Page 77 - BBC History The Story of Science & Technology - 2017 UK

One of a number of
under the 1867 act, artisans reclaimed Watt; steam locomotives
he was as much their figurehead then as he designed by George
had been their employers’ in 1832. Stephenson for use in
collieries, c1814
As the engineer William Fairbairn
remarked in 1836, Watt had “given a freedom
and impetus to the inventive genius of his
country”. From the mid-1820s the status of
inventors improved. Demands for a more
efficient patent system prompted the first
parliamentary inquiry into its operation in
1829, although it was another 23 years before
its statutory reform. The balance of litigation
also swung in patentees’ favour, as the courts
began to sympathise less often with
those who infringed a patent. Promoters
of steam transport also took heart. The
Morning Chronicle (18 August 1824) crowed
that canal proprietors’ attempts to block Steam’s transformative powers would
railway schemes had been doomed from the
moment “the prime minister and his speed commerce, Christianity and
coadjutors” met to celebrate Watt.
civilisation to all corners of the globe
Publishers rushed out books to explain the
technology of steam to a lay audience, often
prefaced by a history of its development and
an encomium on its wealth-creating and trade and mutual understanding, and, in the 1868 dubbing him ‘Lord Bomb’.
civilising powers. In the 1830s, boosted words of Lord Macaulay, “bind together all The choice of subjects for biographies,
further by excitement over railways, steam the branches of the great human family”. group portraits or decorative busts for new
power began to star in less specialised works, This would maintain Britain’s near monopo- buildings now often reflected these opposing
as both critics and celebrants of industrialisa- ly over global trade in manufactures, stances. In William Walker’s imaginary
tion focused on its role. especially since, should there be a ‘family’ gathering of Distinguished Men of Science
Again there was a tendency to exaggerate argument, steam ships and railways would of Great Britain Living in AD 1807/8 (1862),
its importance: water power remained hasten the deployment of troops worldwide. with Watt at its centre, there were some
Britain’s chief source of mechanical energy The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 33 inventors and 7 civil engineers, and only
until the mid-19th century. Yet this didn’t laid bare this unresolved tension in liberal 11 scientists unconnected to any invention.
stop the Board of Trade statistician George values. While refuting the easy assumption In this engraving, begun during the Crimean
Porter declaring that the steam engine and that free trade necessarily entailed global War, military and commercial advances were
cotton machinery had produced “almost peace, the war offered inventors and inextricably linked. The inventions and
magical effects upon the productive energies engineers an opportunity to serve the discoveries of “these gifted men”, declared
of this kingdom” (The Progress of the Nation, military state. For some, the contribution of Walker, “…are the grand Main-Springs of
1836–43). John Wade, a radical journalist, engineers such as William Armstrong and our National Wealth and Enterprise”.
considered Watt’s engine to be “the founda- Joseph Whitworth to the development of The Victorians composed the first grand
tion… for the prodigious advance in wealth more powerful weapons demonstrated narrative of the industrial revolution,
and population which marked the reign of modern society’s dependence on inventors, identifying it with “the rise of manufactures”
George III”, a development of greater who consequently merited greater reward during the reign of George III (1760–1820).
significance than any war or other political and recognition. The author of an article in Whether they saw it as triumph or tragedy, it
event (History of the Middle and Working The Builder, in December 1860, was explicit: was indubitably a quick and dramatic event
Classes, 1833). Whig historians, such as James “When we reflect how powerless the efforts (a ‘revolution’), an exclusively British
McCulloch and Lord Macaulay, whose of the wisest general, or the bravest soldier, phenomenon and the product of new
explanation of Britain’s commercial would be against those modern cannon and technologies (principally steam power and
superiority was grounded in the 1689 Bill of rifled muskets and other means which cotton machinery) invented by a few dozen
Rights, now saw in steam power the principal science has brought into use… it would seem inspired men.
agent through which this constitutional the time has arrived when equal honour Constantly battling this stereotype,
freedom was transmuted into wealth and should be shown to peaceful benefactors of modern historians contend that industriali-
international dominance. the state, with that which has been shown to sation was a more complex and gradual
While Engels warned German readers in the mighty men of the sword.” development, with long roots stretching back
1844 that the steam-powered cotton industry Distinguished men of science into medieval institutions and out through
Europe and beyond, to Asia and European
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS had produced a horrific “industrial revolu- By contrast, the Mechanic’s Magazine urged settlements in the New World. While new
tion” which was threatening political
“that our engineers may, ere long, be
upheaval, most liberal commentators
technology undoubtedly played an impor-
permitted to return to their legitimate
tant role, it too is better understood in a
enjoyed equally high expectations of steam’s
broader context, as the product of society’s
peaceful transformative powers. It would
occupations, and learn the arts of war no
changing needs and wants, rather than as an
speed commerce, Christianity and civilisa-
more” (27 September 1861), while Punch
tion to all corners of the globe, promote free
The Story of Science & Technology regularly sniped at William Armstrong, in independent force for change. 77