Textile industry of Imperial Russia

The Textile sector of Imperial Russia developed significantly in the nineteenth century. It played a significant role in the Industrialization in the Russian Empire.

A Russian cotton textile mill's interior, 1911

In 1840 the Manchester based company De Jersey & Co. appointed Franz Holzhauer as their agent in Moscow with Ludwig Knoop as his assistant. At the time Manchester was known as Cottonopolis, and De Jersey and Co. played a major role in developing the cotton industry in the Russian Empire.^[1]

The first large scale cotton printing and dye works was established in 1753 by two English business men, William Chamberlain and Richard Cozzens with the aid of state subsidies.^[1]

In 1895 the Russian Technical Society criticized Knoop for holding back the Russian textile industry by exclusively importing English textile machinery.^[1]