Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2024
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History
Department
History
First Advisor
Christopher Morris
Second Advisor
Stephanie Cole
Third Advisor
Kenyon Zimmer
Fourth Advisor
Chris Evans
Abstract
A bright red woolsack comprised of wool clippings from across England sits prominently in the House of Lords. King Edward III originally commissioned the cushion for the Speaker to sit upon while conducting Parliamentary business to signify the importance of the commodity. In 1699, as British trade and territorial interests expanded, Parliament issued the Wool Act. It outlined the expectations and limitations of wool production and exchange in British controlled territories. While the British economy benefitted from commodities such as tobacco, sugar, and cotton which was largely produced by convict and enslaved laborers in its colonies, wool remained an essential commodity at home and abroad. Where British influence spread, so did wool. Wool remained connected to the subjugated, the enslaved, and the convicted during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The subjugated included the workers, women, and others who were free but had little control over their own lives. Histories on much of that period focus on lucrative trade commodities, textile industrialization, the process of colonial growth, and coerced labor. They neglect to question the role that wool continued to play. Wool is absent in the narrative of the subjugated, the enslaved, and the convicted during this period. This work utilizes government records, travel journals, correspondences, national case studies, personal histories, court documents, extensive primary and secondary sources, and a variety of artifacts which altogether reveal that while commodities such as cotton and sugar became primary economic contributors to British expansion, wool remained important. Wool clothed, provided income, and served as a valuable commodity of trade during the years of British expansion and colonization. This position is supported through a bottom-up and top-down approach of examining the role of wool in Wales, Jamaica, Australia, and colonial and independent America. The findings of the research demonstrate the way in which the commodity weaves the subjugated, the enslaved, and the convicted together in a tapestry of dependence on wool during the British empire years of 1699 to1860.
Keywords
wool, Wales, Australia, Jamaica, Colonial America, industrialization, mechanization, British Empire, textiles, commodities
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | European History | History | Labor History | Social History | United States History
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Gabbert, Lisa Y., "WEAVING EMPIRE: THE ROLE OF WOOL, THE SUBJUGATED, THE ENSLAVED, AND THE CONVICTED IN BUILDING THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1699-1860" (2024). History Dissertations. 77.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/history_dissertations/77
Included in
European History Commons, Labor History Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons