Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:04:47.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

R & D, Defense, and Spatial Divisions of Labor in Twentieth-Century Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Carol E. Heim
Carol E. Heim
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

New spatial patterns, with areas specializing by function rather than industry, reflect twentieth-century developments in industrial organization, the role of the state, and Britain's system of cities. In the short run, World War II and postwar regional policy increased factory-building and employment in formerly depressed areas. Longer-run effects of both helped concentrate research and development within the South near London and dispersed routinized production to other areas. Organizational links within firms and to government departments, intellectual and commercial contacts in London, and locational preferences of professional and technical workers influenced R & D location.

Type
Papers Presented at the Forty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 1987 , pp. 365 - 378
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Financial assistance from the American Association of University Women and the University of Massachusetts is gratefully acknowledged. The author also thanks Kenneth Flamm, Susan Helper, John Lovering, David Mowery, Martha Olney, William Parker, Merton J. Peck, David Weiman, and participants in the University of Massachusetts Economic History and Economic Development Workshop for helpful discussion and comments on earlier drafts. A longer and more extensively documented version of the paper is available from the author upon request.Google Scholar

1 Massey, Doreen, Spatial Divisions of Labour: Social Structures and the Geography of Production (London, 1984).Google Scholar

2 Buswell, R. J., Easterbrook, R. P., and Morphet, C. S., “Geography, Regions and Research and Development Activity: The Case of the United Kingdom” in Thwaites, A. T. and Oakey, R. P., eds., The Regional Economic Impact of Technological Change (London, 1985), pp. 36–66;Google ScholarMassey, Doreen, “In What Sense a Regional Problem?” Regional Studies, 13 (1979), pp. 233–43;CrossRefGoogle ScholarCrum, R. E. and Gudgin, G., “Non-production Activities in UK Manufacturing Industry,” Commission of the European Communities, Regional Policy Series, no. 3 (Brussels, 1977);Google Scholar and Howells, J.R.L., “The Location of Research and Development: Some Observations and Evidence from Britain,” Regional Studies, 18 (1984), pp. 13–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Heim, Carol E., “Industrial Organization and Regional Development in Interwar Britain,” this Journal, 43 (12 1983), pp. 931–52.Google Scholar

4 Thomas, Mark, “Rearmament and Economic Recovery in the Late 1930s,” Economic History Review, 36 (11 1983), pp. 552–79;CrossRefGoogle ScholarBeck, G. M., A Survey of British Employment and Unemployment (Oxford, 1951), table 43;Google ScholarHornby, William, Factories and Plant (London, 1958), pp. 286–95;Google ScholarPostan, M. M., British War Production (1st edn., 1952; rev. edn., London, 1975), pp. 394–95, 406;Google ScholarLovering, John, “Regional Intervention, Defence Industries, and the Structuring of Space in Britain: The Case of Bristol and South Wales,” Environment and Planning D, 3 (1985), pp. 85–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Hornby, Factories and Plant, pp. 286–87;Google ScholarGolay, J. F., “Development Projects in Britain in the First Half of 1941,” Bulletin of the Oxford University Institute of Statistics, 3 (10 1941), pp. 315–17;CrossRefGoogle ScholarFogarty, M. P., Prospects of the Industrial Areas of Great Britain (London, 1945), pp. 52–61;Google Scholar and Leser, C.E.V., “Changes in Level and Diversity of Employment in Regions of Great Britain, 1939–47,” Economic Journal, 59 (09 1949), pp. 328–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Wartime building data pertain to intentions to build; an average lag of six months to a year must be added to estimate completions. Owing to censorship restrictions the series ends in the second quarter of 1941, but the number of new projects had fallen considerably after June 1940, and the peak of the wartime industrial building program is considered to have been past by the end of 1941. Comparisons with building in the 1930s are based on the Board of Trade's Surveys of Industrial Development covering 1933–1938. Employment data are for employed persons insured against unemployment.

