The industrial revolution

1) The causes of the industrial revolution (2.1)

1. Overview:
 Between 1780 and 1850, Britain became the first industrialised nation in the world.
 Large parts of England such as the North West and the English midlands began to develop major manufacturing industries.
 Before this, these areas had been open fields and farms.
 These employed thousands of people and the products they produced were exported all over the world.
 New forms of transport were then needed to bring in the raw materials needed to export the finished products.
 In 1750, clothing was made by hand in the homes of agricultural workers who produced a couple of meters of cloth a week,
but by 1850 huge steam powered machines produced thousands of meters of cloth a day.
 Workers at home used their hands and feet to as a power source whereas workers in factories used coal to generate steam
power for machines.
 The population in urban areas grew and the population became wealthier.
 Economic change brought social change as the middle class grew and an industrial workforce emerged in towns and cities.
 Therefore, as the people became more powerful, the aristocracy lost their influence in parliament and the government.
 There has been some debate on whether or not a revolution took place in the first place, since it didn’t happen nearly as
quick as others.
 While some revolution, such as the Russian revolution, happened in less than 5 years, the industrial revolution happened
over a period of 70 years.
 However, it can be argued that it changed the lives of people just as much as a normal revolution would have done.
 Britain was very fortunate to have adequate foundations to build upon when it came to industrialisation.
 One of this was its agriculture since it was capable of feeding a rapidly growing population, including the section of people
living in cities who didn’t grow their own food.
 The population was also in good health and didn’t have any problem in being mobile.
 The country’s banking system and currency were also stable.
 Capital was also readily available and the aristocracy, who owned it, was willing to invest in industrialisation since they
didn’t feel threatened by it.
 Local producers began to strive to produce higher quality goods since the increasingly wealthy population wanted to buy
imported goods.
 The country had a huge and cheap supply of raw materials such as cotton and coal which came from its overseas empire.
 This created an even bigger demand for imported goods and services.
 The country had exceptional transport infrastructure such as excellent ports and a navigable canal system.
 The country had a stable social structure so the aristocracy were happy to invest in agricultural development and make
money. They were also very supportive of industrialisation.
 Britain was involved in several overseas conflicts, but these only helped to stimulate manufacturing and gain Britain some
colonies.
2. Developments in agriculture:
 Britain went through some significant changes to its agricultural system before 1750.
 Three key factors were very important during this time:
 One was that there was enough food to feed the population, so Britain didn’t undergo a famine such as France.
 The second was that agricultural output increased significantly, which was very important when it came to feeding a
growing population.
 Britain also had no problem when it came to feeding a city population which couldn’t produce food for itself.
 A variety of new techniques for improving output had also been developed.
 Another significant development in the 1750s was the move towards larger farming units.
 Farming began to be seen as a way to make money commercially and not just a way to feed a single family.
 The factors which played a major part in increasing the quality and quantity of agriculture were:
i. The enclosure movement and the growth of larger farm units
ii. Improved soil fertility
iii. Crop rotation
iv. Selective livestock breeding
v. Better cereal cultivation (wheat, barley, oats and rye)
vi. The spread of scientific knowledge about farming
3. The enclosure movement and the growth of larger farm units
