The best explanation I have read about the British jump on industrialization, as compared to China or Eastern Europe or India, was by Kenneth Pomeranz; "The Great Divergence." He explained that it was partly through local access to large seams of coal (therefore sparing forests and avoiding land erosion) and the availability of the slave - sugar - rum triangle of trade with Barbados. These advantages preceded the utilization of cheaper energy through the development of the steam engine with factories.