6 Leser, “Changes in Level and Diversity of Employment,” p. 328; cases of Birmingham Small Arms Co. (Modern Records Centre, Coventry, MSS. 19A/1/5/1–115, Minutes of Management Meetings, 8.1.44, 5.2.45, 11.6.45); Percival Aircraft Co. and Vickers Armstrongs (Public Record Office, London [henceforth PRO] CAB 124/656, Cases 795 and 796, 7.1.46); British Overseas Airways Corporation (PRO CAB 124/660, Case 1,441, “Note by Ministry of Civil Aviation,” [n.d.]); Fogarty, Prospects of the Industrial Areas, pp. 69–73; PRO AVIA 15/936, Minutes from Outram to Bruce-Gardner and D.C.C.R.S. (Sir Alan Gordon Smith), 24.1.41 and 1.10.41;Google Scholar and Kohan, C. M., Works and Buildings (London, 1952), p. 320.Google Scholar

7 SirHeath, H. Frank and Hetherington, A. L., Industrial Research and Development in the United Kingdom: A Survey (London, 1946);Google ScholarMowery, David C., “Firm Structure, Government Policy, and the Organization of Industrial Research: Great Britain and the United States, 1900–1950,” Business History Review, 58 (Winter 1984), pp. 504–31;CrossRefGoogle ScholarPollard, Sidney, The Development of the British Economy, 1914–1980 (3rd edn., London, 1983), p. 202;Google ScholarFreeman, C., “Research and Development: A Comparison between British and American Industry,” National Institute Economic Review, 20 (05 1962),Google Scholar table 9, chart 2; PRO CAB 102/640–1, “History of the Development and Production of Radio and Radar,” by K.E.B. Jay and J. D. Scott, part I, para. 4–10 and part II, para. 61, 558; and Reader, W. J., Imperial Chemical Industries: A History. Vol. 2: The First Quarter-Century, 1926–1952 (London, 1975), pp. 352–59.Google Scholar

8 Pollard, Development of the British Economy, pp. 202–3;Google ScholarColeman, D. C., Courtaulds: An Economic and Social History. Vol. 3: Crisis and Change, 1940–1965 (Oxford, 1980), pp. 19–20, also pp. 50–51, 180, 183–84, 295.Google Scholar

9 PRO CAB 124/652–661, B.D.I.(A) case papers, 1944–1948.Google Scholar

10 Thwaites, A. T., “Technological Change, Mobile Plants and Regional Development,” Regional Studies, 12 (1978), pp. 445–61;CrossRefGoogle ScholarBuswell, Easterbrook, and Morphet, “Geography, Regions and Research and Development,” p. 42; Howells, “The Location of Research,” p. 16, 17, 19–20; Crum and Gudgin, “Non-production Activities,” pp. 34–35.Google Scholar The employment figures are for Minimum List Heading 876, Research and Development Services, and include services rendered by consulting R & D establishments, research institutions other than departments of universities, government research establishments other than medical research, atomic energy establishments, trade-sponsored research establishments, and research establishments attached to business classified in other Headings.

11 Lovenng, John, “High Technology Industry and Islands of Prosperity: The Locational Effect of the Military Connection in Britain,” paper presented at Anglo-American Workshop on the Growth and Location of High Technology Industry, Cambridge, Eng., 25–27 June 1986. As Lovering emphasizes, however, in aerospace not all the linked R & D and production complexes are in the South.Google Scholar

12 Saxenian, Annalee, “The Urban Contradictions of Silicon Valley: Regional Growth and the Restructuring of the Semiconductor Industry,” in Sawers, Larry and Tabb, William K., eds., Sunbelt/Snowbelt: Urban Development and Regional Restructuring (Oxford, 1984), pp. 163–97.Google Scholar

13 Directory evidence compiled from section 8, “Industrial Research Laboratories,” pp. 501–37, in Andrade, E.N. da C., ed., Industrial Research, 1946 (London, 1946) indicates that industrial research laboratories actually existing in 1946 were heavily concentrated in the South, although some of the northern and western regions were better represented.Google Scholar Fifty-two percent of laboratories of industrial firms and research organizations, 70 percent of those of research associations, and 76 percent of those of government research establishments were in the South East, South West, and East Anglia.