 This broke up traditional farming units that had belonged to a small community and merged them into one unit that was
owned by one individual.
 This was already happening before 1750, but moved much quicker between 1750-1800.
 At the time, the traditional farming system was known as the ‘open field system’.
 This was when families cultivated small strips of land in different parts of a village and had the rights to let their animals
feed on common land.
 To prevent soil exhaustion, 35% of the land was left fallow (unused) each year.
 The aim of this was to produce enough to feed a family, and to sell any small surplus in the market.
 The ‘fallow’ system was very inefficient since there were large parts of land being unused each year.
 Livestock also shared the same grazing land, which made it difficult to breed quality animals.
 Overall, it wasn’t a very efficient way to farm.
4. Enclosure movement
 This meant that farming units were combined into 100 acres or more.
 The original peasent farmers lost their rights to se common land for their animals, and fields were hedged and ditched.
 These usually required acts of parliament, which were expensive and lengthy.
 However, MPs were sympathetic since they were landowners so they pushed requests through easily.
 Enclosure enabled these larger units to be farmed more efficiently and productively.
 This increased the amount of food being produced and this meant that better quality animals could be reared.
 Between 1750 and 1800, more than 7 million acres of farmland were enclosed which played a huge part in increasing
agricultural output.
5. Improved soil fertility
 Farmers increased their use of fertilizers, such as lime and crops which produced nitrogen (good for soil).
 More animals were being bred which could be fed over the winter rather than be slaughtered.
 This increased the availability of manure which prevented soil exhaustion.
 There was also greater awareness that certain types of soil suited specific crops or animals which allowed for
specialisation.
 This increased both profit and productivity.
6. Crop rotation
 This was one technique which spread widely in the period after 1750.
 This existed for decades but wasn’t really used.
 Traditionally, some land was left fallow every third or fourth year to prevent soil exhaustion.
 This was replaced by a system where land would be planted with wheat, barley, clover and turnips.
 Clover put nutrients back into the soil and turnips provided good animal feed.
 This meant that a lot more land could be used productively each year.
7. Selective livestock breeding
 Enclosing land and putting up fences meant that farmers could ensure animals were bred selectively.
 An example of this is that the breeds of cattle which were best for milk or meat were encouraged.
 Isolating different animals in separate fields also reduced the risk of spreading animal diseases.
 The agricultural community began to become aware of the fact that demand for food was increasing so good profits were
available to efficient producers.
8. Better cereal cultivation
 Growing crops on the right soil, preventing soil exhaustion, using fertilizers and manure effectively and a greater
awareness of different types of seeds meant that output per unit of land increased.
 Even the artistocracy, such as king George III, took the lead in agricultural innovation.
 It became fashionable for the leaders of British society to become involved in agriculture.
 This was different from countries such as France where the aristocracy didn’t participate.
9. Links between agriculture and industry
 The growth of industrialisation was very largely affected by the growth of agriculture.
 More food enabled a growing urban population to be fed which also became more profitable for farmers.
 These profits increased the demand for higher quality manufactured goods and produced capital for investment in new
forms of transport and manufacturing.
 Better transport enabled farmers to transport foods like vegetables to cities.
 This healthier diet led to more babies which meant that the demand for food increased even more.
 This led to increased demand and more profit for farmers.

