Historic New Lanark: The Dale and Owen Industrial Community Since 1785 [Paperback]

Donnachie and Hewitt have written a very interesting and well researched study which gives an excellent insight into the ups and downs of the textile industry in Scotland and New Lanark in particular. The study is full of valuable information, pictures the important figures and minor bits and pieces, such as 'Owen's monitor', a sort of early surveillance system to praise the industrious and blame the lazy. Modern trade unions would take a very dim view of this. In addition we find copies of documents, graphs and tables, which cover the whole field of the factory system with all its nasty and inhuman sides. The extensive appendix and the bibliography round up the picture and make the volume an important source for research, in case there remains anything else to be said. -- Joachim Schwend Scottish Review of Books The authors are to be congratulated on producing a readable and scholarly account of the development of New Lanark from factory community to World Heritage village. The nine chapters are weighted significantly towards discussion of the period 1785-1825, the time of foundation and evolution under David Dale and Robert Owen. The Walkers and their era, 1825-81, are treated in one chapter, and the Birkmyres and the Gourock Ropework Co, who owned the village between 1881-1968, in another. The gallant tale of restoration is admirably told. Handsomely illustrated, the volume is a credit to the publishers. Anyone intending to visit New Lanark should obtain a copy of this very useful book. -- John Butt History: The Journal of the Historical Association Although the authors state this is not an official history of New Lanark and its restoration, they have produced a comprehensive account of this important development. The book gives a very clear account of life in the mills, the processes of production, and conditions faced by both workers and employers. Any student seeking to understand how land, capital and labour were brought together in the industrial revolution will find this a first rate study. -- Chris Davey Scottish Local History Donnachie and Hewitt have written a very interesting and well researched study which gives an excellent insight into the ups and downs of the textile industry in Scotland and New Lanark in particular. The study is full of valuable information, pictures the important figures and minor bits and pieces, such as 'Owen's monitor', a sort of early surveillance system to praise the industrious and blame the lazy. Modern trade unions would take a very dim view of this. In addition we find copies of documents, graphs and tables, which cover the whole field of the factory system with all its nasty and inhuman sides. The extensive appendix and the bibliography round up the picture and make the volume an important source for research, in case there remains anything else to be said. The authors are to be congratulated on producing a readable and scholarly account of the development of New Lanark from factory community to World Heritage village. The nine chapters are weighted significantly towards discussion of the period 1785-1825, the time of foundation and evolution under David Dale and Robert Owen. The Walkers and their era, 1825-81, are treated in one chapter, and the Birkmyres and the Gourock Ropework Co, who owned the village between 1881-1968, in another. The gallant tale of restoration is admirably told. Handsomely illustrated, the volume is a credit to the publishers. Anyone intending to visit New Lanark should obtain a copy of this very useful book. Although the authors state this is not an official history of New Lanark and its restoration, they have produced a comprehensive account of this important development. The book gives a very clear account of life in the mills, the processes of production, and conditions faced by both workers and employers. Any student seeking to understand how land, capital and labour were brought together in the industrial revolution will find this a first rate study.

New Lanark, the former cotton spinning village, is known as the pioneer of technological and social change in the Industrial Revolution. This book traces the community's history from its conception as a centre of mass production in 1785 to its present day standing as a World Heritage Site. Beginning with New Lanark's early development under its creator, the banker and textile entrepreneur, David Dale (1739-1806), the text looks at the social conditions of the mainly migrant workforce recruited to the village, and especially at the use of child labour from the cities. Detailing Robert Owen's social and educational experiments at New Lanark (1813-1825), it describes how the community became a showpiece around the world for his "New System" of society. After Owen's departure for New Harmony in Indiana, the book charts the relative decline of the mills under a succession of owners.