Work Life and Leisure

Role of Industrialization and the Rise of the Modern City of England

 Many decades after the beginning of the industrial revolution,
most Western countries were largely rural. In the early industrial
cities of Britain, most of the people were migrants from rural
areas.
 By 1750, one out of every nine person of England and Wales
lived in London. It was a big city with a population of about
675,000. Between 1810 and 1880, the population of London
multiplied fourfold; increasing from 1 million to about 4 million.
 The city of London was a powerful magnet for migrant
populations; although there was no large factory in London. large
numbers of people were employed in clothing and footwear,
wood and furniture, metals and engineering, printing and
stationary and precision products.
 During the First World War (1914 – 1918), manufacturing of
motor cars and electrical goods began in London and this marked
the beginning of large factories in the city. Over due course of
time, about one-third of all jobs in the city were created in these
factories.
Impact of urbanization and industrialization on the life of London

(1) Housing:
 The flow of migrants to cities created problems of housing. Housing
facilities were not provided by the employers. Private landowners
provided cheap but unsafe tenements for the migrant workers.
 Charles Booth concluded that London needed to rebuild at least
400,000 rooms to house its poorest citizens.
 (2) Cleaning London
Various steps were taken to clean up the city of London. Steps were
taken to decongest localities, green the open spaces, reduce pollution
and landscape the city. Large blocks of apartments were built.

(3) Transport in the City

 During this period, the city expanded beyond the range where
people could walk to work. This necessitated the
development of new forms of mass transport.

 This was the period when the London underground railway

was built.
 The first section of the Underground opened in 1863
between Paddington and Farrington.
 The train service was expanded by 1880 to carry 40 million
passengers a year.
 Many people were not comfortable of the idea of travelling in
smoke filled underground railway. But ultimately, the
Underground proved to be a huge success.
Social Change in the City
 The family became smaller and individualism increased. The
institution of marriage tended to break down among the working
class. Women of the upper middle classes in Britain faced
increasing levels of isolation. Many social reformers felt a need to
save the family by pushing the women back into the home.
 Most of the political movements of this period were largely
participated by male. It took some time before women could
actively participate in political movements.
  The positive aspect of these changes was that the family became
the focus of the new market.
Leisure and Consumption
 For wealthy British, there had been a tradition of ‘London
Season’. For the elite families, many cultural events were
organized.
 The pub was the centre of exchanging news and views for them.
 Libraries, art galleries and museums were established in the
nineteenth century to provide people with a sense of history and
pride in the British achievements.
 Music halls were popular among the lower classes. By the early
twentieth century, cinema became a popular entertainment across
all classes.
 The trend of spending holidays on beaches increased among the
working classes.

The City in Colonial India

 The pace of urbanization was slow during colonial rule. In the
early twentieth century, no more than 11% of population was
living in cities.
 A major chunk of the urban dwellers were living in the three
Presidency cities, viz. Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.
 The Presidential cities were multi-functional cities.
 These cities had major ports, warehouses, homes and offices,
army camps, educational institutions, museums and libraries.
Because of being the hubs of business and political activities,
these cities grew in population.
 Bombay expanded rapidly from the late 19th century.
Bombay: The Prime City of India
 The East India Company shifted its base from Surat to Bombay.
 Initially, Bombay was the major outlet for cotton textiles from
Gujarat. Later, in the nineteenth century, it became the transit
hub for large quantities of raw materials; like cotton and opium.
Gradually, it became an important administrative centre. By the
end of the nineteenth century, Bombay became a major industrial
centre.
Work in The city
 The first cotton textile mill in Bombay opened in 1854. By
1921, there were 85 cotton mills. About 146,000 workers
worked in these mills.
 The railways encouraged migration into the city at even
larger scale