Development of capitalism (investment, trade and commerce)

 In 1720 there had been an outburst of speculation which severely damaged the economy.
  The government took steps to ensure that this didn’t happen again.
 The government managed the economy as sensibly as possible through the central bank which had been set up in 1694.

10. Investment:
 Britain had established system of country banks and respected money lenders.
 They were able to lend money at low interest rates to people who wanted to start a business.
 Men who had already made a profit investing overseas were willing to invest it into furthering their investments.
 Many aristocrats developed coal mines on their own land.
 The profits from those coal mines went towards infrastructure development, such as roads and canals.
 Increased infrastructure lowered prices but increased profit.
 There was also a general belief that it was sensible to invest surplus money in business and social enterprises.
 An established insurance market also ensured the risks from investment could now be spread.
 Investors were encouraged by the existing success stories that there was a good chance of getting a reasonable return on
their capital.
11. Overseas trade:
 At the time, the royal navy was one of the most powerful in the world and wanted to protect and advance British
trading interests overseas.
 The government and parliament were also keen to protect foreign trade.
 The government raised most of its taxes from imports and exports, but It was willing to change or even end these if
they affected trade too much.
 Britain had also developed a large merchant navy capable of carrying finished goods all over the world.
 The government and parliament were so supportive since many of the aristocrats and members of parliament were
directors or stakeholders in the two big overseas trading companies.
 They formed a very large pressure group which made sure those involved in overseas trading had a big influence on
policy making.
 An example is that PM Walpole went to war with Spain in 1739 reluctantly due to pressure from these trading groups.
 Britain later fought more wars with European powers between 1739 and 1783 to advance its commercial interests and
gain new colonies.
 New colonies meant more markets for British goods, which meant more profit for British companies.
 Some of the country’s ports, such as Bristol and Liverpool, were developed as far as possible to make it easy to import
and export goods.
 ‘Factors’ were placed throughout the world, from China to South America.
 These men were responsible for importing goods to Britain and developing markets for British goods overseas.
 Demand for British goods overseas was high since they could sell everything that they exported.
 Slavery also contributed to the success of overseas trade.
 Ships sailed to Africa with cargoes of metal goods and textiles, which were sold for slaves.
 The slaves were then transported throughout British colonies and sold there.
 The proceeds for this were used to buy sugar, tabacco and cotton. These were sold at an immense profit in Britain.
12. Commerce:
 The transition from subsistence farming to a nation making manufactured goods took some time.
 By 1750, Britain was flourishing in trading woollen goods around the world.
 Other industries, such as nail making, boot and shoe making and cutlery manufacture exported their products.
 These usually centred in specific areas in Britain.
 Examples include the wool industry in Yorkshire, lace making in Bedfordshire and metal work in Sheffield.
 In 1750, over 70% of the woollen goods manufactured in Yorkshire were exported to Europe or America.
 The difference between this manufacturing and manufacturing after 1750 was that initially, these only occurred in
homes.
 These were called ‘cottage industries’, and normally the whole family was involved in this.
 Some family members might have worked on their own land or other during the spring and summer, then gone home
for the rest of the year and spun raw wool into yarn.
 Therefore, Britain already had a thriving commercial system by the middle of the 18 th century.
 What happened afterwards built on an already established system of commerce which had the potential to greatly
expand in the future.

Technical development

13. Iron and coke:

 Good quality iron was essential for making machines, but not much was available in Britain in 1700.
 However, the demand for this was huge.
 There were 2 problems with those wishing to meet the demand for iron and coke.
 One was getting enough energy for the furnaces which were used to extract iron from iron ore.
 The second was getting the right sort of energy to remove the impurities from iron, which produced a higher quality
iron used in machines.
 The original source of energy for all this was wood, which was turned into charcoal and used.
 However, Britain was running out of wood by 1700 and it was inefficient anyway.
 Over 5 tons of wood were needed just to make one tonne of low quality iron.
 In 1709, Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire made a technique for using coke (a by product of coal) instead
of charcoal to melt the iron ore.
 There was a lot of coal available nearby and this could be used to both extract the iron ore and remove any impurities
from it.
 Now the better quality iron could be produced at a low price.
 Darby also placed his ironworks next to the river Severn.
 This provided water power, made transport easier from coal fields and iron ore sights and was also an outlet to the port
of Bristol.
 Geographical factors played a significant role in the success of industrial development.
14. Steam development
 The steam engine was very important to the success of the industrial revolution.
 There was a lot of coal in Britain and a lot of demand for it.
 Landowners who had coal in their lands wanted to extract it for profit.
 The problem they faced was they their coalmines filled with water and became unusable.
 They had to find a way to pump water out and drain mined properly.
 This was solved in 1712, when Thomas Newcomen invented an atmospheric steam engine which was powered by coal.
 This could pump large quantities of water out of deep mines at a low cost.
 It lead to coal production increasing from 2.5 million tonnes in 1700 to 5 million in 1750 to 15 million in 1800.
 Newcomen’s invention was later developed to drive machines in factories and railway engines.
15. Textiles:
 Britain mainly produced 2 types of textiles in the 18 th century: Wool and cotton.
 Both were high in demand around the world, so British businessmen realised that if they increased production they
could make immense profits.
 Woollen and cotton cloth were mainly made in the same way in the early 18 th century: raw material had to be taken
from sheep and wool plant which was then spun or made into a thread.
 The thread was then woven or knitted into a piece of cloth which could be made into clothing or blankets.
 Spinning was mainly done in small cottage industries.
 Middlemen would carry forward this whole process.
 2 main inventions helped to significantly increase textile production.

