In this essay I shall argue that: 

1. The Industrial Revolution started with the invention of the water mill 

2. This was the first time that useful work could be done without muscle power 

3. This started the emancipation of humanity from the horrific drudgery of forced and slave labour 

4. Water and other fluid driven turbines are the foundation of our modern electricity powered civilisation 

The Origins of Water Power 

No one knows who invented the water wheel but it was in widespread use in the Roman world in the first century BC. It had many uses including grinding corn, pumping water, beating metal and processing cloth. It was such a wonderful idea that it quickly spread all over the Empire including Britain. It was so great an invention that it survived the collapse of the Empire and mills continued to be built during the Dark Ages and into the Anglo-Saxon period. By the time of Domesday Book in 1087 more than 6,000 are recorded in use all over England (1)and this had doubled by the later Middle Ages, an astonishing number, showing just how important the technology was for the great Abbeys and estates for the grinding of corn in particular.  

The End of Grinding Slaves 

For most of human history, bread was the most essential source of calories and the grains of corn had to be ground up into a powder by means of stone querns. These were usually circular grindstones, one on top of another with a hole through the middle of the top one through which the grains were fed and this stone then rotated by means of a handle to crush the seed into a powder. It was backbreaking and exhausting labour and in early Anglo Saxon times, was often done by female slaves. These grinding slaves are recorded in the earliest written laws of England, written in English for King Ethelbert of Kent (2). Grinding slaves would have had miserable lives working from dawn to dusk in dark huts and would have suffered from agonising deformities of their bones as a result. The use of the water mill ended this dreadful exploitation and misery, perhaps releasing the victims to less arduous duties as domestic servants instead. After the widespread introduction of watermills in the late Anglo-Saxon period, the levels of nutrition seem to have improved and this is thought to have been the result of the easier production of wheat bread. 

The British Industrial Revolution 

By the late 18th century, Britain was forging a path to becoming the first industrial superpower in human history. What is often forgotten is that until 1830 water power was the main energy source for this astonishing transformation. Coal and steam only took over well after the first factories had developed on the River Derwent In Derbyshire. The power looms and spinning jennies there were operated by giant water wheels. Once the principle of harnessing the power of water to do useful work had been established, it became clear that the way to prosperity lay in the use of other, more concentrated forms of energy such as coal. It is no accident that the anti-slavery movement first began at the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the two things are closely connected. Once it had been shown that even agricultural work such as ploughing and reaping could be done by steam power, then the need to use large numbers of human beings to labour in terrible conditions in the fields and estates was no longer necessary. Of course many hand loom workers and farm labourers lost their employment which was a disaster for them but better paying work was being created in the factories. While working conditions in the new industries were for the first few decades little better than slavery, by the end of the Victorian era the greatly increased productivity was driving an astonishing improvement in working and living standards. This would eventually lead to a GDP growth of over 3,000%, an unprecedented event in human history which economic historian Deirdre McCloskey has called “The Great Enrichment”(3) . This miracle has continued to the present day and has resulted in the worldwide reduction of extreme poverty (defined by the World Bank as a daily wage of the equivalent of $1.90) from 90% of the world population in 1800 to less than 10% today.(4) It is an astonishing achievement enabled initially by water power and represents the greatest increase in human flourishing ever witnessed. 

Turbines and Electricity 

The humble water mill was the first turbine, a device for harnessing the kinetic energy of a fluid to drive a rotating machine which can do useful work. Today turbines are the very basis of our industrial civilisation. The late 19th century saw the invention of the steam generator, by which a coal powered furnace generated superheated steam which then drove the blades of a rotating magnet which could induce electricity in a nearby coil . This is still the basis for most of the power which we take so much for granted but which allowed the invention of domestic labour saving machines such as refrigerators, heaters and washing machines. It was this development which, more than anything freed women from the drudgery of domestic labour and was one of the most important factors which drove women’s emancipation. It allowed women to use the time saved to enter the work force and gain economic independence from men.  

Today, the burning of fossil fuels is increasingly blamed for releasing carbon dioxide which causes climate change by the greenhouse effect. Wind driven turbines, based on exactly the same physical principles as a water mill, are now seen as a cleaner, more sustainable way to generate electricity and are becoming an increasingly important technology to replace the old thermal power stations. Water power led the way and was the foundation for a society without slavery, female domestic servitude and with the possibility of human flourishing for all. 

1. H.C Darby. "Domesday England" 1977 

2. The First Code of English Law. Patrick Wormald 2005 

3. Dr Diedre McClosky http://deirdremccloskey.org 

4. Our World in Data Global Poverty Rates 1820-2005 Fig 2.1