for Textiles and Dress