 The first invention was john Kay’s ‘flying shuttle’ in 1733.

 This greatly improved both weaving speeds and the quality of finished cloth.
 Using the flying shuttle meant that fewer people were needed to produce woven cloth.
 The use of the shuttle didn’t really become popular until the 1760s due to the shortage of Yarn and because of
opposition from weavers who would have been out of employment due to this.

 The second invention was in 1765 when James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny.
 This speeded up the spinning process, with the Jenny initially able to do the work of 8 spinners then 120.
 Once steam and other technical advances were applied to both processes, a real revolution could take place.
 Britain’s cotton cloth production totalled 57,000 yards.
 By 1783, it was 3.5 million yards.
 The quality was better and the price rapidly decreased, creating further demand.
 Cotton went from being a luxury for the rich to an everyday material for everyone.
16. Canals and roads
 Roads in the 18th century were generally in poor condition and unsuitable for carrying heavy goods.
 There was a limit to the amount of coal that could be transported to a factory or iron ore moved to a foundry.
 High transport costs badly affected profits.
 The pressure to develop a better transport system increased.
 Transport mainly increased in 3 ways in the period before 1780.
 The first was that rivers were made more accessible to large cargoes and ports were improved to handle bulk imports
and exports.
 The second was that improved roads and local transport was made more efficient.
 The third was that more canals were built.
17. Rivers and ports
 Manufcaturing industries needed to bring in energy supplies and raw materials.
 They also needed good transportation networks to take their goods to market.
 Britain had several natural advantages, with navigable rivers such as the Severn, Humber, Trent and Thames.
 Cargo had been carried down these rivers for centuries but in response to increased demand, substantial engineering
projects were carries out to improve them so bigger cargo could get through.
 Several developments were made, such as locks, weirs, dredging and towpaths.
 Most of these developments were made by local groups of manufacturers via powers given to them by acts of
parliament.
 All the major ports, such as London, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle and Glasgow went through major developments.
 This enabled them to handle the huge increase in imports and exports.
 The existence of usable rivers and good harbours contributed greatlt to industrialisation.
18. Roads
 In 1700, Britains roads were in poor condition since they weren’t really developed after the Romans had left 1000 years
ago.
 The inability to move goods quickly and cheaply greatly slowed down industrialisation.
 Local villages were expected to maintain the roads in their region but since they lacked the money and interest
necessary, not much progress was made.
 The solution for road development took place in the 17 th century and it was called the ‘Turnpike trust’.
 A company could be formed which would be backed by an act of parliament.
 It had substantial powers to acquire the land in question, as long as they radically improved and maintained the stretch
of road that ran through it.
 The trust could then charge a fee to those who travelled on it.
 Between 1750 and 1770, Parliament passed over 500 acts creating Turnpike trusts which covered over 24,000km of
road.
 The whole of England and wales was now connected by a well maintained road.
 Local citizens invested into these companies which returned good dividends.
 These were then invested into other projects and also encouraged experimentation with different types of foundations
and roads.
 The projects were also a big stimulus to engineering, resulting in the development of new types of bridges, drainage
techniques and ways to deal with gradients.
 This system helped commercial agriculture and retail trade, as food could now move around the country much easier.
19. Canals:
 Canals were one of the most important developments before rapid industrialisation.
 Coal was in high demand and the supply was available, but it was very difficult and slow to transport it on donkey backs.
 In 1761, the Duke of Bridgewater built a canal from his coal mines in Worsley to Manchester.
 His engineer, James Brindley, used aqueducts, tunnels and locks to overcome all of the geographical hurdles in the way.
 The cost of transportation went down significantly.
 This was because a horse could transport 50 tons of coal on a canal barge compared to a quarter of a tonne on the
road.
 The price of coal in Manchester dropped and the duke’s profit soared.
 Between 1759-1774, 52 acts of parliament were passed to allow canals to be built, mainly in the midlands to the North.
 By 1800, 3000km o canals had doubled the length of navigable rivers.
 Cities became linked to factories and ports.
 Bricks and slated needed for houses could easily be moved from Bedfordshire and Wales to cities.
 Many canal companies returned huge profits for their shareholders.
 They also provided employment for the builders and engineers.
 Cheap capital, an absence of obstacles and good support from the government all played a part in the success of canals.
20. Railways:
 These were developed much later, with the first railway being developed in 1825.
21. The growth of population:
 The growth of the population was an important factor behind industrial development.
  A manufacturer needed people to work in his factories, railway companies needed men to build and run the railways,
coal companies needed men to mine coal etc.
 The growth of population also meant that domestic demand was constantly increasing.
 There is some debate as to whether the growth of the population was a factor of industrial growth or a result of it.
 However, it cannot be doubted that the link between population growth and industrialisation can clearly be seen.

