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Secondary sourceBook1835

The Philosophy of Manufactures

Andrew Ure · 1835

An 1835 treatise by Andrew Ure that credits Arkwright with creating the discipline of the modern factory system.

Ure's treatise credits Arkwright specifically with imposing the discipline of factory work on his labourers.

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Cover of a book with brown marbled paper boards showing dark blue, black, and yellow veining over a mottled tan background, with dark brown cloth spine edges on the left and right and worn corners.
Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures, 1835. British Library.

About this source

What it is

This is a book by Andrew Ure, published in 1835, examining the principles behind factory-based manufacturing. A copy is held by the British Library.

Why it matters

Ure's treatise was highly influential in shaping how the Industrial Revolution was understood. It credited Arkwright above all other inventors with imposing factory discipline on workers, turning scattered hand labour into coordinated, machine-driven production. The book reveals how contemporaries viewed Arkwright's legacy as much about organizing people as about inventing machines.

Look closer

  • Why might a writer in the 1830s focus on discipline rather than just machinery when writing about manufacturing?
  • What does crediting one man with creating a whole system of factory work leave out about the workers themselves?
  • How might this book's praise of factory discipline look different from a worker's point of view?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Richard Arkwright on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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