0:00:05 > 0:00:08In the 150 years from the beginning of the 18th century,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11a revolution transformed the way we think...
0:00:13 > 0:00:14..work...
0:00:15 > 0:00:18..and play, forever.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25This was the Industrial Revolution.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28And it started here, in Britain.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Look at this, this is a really impressive piece,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50massive piece of sea coal
0:00:50 > 0:00:53from the beach at Seaton Carew, in the North East of England.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57And that comes from the North Sea out there,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59from the seams at the bottom.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Britain is very, very fortunate - much of it is on top of this stuff,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and the seams of it are very close
0:01:05 > 0:01:07to the surface and easily worked.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Thanks to that, coal kick-started a revolution in 18th-century Britain,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16a revolution that transformed not only the country,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18but the world itself.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Until then, wood had been the main source of energy in Britain.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28But it was running out, and it was expensive.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33Britain needed a new source of fuel - coal.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37It increasingly became clear that coal was a much more potent
0:01:37 > 0:01:42form of power, providing up to three times more energy than wood.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46For the first time in human history, we began to harness
0:01:46 > 0:01:52the planet's mineral wealth for fuel and power on a massive scale.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59In Britain, coal was abundant and easily mined.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04It could also be dug up near the sea, so ships could carry
0:02:04 > 0:02:09coal cheaply to the most important market - London.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15The demand for coal led to deeper and deeper mines being dug,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17but the problem was that the deeper you went,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20the more likely it was that the mines would flood.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Whoever could produce an effective way to extract this coal
0:02:27 > 0:02:30was going to make a lot of money.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34And it was the desire to get rich which drove many of the great inventors, engineers,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38businessmen and workers who created the Industrial Revolution.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44It motivated practical men, like Devon ironmonger Thomas Newcomen,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47to try to solve the problem of flooding mines.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54In 1712, he designed an engine which could harness
0:02:54 > 0:02:57the power of coal to make steam and drive a water pump.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59And this is it -
0:02:59 > 0:03:03the world's first commercially successful steam engine.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05It did the work of 20 horses
0:03:05 > 0:03:08and pumped water from hundreds of feet below the ground.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12This made it possible to mine more coal,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16drastically altering our use of energy, freeing Britain's
0:03:16 > 0:03:20growing industry and firing the Industrial Revolution and beyond.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29The Industrial Revolution was created by men who saw opportunities to make money.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33One example was James Watt, who redesigned the steam engine
0:03:33 > 0:03:38to make it more efficient, transforming the supply of power to British industry.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Part of the reason Watt was able to develop his invention
0:03:45 > 0:03:49was because of the intellectual climate in Britain in the 18th century.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54There was a prolific exchange of scientific and technological ideas.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Over the previous 100 years, a cascade of scientific breakthroughs
0:04:02 > 0:04:03had swept across the country.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09For example, Sir Isaac Newton was able to explain the force of gravity
0:04:09 > 0:04:11for the first time.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18While Robert Boyle showed that air and gas had physical properties.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24In Britain, scientific ideas were not censored by the government
0:04:24 > 0:04:27or the church, as happened in many European countries.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Britain was a parliamentary monarchy.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35That meant that it was Parliament that passed the laws
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and Parliament that controlled expenditure.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41This helped to ensure political stability,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44political stability in which the rule of law was fundamental.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48And that encouraged the pursuit of scientific breakthroughs,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52as people set up businesses and sought profit.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Political liberty paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Men had the freedom to think up all sorts of practical
0:04:58 > 0:05:01uses for new scientific discoveries.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Across the country, from the prestigious
0:05:05 > 0:05:10Royal Society in London, and in countless provincial coffee houses,
0:05:10 > 0:05:15industrialists and scientists, often from very different backgrounds,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17met to share their ideas and observations.
