The Triumph of Textiles

Industrial Dundee, c. 1700 1918

Christopher A Whatley, Jim Tomlinson

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English

Edinburgh University Press
11 March 2025

Social & cultural history; Industrialisation & industrial history; Material culture; Economic history; Textile industries

A fresh account of the remarkable rise of Dundee as a global industrial city

and the origins of its later demise. The background to jute, the product most closely associated with Dundee, is investigated in unprecedented depth. The role of flax and linen as foundations for the jute industry is emphasised.

The book challenges many perceptions of Dundee. Linen was as important to Dundee before c.1850 as jute was afterwards; the significance of jute pre-1850 has often been exaggerated by historians. Traditionally Dundee's success was attributed to the production of cheap coarse cloth for sacks, bagging etc. Yet many firms manufactured high quality, admiralty grade canvas, and colourful rugs and carpets in imitation of Brussels and other woollen floor coverings.

Design was important. So too were enterprising merchants and manufacturers from the early eighteenth century onwards. Although squalor and industrial and social conflict became the norm after the 1870s, prior to that Dundee was relatively buoyant economically, and greatly admired by visitors including those from as far afield as the US. In short, Dundee was one of Scotland's industrial powerhouses

a fact too often overlooked.

By: Christopher A Whatley, Jim Tomlinson
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399537810
ISBN 10: 1399537814
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 11 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Christopher Whatley is Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee where until recently he was also a Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Jim Tomlinson is Professor in Economic & Social History at the University of Glasgow, and author of Managing the Economy, Managing the People. Narratives of British Economic Life from Beveridge to Brexit (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Reviews for The Triumph of Textiles: Industrial Dundee, c. 1700 1918

Whatley and Tomlinson have pooled their expert knowledge of textile industries and of politics to provide a rigorous new look at industrialisation in Dundee - a city long neglected by most economic historians of Scotland. Linen turns out to have been as important as jute in the making of 'Juteopolis'.--George C. Peden, Emeritus Professor, University of Stirling