Rapid growth of industrialisation after 1780 (2.2)

22. The factors that influenced the changes:

 High levels of both domestic and foreign demand for British manufactured goods.
 The ability to supply this demand and make a substantial profit from it.
 Innovators which were capable of developing new techniques to make production more efficient.
 Capital available for investment and an atmosphere which encouraged investing.
 The ability to transport large quantities of goods domestically and abroad.
 A government that supported the whole process, focused on laissez-faire policies and free trade.
 Social attitudes which were sympathetic to capitalism and industrialisation.
 An absence of international competition.
 An unlimited supply of cheap energy.
 A growing mobile population which had a good supply of food.

The development of the factory system: Steam power and machines:

23. Development of Iron

 The invention of using coke rather than charcoal to make iron was important, but it was still expensive and difficult to
achieve a high quality product.
 It was still cheaper to import iron.
 In 1783 and 1784, Henry Cort took out two patents on inventions which would help lead the production of higher
quality, cheaper iron in Britain.
 This was called ‘puddling’ – it was when molten iron was stirred in to reduce impurities.
 Just like all the other’s, Colt’s invention was based on the work of others and needed further development to make it
fully commercial.
 Peter Onions, an ironmaster in Wales, carried out many experiments on puddling.
 Then, in the late 1780s and 1790s, a series of Welsh Ironmasters took Colt’s inventions and developed them
commercially.
 One iron foundry in Wales produced 500 tons of quality iron in 1785.
 Further development lead to production increasing to 10,000 tons in 1812.
 Britain now had all the iron it needed.
24. Steam power:
 Newcomen’s steam engine was one of the most important developments of the industrial revolution.
 It was important because of the way it was used with other methods of production.
 James Watt developed Newcomen’s steam engine into a pump which pumped water out of coal mines – this proved to
be very important.
 In 1769, James Watt developed a new type of steam engine which could be adapted to do more than simply pump
water out of mines.
 With the help of Matthew Bolton, he began to build a range of steam engine which could be used in many different
ways.
 Matthew Bolton made metal goods in Birmingham and depended on water power for energy.
 This was insufficient in the summer so he saw the potential of James Watt’s invention of solving this problem.
 By 1776, Watt’s steam engines were better at pumping water out of coal mines than Newcomen’s.
 They could also now be used to power blast furnaces, which let them achieve higher temperatures and produce better
quality iron production.
 With better quality iron available, better engines could be made which sped up the industrial revolution even further.
 By 1800, Watt’s engines were powering loads of different industries, from cotton and wollen mills to steam hammers at
iron foundries and corn grinders at flower mills.
 They were also being exported in large quantities, as they were made in Birmingham and taken via canals to ports such
as Bristol and Birmingham.
 Watt started off with innovating and adapting steam power, and others began to do the same.
  Richard Trevithik, a mining engineer, developed a more powerful steam enging.
 By 1804, he had built the first railway steam locomotive.
25. Textiles:
 Textiles were one of the most important industries in Britain at the time.
 It was the second biggest employer after agriculture, since many agricultural workers also spun in their own homes.
 Inventions by Kay in weaving and Hargreaves in spinning came before the period of rapid growth.
 It was later inventions that led to the massive increase in output.
 The first big invention came in 1771 when Richard Awkwright patented his water frame.
 This revolutionised the spinning process and made raw cotton into a usable thread.
 Now one worker with a machine could produce 128 threads at one time instead of just one.
 As well as the increase in quantity, the finished thread was much stronger and of a consistently higher quality.
 The price of this thread also dropped, so demand for it increased.
 There was also a lot of increase in the wool industry.
 Until 1815, Britain could produce enough wool for itself with the amount of land it had.
 However, domestic production couldn’t meet the demand for wool in the 19 th century so sheep farming was developed
in colonies such as Australia and New Zealand.
 These colonies were also growing themselves really fast, which increased the demand for British goods which helped to
fuel industrialisation even further.