0:05:19 > 0:05:20In the West Midlands,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24the Lunar Society was set up in the 1760s,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27so named because its members met at the full moon,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31which lit their way home in an era before street lamps.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36All these creative men took advantage of the liberal culture
0:05:36 > 0:05:41that enabled them to think up and try out astonishing new ideas
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and inventions which transformed not just the country, but the world.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51The Industrial Revolution led to the invention of the factory
0:05:51 > 0:05:55and powered a huge growth in industrial towns, completely
0:05:55 > 0:05:59changing Britain's landscape and the way that people lived and worked.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03No longer were men, women and children
0:06:03 > 0:06:06producing goods piecemeal in their homes.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09From now on, they toiled on production lines
0:06:09 > 0:06:11in great cathedrals of labour.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16The lives of workers were transformed for generations to come.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21'Sally Hoban is a historian of the City of Birmingham.'
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I've got here a painting
0:06:24 > 0:06:27of the manufactory works at Soho. Would you describe this
0:06:27 > 0:06:31- as one of the first factories? - Absolutely. It's a large building,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34it would have been a hive of enterprise,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38thousands of workers, men, women and children, working in all those
0:06:38 > 0:06:41different rooms in the factory. And if you can imagine
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the noise and the industry, very much like you can hear
0:06:43 > 0:06:46in the background here, it must have been a fantastic place.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48I would definitely say that Soho was
0:06:48 > 0:06:50one of the very, very first factories in the world.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54We take the factory for granted, but it actually starts
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- in a specific place and a specific period.- It does.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00- Making of the modern world. - The making of the modern world.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Now the great and the good made enlightenment tours.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15Not just to London, Paris and Rome,
0:07:15 > 0:07:16but also to Birmingham.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25They came to see and learn how the town's entrepreneurs
0:07:25 > 0:07:28were producing a wider range of goods,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30more cheaply than ever before.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Mr Harvey sold the finest swords.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Mr Harris boasted of telescopal, or portable toasting forks.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49The famous Mr Taylor
0:07:49 > 0:07:53was using the latest steam-powered machinery to manufacture
0:07:53 > 0:07:57tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl buttons for the leaders of society.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Of all the treasures manufactured here, it's these delicate
0:08:04 > 0:08:07little objects which really capture my imagination.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11In the late-18th century,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Birmingham was most noted for objects such as this,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16that we call Birmingham toys. By that, we don't mean
0:08:16 > 0:08:20the cuddly variety, we mean articles, usually made of metal,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24used for personal adornment, so to be carried about the person.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28This is absolutely exquisite, this little fish here.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31See his reticulated tail? It's really rather wonderful.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33It's called a vinaigrette.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36And how it works, if you were an 18th-century gentleman
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and you were at a business dinner,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42or doing some business outside the home, and you were sitting next to
0:08:42 > 0:08:44somebody that perhaps didn't smell very nice...
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Oh, right, didn't clean their teeth.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Didn't really clean in the 18th century.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52..you'd pull this out of your pocket and, when they weren't looking,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55open up the top. Can you see there's a perforated
0:08:55 > 0:08:58- layer in there?- Oh, yes. - Inside there would have been
0:08:58 > 0:09:01some sponge soaked in orange oil, so you could very carefully...
