Why was Britain first? The central question of the Caius Termly Forum Lecture is posed by Professor Emma Griffin, who is an historian of the Industrial Revolution.
In her lecture, to be held next month and open to students, staff and Fellows of Gonville & Caius College, the Professor of Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London and President of the Royal Historical Society looks at European exploration, early modern empires & the making of the modern world.
Comparing Great Britain and France as a close neighbour with a similar path provides a way to consider why Britain was the first industrialised nation.
“It's about what happens around the late 18th century where suddenly by the middle of the 19th century Britain is clearly the global leader,” Professor Griffin says.
“The centre of the world economy had never really been in Europe. It had been over in the east towards China and India and latterly in the late Middle Ages Italy started to become the centre of the world economy. Britain was nowhere near.
“But if you go all the way back to the 16th century, the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Britain was already behaving in ways that were really different from other parts of Europe. There's a cultural difference that's established well before the traditional timelines that we have for the Industrial Revolution.”
Professor Griffin points to the world exploration which many European countries did, highlighting Britain’s different motivations.
“Everyone's exploring. But the British are, unusually, exploring with a view to trying to get some natural resources,” she adds.
“By the time we've got to the 18th century, we've found a lot of very useful things like cotton, and we're starting to bring it back and use it in our factories. There's long roots to industrialisation.”
The United States is another source of comparison, albeit with large numbers of British settlers.
She says: “In the late 18th century the United States is basically filled with British settlers. We're a population of eight or nine million and we've got two million British settlers out there – a really substantial chunk of the population has been sent out there.
“There are similarities between what's happening in North America and Britain and differences between what we're doing and what our very close neighbours. A big gulf starts to open between us and other parts of the world that hasn't existed before. It really is a moment in world history that is worth attention.”
Professor Griffin, pictured right, completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, after being an undergraduate at Queen Mary and Masters student at UCL.
“Coming from London to Cambridge was absolutely mind blowing: the resources, the buildings, the history, the libraries, the range of seminars, the concentration of expertise…” she says.
“It was transformative and an incredible opportunity; pivotal in my own life journey.”
:: The Caius Termly Forum is a new lecture series on a subject of intellectual value and interest to those working across the sciences, humanities and social sciences which is inclusive to all, enriching and strengthening our ‘community of scholars’. Full details of the lecture, including how to sign up, are on The Venn (College intranet).
