What was the 'putting-out' system of cloth production, and why did factory owners begin to prefer centralised cotton mills over it?
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 14:57 · grounding rag
Model Answer
Putting-out System: Under this system, merchants supplied raw materials (like wool or cotton) to rural households, and the finished cloth was collected and sold by the same merchants. Production was spread across the countryside in village homes.
Why factory owners preferred centralised mills: Richard Arkwright's cotton mill brought all processes under one roof. This allowed:
- Better supervision of the production process
- Stricter quality control
- Easier regulation of labour
All of these had been difficult when production was scattered across the countryside.
Source: Chapter 4, Section 1.1 – The Coming Up of the Factory
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Explanation
- The question has two parts — define the putting-out system AND explain why mills replaced it. Award yourself marks only if you cover both.
- The answer must come from the passage about Arkwright's cotton mill. Key phrase to use: "under one roof and management."
- Do not write about India here — the source passage is specifically about England's early industrialisation.
- Three marks = roughly 3 clear points: definition + 2 reasons for preferring mills (supervision, quality, labour regulation — pick any two clearly stated).