0:09:01 > 0:09:05have a little sniff and then quickly put the top back on
0:09:05 > 0:09:10and back in your pocket before they noticed.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13And literally, thousands and thousands of those were made.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19In the century from 1700, Birmingham's population exploded,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23turning it from a small metal-working town of 7,000 people
0:09:23 > 0:09:25to a city nine times the size,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29the third largest in the kingdom, after London and Bristol.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32A change fuelled by the transformative power
0:09:32 > 0:09:34of the Industrial Revolution.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40For me, there was one entrepreneur, above all others,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44who understood the opportunities presented by this growing
0:09:44 > 0:09:48consumer market - Josiah Wedgwood.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57He was brought up in a family of potters in North Staffordshire,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00and inherited only £20 from his father.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04But his genius for creating - and then satisfying -
0:10:04 > 0:10:08consumer demand made him one of the richest men in the country.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Wedgwood appreciated that the middle classes could not be
0:10:12 > 0:10:16relied upon to understand that they actually necessarily wanted
0:10:16 > 0:10:20these new-fangled goods being manufactured across Britain.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Therefore, he had to persuade them to buy them,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25indeed, to desire them, in their households.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27And to that end, he became one of the fathers of
0:10:27 > 0:10:31what we today call advertising and marketing.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37For centuries, most families' household goods
0:10:37 > 0:10:42were made by local artisans and bought at local markets.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45By the start of the 18th century,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47shops were beginning to be opened
0:10:47 > 0:10:50in London and other large cities.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54But Wedgwood, working with his marketing guru, Thomas Bentley,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56unveiled a new concept.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02They opened the first purpose-built showroom in London's
0:11:02 > 0:11:05fashionable West End in 1774.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10Wedgwood and Bentley understood that women would be the prime purchasers
0:11:10 > 0:11:12for their ceramic wares.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15To that end, in their showroom in Greek Street in London,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19they had a grand parlour in which the customers would be greeted
0:11:19 > 0:11:21and would meet and chat. And then they would be taken
0:11:21 > 0:11:24round the showroom, to see the great new products
0:11:24 > 0:11:27that were coming through from the factories.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32Wedgwood led the way in the shopping revolution.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37But for true success, Wedgwood realised his pottery needed to be of
0:11:37 > 0:11:42a consistently high standard, and to be known beyond his London showroom.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55His break occurred in 1765,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58when Deborah Chetwynd, lady in waiting to Queen Charlotte,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02and a member of the Staffordshire aristocracy, asked among
0:12:02 > 0:12:05the local potters who could make a tea service for the Queen.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10It involved a new technique, re-binding gold gilt to glaze.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16He believed if he could win the Queen's patronage for his wares,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19then all society would follow.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22So he spent months experimenting with different
0:12:22 > 0:12:25methods of gilding until he was satisfied.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28The Queen ordered a set and it became known as Queen's Ware,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31one of Wedgwood's most successful products.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Wedgwood understood how to appeal to the social aspirations
0:12:37 > 0:12:39of the middle classes.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Now they too could drink tea from the same china as the Queen.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Wedgwood's genius was to understand the power of marketing.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49He was instrumental in dreaming up a wealth
0:12:49 > 0:12:51of groundbreaking techniques and ideas,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53many of which are still used today.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02The consumer demand created by the Industrial Revolution
0:13:02 > 0:13:07presented both a huge opportunity and a problem for manufacturers.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10There was great potential to sell more goods,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12but the terrible state of Britain's roads
0:13:12 > 0:13:16meant that transporting raw materials and finished products
0:13:16 > 0:13:19safely and quickly was virtually impossible.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22In the 16th and 17th century, the road system was very bad.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Parishes were responsible
0:13:24 > 0:13:27for maintaining the highway within their boundaries.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30But the problem was that if you lived in one parish,
0:13:30 > 0:13:35say the parish of Stoke over here, and you knew that your neighbours
0:13:35 > 0:13:37in the next-door parish, the parish of Leek over here,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39just weren't maintaining their roads,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42in fact, that they were a potholed nightmare,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46why should you maintain your road on your side of the boundary?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49All it was going to do was lead to the terrible road on the other side.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53The result was an absolute nightmare for travellers.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00Once again, Parliament was willing to legislate to support trade.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04In 1706, it passed an act which allowed local businessmen
