Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T09:15:44.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Artisans to “Factories”: The Interpenetration of Craft and Industry in English Cheese-Making, 1650–1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Richard Blundel  and
Angela Tregear
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-making from its early commercialization to the eventual triumph of the “cheese factory.” The narrative shows how contemporary actors initiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution, consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practices have both borrowed from and become integrated with industrial logics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F. Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin termed the “recombinablility and interpenetration” of different forms of economic organization [World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization (Cambridge, U.K., 1997), 2–3]. International comparisons are introduced to clarify the reasons for England’s halting and idiosyncratic transition to industrial-scale cheese-making.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 705 - 739
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2006. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Allaire, Gilles, and Robert Boyer, eds. La Grande Transformation de l’Agriculture: Lectures Conventionnalistes et Régulationnistes. Paris, 1995.Google Scholar
Baugh, G. C., ed. A History of Shropshire, Volume 4, Agriculture (Victoria County History). Woodbridge, U.K., 1989.Google Scholar
Béaur, Gérard. Histoire Agraire de la France au XVIIIe Siècle: Interties et Changements dans Francaises entre 1715 et 1815. Paris, 2000.Google Scholar
Beveridge, William H. British Food Control. London, 1928.Google Scholar
Boisard, Pierre. Camembert: A National Myth. Berkeley, Calif., 2003 [trans. by Richard Miller from Le Camembert: Mythe Nationale. Paris, 1992].Google Scholar
Burnett, John. Plenty and Want: A Social History of Food in England From 1815 to the Present. London, 1989.Google Scholar
Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi/Presses Universitaires de France, Cahier No 30. Entreprises et Produits. Paris, 1987.Google Scholar
Cheke, Val. The Story of Cheese-Making in Britain. London, 1959.Google Scholar
Cobbett, William. Rural Rides. 1830. Harmondsworth, U.K., 1973.Google Scholar
Collins, E. J. T., ed. The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume 7, 1858–1914. Cambridge, U.K., 2000.Google Scholar
Cornford, Philip, ed. The Organic Tradition: An Anthology of Writings on Organic Farming, 1900–1950. Bideford, U.K., 1988.Google Scholar
Crump, W. B. The Little Hill Farm. Halifax, U.K., 1938.Google Scholar
Denhardt, E. T. Food Control in Great Britain. Montreal, 1942.Google Scholar
Eekhof-Stork, N. The World Atlas of Cheese. London, 1976.Google Scholar
Evans, G. Phillips. British Manufacturing Industries. London, 1878.Google Scholar
Foster, Charles F. Cheshire Cheese and Farming in the North West in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Northwich, U.K., 1998.Google Scholar
Hallas, Christine. Rural Responses to Industrialization: The North Yorkshire Pennines, 1790–1914. Bern, Switzerland, 1999.Google Scholar
Hammond, R. J. Food and Agriculture in Britain, 1939–45: Aspects of Wartime Control. Stanford, Calif., 1954.Google Scholar
Hickman, Trevor. The History of Stilton Cheese. Stroud, U.K., 1995.Google Scholar
Kinsella, J. A. Dairying Service Report, 1900–1901. Wellington, New Zealand, 1901.Google Scholar
Latham, Robert, and William Matthews, eds. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, A New and Complete Transcription, Volume II – 1661. London, 2000.Google Scholar
Long, James. Reports on the Relation of Dairy Produce of New Zealand to the English Market Together with Practical Hints on Cheese-Making. Wellington, New Zealand, 1889.Google Scholar
Lord, Leonard J. Practical Butter and Cheese Making. London, 1925.Google Scholar
McCallum, R. M. Report on the Dairy Factories in New Zealand Together With Other Papers on the Subject. Wellington, New Zealand, 1888.Google Scholar
McKendrick, Neil, John Brewer, and John H. Plumb. The Birth of a Consumer Society: The Commercialisation of Eighteenth-Century England. London, 1982.Google Scholar
McMurry, Sally A. Transforming Rural Life: Rural Dairying Families and Agricultural Change, 1820–1885. Baltimore, Md, 1995.Google Scholar
Mennell, Stephen. All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present. Oxford, U.K., 1985.Google Scholar
Milward, Alan, and S. Saul. The Development of the Economies of Continental Europe, 1850–1914. London, 1977.Google Scholar
Morris, Christopher, ed. The Journeys of Celia Fiennes. London, 1947.Google Scholar
Morton, John C. Handbook of Dairy Husbandry. London, 1860.Google Scholar
Orwell, George. The Road to Wigan Pier. London, 1937.Google Scholar
Penrose, Edith T. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. 1959. Oxford, U.K., 1995.Google Scholar
Rance, Patrick. The Great British Cheese Book. London, 1982.Google Scholar
Sabel, Charles F., and Jonathan Zeitlin, eds. World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization. Cambridge, U.K., 1997.Google Scholar
Sawers, John. The Dairy Industry of New Zealand: A Report on the Result of the Season’s Work. Wellington, New Zealand, 1893.Google Scholar
Scola, Roger. Feeding the Victorian City: The Food Supply of Manchester, 1770–1870. Manchester, U.K., 1992.Google Scholar
Scranton, Philip. Endless Novelty: Specialty Production and American Industrialization, 1865–1925. Princeton, N.J., 1997.Google Scholar
Simon, André. A Catechism Concerning Cheese. London, 1936.Google Scholar
Smith, Charles. Britain’s Food Supplies in Peace and War: A Survey Prepared for the Fabian Society. London, 1940.Google Scholar
Smith, John H. Cheese-Making in Scotland: A History. Glasgow, 1995.Google Scholar
Squire, Sir John, ed. Cheddar Gorge: A Book of English Cheese. London, 1937.Google Scholar
Thirsk, Joan. Agricultural Change: Policy and Practice—Chapters From the Agrarian History of England and Wales, vol. 3. Cambridge, U.K., 1990.Google Scholar
Thirsk, Joan, ed. The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems. Cambridge, U.K., 1984.Google Scholar
Tisdale, C. W., and J. Jones. Butter and Cheese. London, 1929.Google Scholar
Twamley, Josiah et al. Essays on the Management of the Dairy; Including the Modern Practice of the Best Districts in the Manufacture of Cheese and Butter. Deduced from a Series of Observations Made During Thirty Years’ Practice. London, 1816.Google Scholar
Van, Broekhuizenet al. Renewing the Countryside. Doetinchem, The Netherlands, 1997.Google Scholar
Van Slyke, Lucius L., and Charles A. Publow. The Science and Practice of Cheese-Making. New York, 1909.Google Scholar
Walker, Tisdale C. W., and Jean Jones. Butter and Cheese. London, 1929.Google Scholar
Willard, X. A. Willard’s Practical Dairy Husbandry. New York, 1877.Google Scholar
Wilson, Avice R. Forgotten Harvest: The Story of Wiltshire Cheese-Making. Calne, U.K., 1995.Google Scholar
Whetham, Edith H. The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Vol. VIII 1914–39. Cambridge, U.K., 1978.Google Scholar

Articles and Essays

Bérard, Laurence, and Philippe Marchenay. “Lieux, Temps et Preuves: La Construction Sociale des Produits de Terroir.” Terrain 24 ( March 1995): 153–64.Google Scholar
Blundel, Richard K. “Network Evolution and the Growth of Artisanal Firms: A Tale of Two Regional Cheesemakers – 1950–2000.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 14, no. 1 (2002): 1–30.Google Scholar
Boisard, Pierre, and Marie-Thérèse Letablier. “Le Camembert: Normand ou normé? Deux modèles de production dans l’industrie fromagère.” In Entreprises et Produits, Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi/Presses Universitaires de France, Cahier No 30. Paris, 1987, pp. 1–30.Google Scholar
Brassley, P. “Northumberland and Durham.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 30–31.Google Scholar
Carnevali, Francesca. “Golden Opportunities: Jewelry Making in Birmingham Between Mass Production and Speciality.” Enterprise & Society 4 (June 2003): 272–98.Google Scholar
Clout, H. “The Pays de Bray: A Vale of Dairies in Northern France.” Agricultural History Review 51, no. 2 (2003): 190–208.Google Scholar
De la Bruheze, , Adri, and Anneke van Otterloo. “The Milky Way: Infrastructures and the Shaping of Milk Chains.” History and Technology 20, no. 3 (2004): 249–69.Google Scholar
Edwards, P. R. “The Development of Dairy Farming on the North Shropshire Plain in the Seventeenth Century.” Midland History 4, nos 3 and 4 (1978): 175–90.Google Scholar
Evans, Morgan. “Butter and Cheese.” In British Manufacturing Industries, ed. G. Phillips Evans. London, 1878, pp. 136–56.Google Scholar
Hallas, Christine. “Supply Responsiveness in Dairy Farming: Some Regional Considerations.” Agricultural History Review 39, no. 1 (1991): 1–16.Google Scholar
Harrison, Giles V. “The South West: Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 358–92.Google Scholar
Hey, David. “The North-West Midlands: Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 149–58.Google Scholar
Holderness, B.A. “East Anglia and the Fens.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 231–32.Google Scholar
Holland, Vyvyan. “Cheshire Cheese.” In Cheddar Gorge: A Book of English Cheese, ed. Sir John Squire. London, 1937, pp. 11–17.Google Scholar
Kay, Neil. “Hercules and Penrose.” Contributions to Political Economy 18 (1999): 67–86.Google Scholar
Kristensen, Peter Hull, and Charles F. Sabel. “The Small-holder Economy in Denmark: The Exception as Variation.” In World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization, ed. Charles F. Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin. Cambridge, U.K., 1997, pp. 344–78.Google Scholar
Letablier, Marie-Thérèse, and Claire Delfosse. “Genèse d’Une Convention de Qualité: Cas des Appellations d’Origine Fromageres.” In La Grande Transformation de l’Agriculture: Lectures Conventionnalistes et Régulationnistes, ed. Gilles Allaire and Robert Boyer. Paris, 1995, pp. 97–118.Google Scholar
Milward, A., and S. Saul. The Development of the Economies of Continental Europe 1850–1914. Cambridge, Mass., 1977.Google Scholar
Mingay, G. E. “The East Midlands.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 89–128.Google Scholar
Ó, Gráda, Cormac. “British Agriculture 1860–1914.” In The Economic History of Britain Since 1700, Volume 2, 1860–1939, ed. Roderick Floud and Deidre McCloskey. Cambridge, U.K., 1994, pp. 145–72.Google Scholar
Penrose, Edith T. “The Growth of the Firm—A Case Study: The Hercules Powder Company.” Business History Review 34 (Spring 1960): 1–23.Google Scholar
Rooth, T. “Trade Agreements and the Evolution of British Agricultural Policy in the 1930s.” Agricultural History Review 33, no. 2 (1985): 173–90.Google Scholar
Sylvander, B. “Conventions de qualite, concurrence et cooperation: cas du Label Rouge dans la filiere volailles.” In La Grande Transformation de l’Agriculture: Lectures Conventionnalistes et Régulationnistes, ed. Gilles Allaire and Robert Boyer. Paris, 1995, pp. 167–83.Google Scholar
Taylor, David. “Growth and Structural Change in the English Dairy Industry, c1860–1930.” Agricultural History Review 35, no. 1 (1987): 47–64.Google Scholar
Thirsk, Joan. “1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume VI 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems, ed. Joan Thirsk. Cambridge, U.K., 1984, pp. 159–96.Google Scholar
Tregear, Angela. “From Stilton to Vimto: Using Food History to Rethink Typical Products in Rural Development.” Sociologia Ruralis 43, no. 2 (2003): 91–107.Google Scholar
Valcescini, Edzio. “Entreprises et Pouvoirs Publics Face a la Qualité: Les Produits Agro-Alimentaires Dans le Marché Européen.” In La Grande Transformation de l’Agriculture: Lectures Conventionnalistes et Régulationnistes, ed. Gilles Allaire and Robert Boyer. Paris, 1995, pp. 53–72.Google Scholar
Van Bavel, J. P. Bas, and Jan Luiten van Zanden, “The Jump-Start of the Holland Economy During the Late-Medieval Crisis, c1350–1500.” Economic History Review 57, no. 3 (2004): 503–32.Google Scholar
Whittaker, Dick, and Jack Goody. “Rural Manufacturing in the Rouergue from Antiquity to Present: The Examples of Pottery and Cheese.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 43, no. 2 (2001): 225–45.Google Scholar
Wintle, Michael. “Agrarian History in The Netherlands in the Modern Period: A Review and Bibliography.” Agricultural History Review 39, no. 1 (1991): 65–73.Google Scholar
Wintle, Michael. “Modest Growth and Capital Drain in an Advanced Economy: The Case of Dutch Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century.” Agricultural History Review 39, no. 1 (1991): 17–29.Google Scholar

Government Reports and Trade Publications

British Cheese Awards. Statistics: 1994–2004. Churchill, Oxfordshire, U.K., 2004.Google Scholar
Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs. Milk Statistics. London, 2005.Google Scholar
Department for Food. Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2004. London, 2005.Google Scholar
Harbutt, Juliet. The Specialist Cheesemakers Association Guide to the Finest Cheese of Britain. London, 2001.Google Scholar
His Majesty’s Stationery Office. “Butter, Cheese and Margarine Trades.” In Final Report on the First Census of Production of the United Kingdom (1907). London, 1913, pp. 462–511.Google Scholar
His Majesty’s Stationery Office. “The Butter, Cheese, Condensed Milk and Margarine Trades.” In The Report on the Census of Production for 1924. London, 1931, pp. 103–16.Google Scholar
His Majesty’s Stationery Office. “The Butter, Cheese, Condensed Milk and Margarine Trades.” In The Report of the Census of Production for 1930. London, 1934, pp. 112–16.Google Scholar
Journal of the House of Commons, Volume 10: 1688–1693. London, 1802.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Cheesemaking: Bulletin No. 43, 4th ed. London, 1959.Google Scholar