Housing and Neighborhoods

 Bombay was a much crowded city; compared to London. In the
late 1840s, each Londoner enjoyed an average space of 155 sq
yards.
 A chawl was a multi-storeyed structure. These houses were usually
owned by private landlords. Each chawl was divided into smaller
one-room tenements. The tenements had no private toilets. The
rent was so high that people were forced to share a tenement with
relatives or caste fellows.
 The City of Bombay Improvement Trust was established in 1898.
Its focus was clearing poorer homes out of the city centre.
  In 1918, about 64,000 people were evicted from their homes but
only 14,000 were rehabilitated. A Rent Act was passed in 1918, in
an effort to keep the rents under control. But this led to a severe
housing crisis because landlords withdrew houses from the market.
Land Reclamation in Bombay
 Bombay had largely been built on the land which was reclaimed
from the sea.
 The earliest reclamation project began in 1784.
 William Hornby; the governor of Bombay; approved the building
of the great sea wall to prevent flooding of the low lying areas.
 By 1870s, the city had expanded to about 22 sq miles. Even the
famous Marine Drive had been built on the reclaimed land.
The City of Dreams: Cinema and Culture
Despite many difficulties city of Bombay appeared Mayanagari to many

 The first Hindi movie; Raja Harishchandra; was made by

Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. By 1925, Bombay had become the
film capital of India.
 In 1947, about Rs. 756 million was invested in about 50 films
which were produced in that year.
 By 1987, about 520,000 people were employed in the film
industry.
 Most of the people in the film industry were migrants from
different places. In a way, they also contributed to the national
character of the industry.