14 Buswell, R. J. and Lewis, E. W., “The Geographical Distribution of Industrial Research Activity in the United Kingdom,” Regional Studies, 4 (1970), pp. 297–306;CrossRefGoogle ScholarMalecki, E. J., “Corporate Organization of R and D and the Location of Technological Activities,” Regional Studies, 14 (1980), pp. 219–34;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Crum and Gudgin, “Non-production Activities,” pp. 132–33.Google Scholar

15 PRO CAB 124/659, Case 1,341, 20.11.46; PRO CAB 132/24, L.P.(D.1.)(47)27, Memorandum by Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Fuel and Power, 21.2.47; PRO CAB 124/652, Case 49, 19.2.45; PRO CAB 124/659, Case 1,398, 13.1.47; PRO CAB 124/658, Case 1,234, 19.8.46; PRO CAB 124/657, Case 1,098, 1.5.46; Distillers Company Limited, The Industrial Activities of Distillers Company Limited [1877–1957] (London, n.d.);Google Scholar PRO DSIR 18/51, “D.S.I.R. Location for Road and Radio Research Stations,” note of meeting held 14.8.46, Lintern (Ministry of Transport) to Hogg (DSIR), 21.8.46, Root (Ministry of Works) to Hogg, 31.8.46, Sumner (Ministry of Supply) to Hogg, 2.9.46, [sig. illegible] (Road Research Laboratory) to Hogg, 11.10.46, and minute 14/2/7/(R), Appleton (DSIR) to the Lord President, 25.10.46; PRO DSIR 18/52, “Location of New Research Stations,” DSIR, 26.4.46, Working Party to Consider Location of D.S.I.R. Research Stations, minutes of meeting held 7.5.46, and “Memorandum on the Siting of the Meclanica1 Engineering Research Station and Hydraulics Research Station,” DSIR, n.d.; Heim, Carol E., “Government Research Establishments, State Capacity, and Distribution of Industry Policy in Britain (unpublished manuscript, Univ. of Mass., 1987).Google Scholar

16 PRO CAB 132/24, L.P.(D.I.)(47)53, Note by the Parliamentary Secretary, Board of Trade;PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.)(47), Mtg. 8, Mm. 5, 8.5.47, and Mtg. 9, Mm. 4, 4.6.47; PRO DSIR 18/51, Minute by EB (E. Barnard, DSIR), 16.12.[46]; PRO CAB 124/645, Official Committee on Distribution of Industry [henceforth OCDI], Panel A, Minutes of meeting, 8.1.46; Malecki, Edward J., “Science and Technology in the American Metropolitan System: Present and Future,” in Brunn, Stanley D. and Wheeler, James O., eds., The American Metropolitan System: Present and Future (New York, 1980), pp. 127–44.Google Scholar

17 Boddy, Martin, Lovering, John, and Bassett, Keith, Sunbelt City? A Study of Economic Change in Britain's M4 Growth Corridor (Oxford, 1986), p. 126;Google ScholarThird Report from the Select Committee on Estimates, Together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee B, “Expenditure on Research and Development,” (P.P. 1946–47, vi, July 1947); PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.)(47), Mtg. 2, Mm. 2, 5.2.47; PRO CAB 124/650, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meeting, 14.1.47;Google ScholarScientific Man-Power, Cmd. 6824 (London, 1946);Google ScholarPeck, Merton J., “Science and Technology,” in Caves, Richard, ed., Britain's Economic Prospects (Washington. D.C., 1968), pp. 448–84;Google ScholarSecond Report from the Select Committee on Estimates, Together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee B on 19th February, “Rearmament” (P.P. 1951–52, v, February 1952).Google Scholar

18 PRO CAB 124/658, Case 1,312, 30.9.46, and others in CAB 124/652–61, 1944–1948.Google Scholar

19 PRO CAB 132/21, L.P.(D.I.)(46), Mtg. 4, Mm. 6, 29.5.46; and PRO CAB 132/22, L.P.(D.I.) (46)19, Memorandum by the Minister of Supply, 26.5.46.Google Scholar

