The British Cotton Industry and the American Civil War

Recently, I watched a programme on television where I learned a lot about a part of our shared history with the United States of America that I had not known. American history was not well taught when I was at school, and my knowledge of America is sadly limited to remembering a mention of tea chests being thrown into the sea…I think…

In this programme I learned about how mass unemployment affected our cotton mills during the American Civil War .This led to my researching further, the links between the UK, the American Civil war and its effects on our cotton industry.

In 1861, a blockade was put on southern ports (the confederate states) as part of the unions (The northern states) plans to win the war. The south was very dependent on trade, and especially so during the war when they needed weapons and other supplies.

One prized currency that the south had was cotton …Referred to as the oil of its time, and in particular Britain’s dependence on it. One sixth of British population worked in the mills. The blockade was therefore a huge blow to the British cotton industry.

The cotton planters of the south tried to take advantage of this and placed an embargo on the cotton, hoping that Britain would be so desperate for cotton for the mills that although officially neutral in the war, Britain would support the confederate states. However, this was not so, for to support the confederacy would have meant war with the United States. In spite of the difficulty in obtaining American cotton, the British textile industry continued to do well, though due to the shortage of raw cotton, there was mass unemployment in the mills.

The reason for this apparent contradiction was that the British textile industry actually had good stockpiles of raw cotton.

The crops of 1859/60 had been good and we were beginning to import cotton from other places such as India and Egypt. Already showing perhaps a tendency to go for the cheaper option rather than to respect old trading relations. In spite of the embargo, we still had enough cotton to even be exporting it ourselves. The lack of cotton from America was not affecting our textile industry, although there was mass unemployment in the cotton mills. We were at this time, actually more dependent on the USA for wheat than for cotton.

Britain had also overproduced textiles in the years before the American civil war, and had done so to an extent that far exceeded what people were buying. A lot of textile production was stopped until these stocks were used up, also due to their being less cotton as a result of the union blockade, the price for it rocketed and British cotton mills speculated, holding on to it in the hope of making a good profit  selling at the right time. What happened was that while unemployment soared in the cotton mills, the textile industry did well. .

The confederate states did indeed realise that cotton was their currency for munitions and other supplies such as uniforms, and  ships known as blockade runners were used to get past the union blockade and take cotton to England …A further article will follow about The Civil War and British ship building.

Another reason, mentioned previously as to why the difficulty in getting American cotton did not affect the British textile industry was the ability to source cotton from elsewhere. By 1862 70% of our cotton came from India, so business with India is far from new and related to the rise of Indian call centres!! Egypt developed into one of the largest cotton producers in the world and during the American civil war Brazil doubled its export of cotton…these three countries, although the largest were not the only suppliers of cotton

Further articles to follow in the series…The special relationship…America, the UK and employment will be:

And the looms fell silent ...An account of how the cotton famine resulting from the American civil war affected the mills in the UK, from an economic perspective.

Nowt at the mill…how the mill workers of Lancashire England, were affected by the cotton famine resulting from The American civil war, told from the workers perspective

The history of employment in America

The great American spirit …the story of an entrepreneur

Britain and The American civil war…from a political and economic viewpoint

Abraham Lincoln and his special relationship with British workers

The American civil war and British ship building

Arguments for and against slavery

The history of child labour in the USA and in England

The special relationship..English Americans and business