Design, Technology and Communication in the British Empire, 1830–1914

137 Pages·2016·6.06 MB·English

by  Annie Tindley, Andrew Wodehouse (auth.)

Design, Technology
and Communication in the British
–
Empire, 1830 1914
AnnieTindley(cid:129)AndrewWodehouse
Design, Technology
and Communication
in the British
–
Empire, 1830 1914
AnnieTindley AndrewWodehouse
SchoolofHistory,Classics& DepartmentofDesign,Manufacture
Archaelogy,NewcastleUniversity andEngineeringManagement,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UniversityofStrathclyde
UnitedKingdom Glasgow,UnitedKingdom
ISBN978-1-137-59797-7 ISBN978-1-137-59798-4(eBook)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59798-4
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016956243
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For Colin
For Lorna,Ruby and Archie
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TheauthorswouldliketogratefullyacknowledgetheAHRCforfunding
theresearchthatledtothisbook,undergrantreferenceAH/L010550/1,
‘DesignandinnovationintheBritishEmpire:ahistoricalconsiderationof
the innovation ecosystem’. As part of that grant, we were able to work
with Dr. Carolyn Anderson and Dr. Ben Thomas, whose excellent and
insightfulwork asresearch assistantshelped usimmeasurably.
We would also like to thank the following archives and libraries:
Birmingham City Library; British Library, London; Mitchell Library,
Glasgow; Museum of English Rural Life, Reading; National Library of
Scotland,Edinburgh;NationalRailwayMuseumArchives,York;Teesside
Archives, Middlesbrough;andUniversity of GlasgowArchive Service.
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction:Designingthe Empire 1
2 AcquiringMarkets– TheOpportunities of Empire 15
3 DefiningSpecifications –The Requirements ofEmpire 41
4 ConceptualDevelopment –The EmbodiedEmpire 63
5 RealisingProduction–The Tools of Empire 87
6 Conclusion: AnEmpireConnected? 107
SelectBibliography 115
Index 125
ix
L F
IST OF IGURES
Fig.2.1 ReproductionfromtheWolseleyJubileeCatalogueof1927 21
Fig.2.2 TheSutherlandsteamplough,withthe3rddukeatthehelm 24
Fig.3.1 EngineNo.7fortheDarjeelingHimalayanrailway,with
technicalspecifications 45
Fig.3.2 BridgeacrosstheNilefromtheislandofRodahtoGhizeh,
designedbySirWilliamArrolandCo.,1909 49
Fig.4.1 Exampleofengineer’snotebookdetailingpistonarrangement 67
Fig.4.2 Elementofsteamenginewithstrawfeedingmechanismby
Ransomes,Sims&JefferiesLtd 69
Fig.4.3 ChenabroadsteamerbuiltbyRansomes,SimsandJefferies
Ltd 73
Fig.5.1 RivetingmachineandcagefortheForthRailBridgebySir
WilliamArrol&Co 91
Fig.5.2 Eleven-rollersugarcanemillbyA.&W.Smith&Co.,
Glasgow 95
Fig.5.3 Productionrecordsforacast-ironrollerproducedbySmith
Mirrlees 96
xi
CHAPTER1
Introduction: Designing the Empire
Abstract This introduction outlines our key concern with the role of
design in facilitating communication and applying industrial technology
to culturally diverse imperial locations between c. 1830 and 1914. It
surveys the relevant imperial contexts and presents a literature review
encompassing the key themes in designand engineering, imperialhistory
and business history. It also describes the research framework and ques-
tions addressed in the book, consisting of four stages of design commu-
nication: identification, specification, conceptualisation and production.
To illustrate the workings of the framework we outline six primary case
study industrial technologies: railways, steam ploughs, sheep shears,
bridges,sugar production androadsteamers.
Keywords Designprocess(cid:1)Researchframework(cid:1)Industrialtechnology(cid:1)
Inter-imperial communication(cid:1) Colonial knowledge
The locomotive was a symbol of design that reached the most remote
cornersoftheBritishEmpire:anengineeringmarvelofascaleandcomplex-
itystaggeringtothoseunfamiliarwithsuchmachines.Heavingthroughthe
colonialbush,itcouldinduce‘stampedesofthenatives,’withablowofits
whistle, and served as a reminder of Britain’s power as much as solving
logisticalissues.1Successfulandsustainableadaptationoftechnology,how-
ever,meantadeepunderstandingofcolonialconditionswascrucial.What
©TheAuthor(s)2016 1
A.Tindley,A.Wodehouse,Design,TechnologyandCommunication
intheBritishEmpire,1830–1914,
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59798-4_1
2 DESIGN,TECHNOLOGYANDCOMMUNICATIONINTHEBRITISHEMPIRE...
commercialfactors influenced thechosenroute?How wasthe lineplotted
andtheenginespecifiedtocopewiththelocalenvironment?Whocollabo-
ratedtomanufactureandassemblethelocomotiveitself?Andwhatrelation-
shipsformedintheinstallationandoperationofthisnewmodeoftransport?
Thestoriesbehindnotjustlocomotivesbutmanyoftheiconictechnologies
oftheindustrialrevolutionareboundupintheprocessoftheirrealisation–
theirdesigninthebroadestsenseoftheword.
Infocusingontheintenselycollaborativenatureofdesign,weexamine
the multifarious links formed in supporting the industrialisation of
Britain’s empire and uncover the motivations, dynamics and legacies of
thoseworkingwithinitsstructures.Therehasbeenbroadhistoricaldebate
onthenatureofimperiallinkages,withnetworks,bridgeheads,nodesand
webs among the proposed structures and definitions put forward. The
long-standing discussion around, firstly, the diffusion, and latterly, the
transfer of technology, has contributed a great deal to this wider debate
and has built a postcolonial historiographical position that decentres
Europe and emphasises instead the circularity of imperial connections.
Design, Technology and Communication seeks to add to this debate by
focusingnotonthetechnologiesthemselves,butontheirexploitationand
thewaythedesignprocessactedasaconduitforcommunicationbetween,
acrossand withinBritain andtheempire.
Our central research question interrogates the role of design in com-
municating and applying industrial technologies to culturally diverse
imperial locations between c. 1830 and the First World War. Rather
than examining the impacts of the technologies – particularly revolution-
arytechnologiesandtheirmultipleincarnations,suchassteampower–we
focus on incremental and adaptive design developments, which account
forthemajorityofinnovativeactivityinthisperiod.Throughtheprocesses
of identification, specification and application to and for new environ-
ments,wearguethatdesignactedasaconduitforintra-imperialcommu-
nication in the long nineteenth century, that is, as a form of
communication within and across the different internal British contexts
and the myriad, expanding imperial contexts. We examine not only the
adaptation of industrial technologies for specific purposes but also the
practical communication and links that emerged as necessities of their
realisation.2 Design, Technology and Communication utilises detailed
archival case studies to explore the mechanics of collaboration and poses
two fundamental questions: what was the nature of design in the British
Empire with regard to location, stakeholders, motivation and format?