0:14:04 > 0:14:08to build and run permanent turnpike roads.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12In return, they could charge travellers a toll
0:14:12 > 0:14:15for using their road, and some of the money
0:14:15 > 0:14:17would then be spent on maintaining it.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Other Turnpike Acts soon followed.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Nowhere was the need more pressing than in North Staffordshire.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Here, the Potteries would become one of Britain's
0:14:31 > 0:14:33greatest industrial centres.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36But when Wedgwood and his fellow businessmen
0:14:36 > 0:14:37first set up their factories,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41there were no reliable roads to bring in raw materials.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48And mules had to carry fragile ceramics to market in panniers.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53Unsurprisingly, a third of the wares were broken along the way,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55pushing up the price of the surviving pieces.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01In 1763, Josiah Wedgwood brought
0:15:01 > 0:15:04a transport revolution to Staffordshire.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Thwarted by the problems of getting his goods
0:15:07 > 0:15:12to market, he petitioned Parliament to build a turnpike road from
0:15:12 > 0:15:17his potteries at Burslem over there to the Red Bull on the London Road.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22This map shows the route that was proposed, a route that was
0:15:22 > 0:15:24to join the Potteries to the national road network.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30From 1706, the length of turnpike roads
0:15:30 > 0:15:36increased from a mere 300 miles to an incredible 15,000 miles
0:15:36 > 0:15:38just 70 years later.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Improving the roads increased
0:15:41 > 0:15:44the movement of goods and ideas around the country
0:15:44 > 0:15:45and reduced journey times,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47which further stimulated the economy
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and helped drive the Industrial Revolution forward.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century had seen
0:15:56 > 0:16:01unprecedented improvements to Britain's transport network.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05But it was the next great advance in transport technology that
0:16:05 > 0:16:08truly enabled Wedgwood and his ilk to expand.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12The impact is still in the landscape to this day.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16These were the canals, the motorways of the 18th century.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Once again, private entrepreneurs led the way.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Wedgwood had noted that the canal,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27built by James Brindley to bring coal from the Manchester coalfields
0:16:27 > 0:16:31to the River Mersey, reduced its cost by half.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41He thought a canal connecting his potteries in Stoke-on-Trent could
0:16:41 > 0:16:45bring clay from the Mersey and flint for glazes from the River Trent.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Andrew Watts is a canal historian.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59To bring in the sort of materials that one canal barge
0:16:59 > 0:17:01would bring in with one horse and one man
0:17:01 > 0:17:02would have taken at least
0:17:02 > 0:17:05100 pack horses and mules, in the 18th century.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Wedgwood used his great powers of persuasion
0:17:10 > 0:17:14to garner the support of the North Staffordshire MPs and peers
0:17:14 > 0:17:19and sent a petition to Parliament to set up a company to build
0:17:19 > 0:17:21the Trent and Mersey Canal.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23But there was a problem.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26The route of the waterway took it through the rolling hills
0:17:26 > 0:17:28of Staffordshire.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32This difficult terrain demanded that Brindley undertake
0:17:32 > 0:17:36one of the greatest engineering feats of the time.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The digging of the Harecastle Tunnel, north of Stoke-on-Trent.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The tunnel is 2,880 yards, from one end to the other,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52that's well over a mile-and-a-half, getting on for two miles.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Four times longer than the longest tunnel built
0:17:55 > 0:17:57anywhere in the world up to that point.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58And how did they build it?
0:17:58 > 0:18:02They built it by hand, picks, shovels and blasting powder.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Using very basic surveying equipment, they built it straight.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10- How did they get through it?- They didn't have an engine, of course,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13they had to leg through the tunnel. Two men would lie on their backs
0:18:13 > 0:18:15on boards on the boats with their feet
0:18:15 > 0:18:19on the tunnel wall, and they would walk the boat through.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23- Roughly how long would that have taken?- About two hours.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25- Very hard work.- Yeah.
0:18:31 > 0:18:37The Trent and Mersey Canal opened in 1777, five years late.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42But within a few decades, narrow boats were carrying
0:18:42 > 0:18:46over a quarter-of-a-million tonnes of goods annually through the tunnel.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52By greatly reducing the cost of transporting goods
0:18:52 > 0:18:56to and from Stoke-on-Trent, the canal helped the Potteries become
0:18:56 > 0:19:01one of the great ceramic centres of the world, and in the process
0:19:01 > 0:19:06made its shareholders, including Josiah Wedgwood, very rich.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10These canals were built across Britain,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12linking coasts and navigable rivers
0:19:12 > 0:19:16and transforming the profitability of British industry.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24If I had to pick a symbol for the early Industrial Revolution,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28it would be the canal, which dramatically cut the cost of taking
0:19:28 > 0:19:32raw materials to factories and the finished goods on to market.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd