The Millers: A Story of Technological Endeavor and Industrial Success, 1870-2001 (review)

Glyn Jones has written a history of flour milling in the United Kingdom that extends into the present millennium. But much more than half of his text is concerned with the four decades before the outbreak of World War I, when the industry was revolutionized by the introduction of roller-milling technology, its raw material increasingly came to be imported grain, and very large mill complexes developed in port cities to the detriment of inland "country" mills. While the outline of these developments—which by tradition began with the celebrated exhibition of equipment at Islington in 1881—is well known from a variety of texts, this is the first authoritative account of the transformation. Jones suggests that British millers were not far behind those in the United States in taking up roller milling. His exposition of the technology involved in the new processes is lucid. He shows clearly that the changes involved not just the building of new mills and the installation of new machinery in some old ones, but the emergence of a substantial branch of the mechanical engineering industry that manufactured the plant. The account of the growth of the leading British company, established in Manchester by the Silesian-born Henry Simon (1835-99) is one of the best features of the book. While the tone, as indicated in the subtitle, may sometimes seem celebratory, it proves a thoroughly competent analysis of historical developments that were influential well beyond the United Kingdom.

The treatment of twentieth-century developments is necessarily less thorough, but could have been improved had Jones adopted a less rigidly chronological approach. He tends to move from one annual convention of the National Association of British and Irish Millers (NABIM) to the next, instead of highlighting those themes that run through much of the century: concentration and attempts to form cartels; relations with government, particularly during the World Wars; the increasing influence of scientific research in cereal chemistry as well as mechanical engineering; and changing sources of grain. Nevertheless, this is certainly the best source of information on milling in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century, and it contains much of interest on such topics as the revival in the use of English wheat in the 1980s and the prospects of future technologies that will supersede roller milling.

The weaknesses of the book are perhaps indicated by the title. The Millers is a book about millers, the technology they employed, and their commercial policies. Its treatment of the history of technology is narrowly focused, and lacks any coherent analysis of the impact on mill building of steel and concrete construction and electric power—none of these three topics has an index entry. While there is some interesting discussion of attempts by millers to make white bread more acceptable, rather too little account is taken of the market for flour; many aspects of the processes by which harvested grains became loaves eaten at the family table in the nineteenth century were determined by customs that differed regionally and significantly affected marketing. Nor does Jones give attention to labor issues. The bibliography provides an adequate guide to original sources, but it is thin on more general works about food, diet, or mechanical engineering, omitting even the article on the introduction of roller milling that Jones published jointly with Jennifer Tann in this journal in 1996.

The Millers is enhanced by well-selected and clearly reproduced illustrations, most from trade publications but some from the camera of the author. Several show large mill buildings that have been adapted for other purposes: apartments at Chester, York, or Coxe's Lock; a business center at Chester; a hotel at York. The conversion of the very large Baltic Mill at Gateshead into an arts center was completed during 2002. Many other mills have been demolished, but it is good that a...