(Update 8th Nov - Conference Programme was available to all ticket holders. Here is a version with the session links reacted)

https://bit.ly/asirc20-programmeB

Episode 1

Arkwright Society Conference coordinator Joan Link explains a little about the event and shares with us the first speaker Professor Maxine Berg.

SHOW NOTES

Professor Berg’s talk will consider the role of slavery from the early monopoly (1672-1698) of the Royal African Company, in which Edward Colston was a director.

She will look at the effects of this earlier period on the dramatic rise in enslavement throughout C18. She will reflect on the financial and commercial underpinnings that this period provided for the British Industrial Revolution, and on Eric Williams’ 1940s analysis that linked the growth of capitalism in C18th Britain to slavery and the slave trade, and the ‘ triangular trade’ between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean.

She will raise the questions for a new generation to return to the contributions to British industrialisation of enslaved peoples and slave-based economies, especially of the Caribbean sugar plantations.

EVENT: Hidden Histories of the Industrial Revolution: Enslaved People and Women

The Arkwright Society joins the Zoom revolution with its first virtual Industrial Revolution Conference on Saturday 7th November.

VENUE: Zoom

TICKETS - bit.ly/asirc20-tickets

PRICES - Standard £20 Premium £30 (INCLUDES A COPY OF THE BOOK OF PAPERS FROM THE 2019 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION CONFERENCE)

Background

The Industrial Revolution Conference has been running for six years with a diverse range of topics and expert speakers.

This year, leading experts on the Industrial Revolution will set out their views about the time when Britain changed in every way. They will talk about the partly ‘hidden histories’ in this context of enslaved peoples and women.

In this episode

Our first keynote speaker, Professor Maxine Berg of Warwick University will look at Slavery and the Wealth of Nations by going back to the Royal African Company in the late 1600s when Edward Colston was a Director. The use of enslaved peoples on the sugar plantations of the West Indies paved the way for the later work of enslaved peoples in the revolution of cotton production.

About Cromford Mills

Built-in 1771 to house the first water-powered cotton spinning mill, the site became the birthplace of the modern factory system. Cromford Mills is internationally recognised as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the ground-breaking ingenuity that was quickly replicated in mills across the world, transforming the global textile industry.

About the Arkwright Society

The Arkwright Society owns and manages Cromford Mills. It is an educational charity devoted to the rescue of industrial heritage buildings and helping to preserve the precious built and natural landscape in and around Cromford.

We have a limited number of places available for journalists who would like to cover the conference, please email Tricia Trice ttrice@arkwrightsociety.org.uk