Editing Industrial Revolution (section)

====Factories and urbanisation====
[[File:Wyld, William - Manchester from Kersal Moor, with rustic figures and goats - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Cottonopolis]]'', an 1852 portrait of [[Manchester]]'s factory chimneys]]
Industrialisation led to the creation of the [[factory]]. The [[factory system]] contributed to the growth of urban areas as workers migrated into the cities in search of work in the factories. This was clearly illustrated in the mills and associated industries of Manchester, nicknamed "[[Cottonopolis]]", and the world's first industrial city.<ref name="Industrial city">{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp |title=Manchester – the first industrial city |publisher=Entry on Sciencemuseum website |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309184810/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp |archive-date=9 March 2012 }}</ref> Manchester experienced a six-times increase in population between 1771 and 1831. Bradford grew by 50% every ten years between 1811 and 1851, and by 1851 only 50% of its population were born there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/industrial-revolution/life-in-industrial-towns/|title=Life in Industrial Towns|website=History Learning Site|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503015043/https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/industrial-revolution/life-in-industrial-towns/|url-status=live}}</ref>

For much of the 19th century, production was done in small mills which were typically [[List of watermills in the United Kingdom|water-powered]] and built to serve local needs. Later, each factory would have its own steam engine and a chimney to give an efficient draft through its boiler. Some industrialists tried to improve factory and living conditions for their workers. One early reformer was [[Robert Owen]], known for his pioneering efforts in improving conditions for at the [[Robert Owen#Philanthropy in New Lanark (1800)|New Lanark mills]] and often regarded as a key thinker of the [[Utopian socialism|early socialist movement]].

By 1746 an integrated [[brass mill]] was working at [[Warmley]] near [[Bristol]]. Raw material was smelted into brass and turned into pans, pins, wire, and other goods. Housing was provided for workers on site. [[Josiah Wedgwood]] and [[Matthew Boulton]] were other prominent early industrialists who employed the factory system.