20 Worswick, G.D.N., “Direct Controls,” in Worswick, G.D.N. and Ady, P. H., eds., The British Economy, 1945–1950 (Oxford, 1952), pp. 278–312;Google ScholarDow, J.C.R., The Management of the British Economy, 1945–1960 (Cambridge, 1964);Google ScholarRosenberg, Nathan, Economic Planning in the British Building Industry, 1945–1949 (Philadelphia, 1960);CrossRefGoogle ScholarBooth, Alan, “The Second World War and the Origins of Modern Regional Policy,” Economy and Society, 11 (02 1982), pp. 1–21;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Parsons, D. W., The Political Economy of British Regional Policy (London, 1986).Google Scholar

21 PRO BT 177/1497, B.D.I.(A) 31/34, “Statement of New Factory Building and Extensions to Existing Factories (5,000 sq. ft. and over) Approved by Panel “A” and Regional Distribution of Industry Panels or for which Industrial Development Certificates Have Been Granted Up to 30th September 1948,” tables I, II, VII, and VIII; Distribution of Industry, Cmd. 7540 (London, 1948), appendix 5;Google ScholarRosenberg, Economic Planning, pp. 100–1, 151;Google ScholarBoard of Trade, Survey of Industrial Development, annually 1933–38 (London, 1934–1939) and “Industrial Development in 1932,” Board of Trade Journal (29 06 1933), pp. i–xvi.Google Scholar The prewar Special Areas included areas in South Wales, West Cumberland, Northumberland and Durham, and Scotland; after World War II the Development Areas also included areas in Wrexham and South Lancashire.

22 PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.)(47), Mtg. 3, Mm. 1,26.2.47; PRO CAB 124/650, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meetings, 5.3.47 and 18.3.47; PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.(47), Mtg. 8, Mm. 5, 8.5.47; PRO CAB 134/130, D.I.(47), Mtg. 2, Mm. 4, 12.12.47; PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.)(47), Mtg. 11, Mm. 2, 2.7.47; PRO CAB 132/24, L.P.(D.I.)(47)65, Memorandum by the Joint Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland, 25.6.47; PRO CAB 124/650, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meetings, 1.3.47 and 17.6.47; PRO CAB 132/24, L.P.(D.I.)(47)66 and 101, Note by Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 11.7.47 and Memorandum by the Paymaster General, 23.9.47; and PRO CAB 132/23, L.P.(D.I.)(47), Mtg. 14, Mm. 3, 24.9.47.Google Scholar

23 PRO CAB 124/654, Case 450, 12.10.45; PRO CAB 124/656, Case 861, 22.1.46; and PRO CAB 124/657, Case 1,080, [c. April 1946].Google Scholar

24 PRO CAB 124/659, Case 1,385, [C. January 1947].Google Scholar

25 PRO CAB 124/658, Case 1,287, 20.9.46. See also cases of North Downs Engineering Co. (PRO CAB 124/649, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meeting, 3.12.46) and Dufay-Chromex (PRO CAB 124/660, Case 1,521, 27.6.47; PRO CAB 124/650, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meeting, 18.7.47; and PRO CAB 124/661, Case 1,675, 11.2.48).Google Scholar

26 Parsons, The Political Economy of British Regional Policy; PRO CAB 132123, L.P. (D.I.)(47), Mtg. 8, Mm. 5, 8.5.47 and Mtg. 11, Mm. 2, 2.7.47; PRO CAB 124/643–6, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meetings, 19.6.45, 23.10.45, 6.11.45, 4.12.45, 8.1.46, 12.2.46.

27 PRO CAB 124/650, OCDI, Panel A, Minutes of meeting, 18.11.47.Google Scholar

28 See the discussion of the light metal fabricating industry in PRO CAB 87/94, D.I.(44), Mtg. 3, Mm. 1, 31.10.44; PRO CAB 87/94, D.I.(47)7, Note by the Minister of Aircraft Production, 26.10.44; PRO CAB 87/15, R(I)(45)1, 5, 7, and 10, Memorandum by the Minister of Aircraft Production and the President of the Board of Trade, 19.1.45, Memorandum by the Minister of Labour and National Service, 12.2.45, Further Memorandum by the Minister of Aircraft Production, 28.2.45, and Report by the Sub-Committee on the Future of the Light Metal Fabricating Industry, 22.3.45.Google Scholar