The importance of local markets, international markets and free trade

 The demand for British goods overseas didn’t really directly contribute to industrialisation, but instead helped to ‘fuel’
it.
 Growing domestic demand was important to the process, and rapid industrial growth coupled with rising wages insured
this.
 Britain was the first country to properly industrialise so it didn’t really have any competition in foreign markets.
British exports – How each factor contributed

26. Some facts and figures

 30% of all exports from Britain went to its colonies or former colonies in North America and the West Indies.
 30% of exports went to Europe.
 20% went to Asia.
 The remaining 20% went to South America, Australia and New Zealand.
 The markets in the last three places grew vert quickly after 1820.
 Exports proved to be the greatest generators of rapid growth since there were vast profits to be made.
 By 1850, exports generated over 10% of Britain’s national income.
27. How the infrastructure contributed:
 The infrastructure which was needed to serve a growing overseas market was already there at the start of the
revolution.
 There were already well established ports and a large merchant marine service.
 It was so good that Britain’s merchant shipping increased from 600,000 tons in 1760 to 1.5 million tonnes in 1792.
 Canals and railways were made to deliver goods to the dockside, where the goods were then loaded directly on to
ships.
 A sophisticated banking and insurance system supported manufacturers and merchants.
 An example is that a manufacturer of cotton goods in Lancashire knew he would get paid for the goods he would ship
to Moscow, Calcutta or New York.
 Specialised commercial and financial institutions alongside the development in commercial practice and law assisted
this rapid growth.
 This also showed the existence of an entrepreneurial revolution.
28. How the government contributed:
 The government also played a very important role here.
 It actively contributed to trying to increase the level of commerce in Britain as much as possible.
 An example is William Pitt, an important leading figure in this period.
 At the end of the War in 1763 with France fought over colonies, he ensured Canada became British and that British
commercial interests in India and the West Indies remained strong.
 His son, also called William Pitt, became PM from 1783-1786 and established a commercial treaty with Britain’s
traditional enemy, France.
 This helped to boost commerce by a lot.
  Britain could now export goods to France, and France could now export goods such as wine to Britain.
 The peace treaty William established with the USA in 1783 also helped as it ensured trade flowed freely between the 2
countries.
 By 1800, 25% of all British exports were going to the USA.
 Another peace treaty in 1815 at the end of the long war with France ensured that British commercial interests in Africa,
as well as the West Indies, India and Australia were fully protected.
 The government believed that it’s main role wasn’t only to maintain law and order and defend the country, but also to
defend and advance Britain’s commercial interests.
 The main source of the British government’s income was a tax on imports and exports, but it made sure not to interfere
too heavily to the point that trade became seriously affected.