Pollution in the cities

Burning of biomass and coal by homemakers, industries and railways
created lot of smoke and black soot in the cities. Much legislation was
passed to control air pollution but they could not produce the desired
results
Questions with answers
Question 1. Give two reasons why the population of London expanded
from the middle of the
eighteenth century.
Answer:
The city of London was a
magnet
for the migrant populations due to the job opportunities provided by its
dockyards and industries. By 1750, one out of every nine people of
England and Wales lived in London. So, the population of London kept
expanding through the
eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries.
During the first world war, London began manufacturing motor cars and
electrical goods.
This increased the
number of large factories, which in turn increased the number of people
coming to the city in search of work.
Question 2. What were the changes in the kind of work available to
women in London between the nineteenth and the twentieth century?
Explain the factors which led to this change.
Answer:
(i) In the 18th and 19th centuries, a large number of women were
employed in the factories because during that period, most of the
production activities were carried out with the help of the family.
(ii) With technological developments, women gradually lost their
industrial jobs and were forced to work within households. According to
the 1861 Census, about a quarter million women worked as domestic
servants in London, most of them were from migrant families,
(iii) However, in the 20th century, women again started getting employed
in wartime industries and offices because most of the male citizens were
fighting at the front.
(iv) Many women increased their family income by taking lodgers or
paying guests. Some earned their living through tailoring, washing or
matchbox making.
Question 3. How does the existence of a large urban population affect
each of the following?
Illustrate with historical examples.
a).A private landlord
Answer:
A)The existence of large urban population meant that there would be
many people requiring a place to stay .The increased demand for places
to stay was profitable for private landlords whod could rent out rooms at
high rates .In nineteenth century London .individual landlords profited by
this trend of migration in serarch of jobs by people form the countryside .
b) A Police Superintendent in charge of law and order
Answer:
b) The existence of a large urban population will cause more crimes
,social conflict and rebellion .police are responsible for maintaining law
and order ,Hence,a police Suprintendent would definitely have increased
work on his/her hands.In nineteenth century London .policemanhand a
tough time controlling crime during the migrant influx .In the 1870s.there
were 20,000crimincals living in London .The job of a policeman was
made more complex in hunting down pick pockets ,thieves,cheats and
tricksters,as their number kept on increasing
c) A leader of a political party
Answer:
c)The existence of a large urban population cause many social problems
,such as problemsn of housing .food ,water,etc.These issues become
political issues when they are taken up by political parties .A political party
and its leaders can mobilize the masses to support them in these political
causes .This was the case in 19th century London also and so the
politicians became very active.
Question 4. Give explanations for the following:
a) Why well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the
poor in the
nineteenth century.
Answer:
(a) Well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the poor
in the nineteenth century on account of three reasons:
∙∙ one-room houses of the poor came to be seen as the breeding ground of
diseases, and hence, a threat to public health
∙∙ Fire hazards became a worry in these over-crowded, badly ventilated,
unhygienic homes
∙∙ There was a widespread fear of social disorder, especially after the 1917
Russian Revolution. Housing schemes were undertaken to avoid a
rebellion by the poor.
b).Why a number of Bombay films were about the lives of migrants.
Answer:
(b)
Bombay became an attractive destination for people seeking jobs after the
British administration replaced Surat with Bombay as its principal western
port. The consequent increase in trade and industries led to a great influx
of people. Thus, migrants were (and still are) an important facet of
Bombay. Most of the people in the film industry were migrants
themselves, and wanted to portray the plight of this class of people
through films. Thus, a number of Bombay films were about the lives of
migrants.
c) What led to the major expansion of Bombay’s population in the mid-
nineteenth century.
Answer:
In mid-seventeenth century, Bombay became East India Company’s
principal western port, replacing Surat. Later, by the end of the nineteenth
century, it had become an important administrative as well as industrial
centre. All through these years, the prospects for trade and commerce,
and employment kept increasing, thereby making Bombay an attractive
destination for migrants.
Discuss
Project
Question 1. What forms of entertainment came up in nineteenth century
England to provide leisure activities for the people.
Answer:
There were many forms of entertainment came up in nineteenth century
England:
∙∙
For the upper classes, an annual “London Season” comprised of
opera, the theatre and classical music events
was one of the sources of leisure.
∙∙
For the working classes, pubs, discussions and meetings for political
action served the same purpose.
∙∙
Libraries, art galleries and museums were new types of entertainment
brought about through the utilisation of state money.
∙∙
Music halls and cinema theatres too became immensely popular with the
lower classes.
∙∙
Industrial workers were encouraged to undertake seaside vacations to
rejuvenate from the banes of working in the polluting environment of
factories.
Question 2. Explain the social changes in London which led to the need
for the Underground railway. Why was the development of the
Underground criticised?
Answer:
The development of suburbs as a part of the drive to decongest London
led to the extension of the city beyond the range where people could walk
to work. Though these suburbs had been built, the people could not be
persuaded to leave the city and stay far away from their places of work in
the absence of some form of public transport. The Underground railway
was constructed to solve this housing problem. It was criticized
intiallybecause:
∙∙ A newspaper reported the danger to health and asphyxiation (lack of air)
and heat.
∙∙ It was referred to as iron monsters, which added to the mess of the city.
Charles Dickens
in ‘Dombey and Son’ described its destructive process in construction.
∙∙ About 900 houses were destroyed to make two miles of railways.
Question 3. Explain what is meant by the Haussmanisation of Paris. To
what extent would you support or oppose this form of development?
Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, to either support or oppose
this, giving reasons for your view.
Answer:
Haussmanisation of Paris refers to the forcible reconstruction of cities to
enhance their beauty
and impose order. The poor were evicted from the centre of Paris to
reduce the possibility of
political rebellion and to beautify the city.
Question 4. To what extent does government regulation and new laws
solve problems of pollution?
Answer:
Government laws play an important role in controlling the rates of
pollution in a city. However, simply passing laws is not enough. They
need to be properly enforced as well. It is also a fact that people tend to
find ways of getting around laws. So, apart from legislations, government
also needs to carry out intensive public awareness programmes aimed at
educating the public about the need and ways of controlling pollution; and
about how they too have a stake in environmental governance.
Discuss one example each of the success and failure of legislation to
change the quality of
a).public life
Answer:
a)Public Life:
• Failure:
The Underground railway enhanced transport, but caused the demolition
of many houses, rendering their inhabitants homeless.
• Success:
The British state used public funds to provide for entertainment forms
such as museums, art galleries and libraries for the working classes.
b).private life
Answer:
b)Private Life:
• Failure:
The availability of one-room tenements and no housing facilities for a
major part of the industrial revolution time period caused the family to get
divided into smaller units. There were even cases where rural people had
to leave their families behind and live alone in the urban areas where they
worked.
• Success:
British administrative officials built houses in new suburbs for fulfilling the
housing needs of the working classes.