Why, and with what consequences, did urbanisation result from industrialisation? (2.3)

29. The growth of towns and the impact on living conditions:

 Britain was the most developed and urbanised country in the world during 1750, but only 15% of the population lived in
towns.
 In 1775, just 7 towns had a population of over 30,000 and 5 of them ports.
 However, the national growth of commerce, finance and the manufacturing industry all led to the slow growth of urban
areas.
 By 1800, 25% of the population lived in towns.
 By the end of this period, it was 50%.
 The move from country to towns and agriculture to industry, finance and commerce was a key part of the
industrialisation process.
 Between 1800 and 1850, urban growth was about 25%.
 However, some towns experienced faster growth.
 Examples include Glasgow (42%), Manchester (46%) and Bradford.
30. Causes of rapid urbanisation
 One of the most important reasons was the rise in Britain’s overall population.
 It more than doubled from 1750 to 1780.
 The national census showed that it increased from 15.7 million in 1801 to 27.3 million in 1851.
 This stemmed from a combination of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors.
Agriculture:
 One of these came from agriculture.
 Agriculture became more efficient and productive so there was no longer any need for a large workforce in the
countryside.
 The infant mortality rate in rural areas was lower due to a healthier lifestyle, but there was no one to employ this
growing population.
 Towns provided jobs for this growing population, as fast growing industries such as textile factories drew people in.
 This normally applied more to towns with fast growing industries, such as Leeds and Manchester.
 The changes in agriculture also led to better quality food being produced to feed this growing population.
 Britain also had enough overseas influence to import food if necessary.
 There was also no restriction on the movement of people, people could easily move from one place to the next.
Other factors:
 Industrial towns provided employment for those who worked in the factories, and for a growing middle class whose
employment was linked to industrialisation.
 Examples are Factory managers, bankers, lawyers and engineers.
 People also wanted to buy manufactured goods, so the establishment of large stores was created. This led to the need
for managers and staff.
 The increasing literacy rates also meant the demand for newspapers went up, increasing the need for journalists.
 Towns needed men to be charge of civic affairs, leading to more civil servants.
 The middle class also needed to educate their children, so the need for schools and teachers grew.
Transport:
 Improvements in transport were also important reasons for the growth of towns.
 Without the ability to bring in large supplies of coal and raw materials and move out the finished products, there could
have been no factories to provide employment.
 Improved transport also meant that food could be brought in to feed the workforce.
 Railways also played an important part in the expansion of towns.
 Some railways even created the towns themselves, such as Crewe and Swindon.
31. Urban conditions, housing and health (slums) – consequences
 The quick growth of the population and rate of rural to urban migration meant that the demand for houses increased
by a lot.
 Some employers took some effort to provide good housing to their employees, but for everyone else they faced
appalling conditions.
 Property developers decided to look for quick profits by buying land near factories and building as many houses on
them as possible.
 These houses were tall and extremely close together.
 There was no regulation by any authority or planning, their aim was just to cram as any people into as little space as
possible.
 No attention was paid to basic facilities such as water supply or sewage disposal.
 Things such as heating and ventilation were ignored.
 It was so crowded whole families would live in single rooms.
 Due to the population density, diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia in the winter were common.
 In the summer, water borne diseases like cholera were the leading cause of deaths.
 The increase in slums was one of the biggest problems relating to the industrial revolution.
 The government system in the areas was old and was made hundreds of years ago to manage small towns and villages.
 Basically, the system was managed by unpaid volunteers such as local landlords or wealthy merchants, but this was
very inefficient.
 This all changed in 1835 when the government introduced the Municipal corporations act.
 This meant that:
1. A new system of government was set up in towns.
2. Local property owners could elect local officials to manage a town.
3. Local taxes could be raised which could be used to improve towns.
 The biggest problem with this act was that it wasn’t mandatory.
 This meant that the government didn’t have to spend these taxes on improving towns if they didn’t want to.
 The people didn’t really want to pay taxes which would benefit others.
 Instead of paying these taxes, the rich could simply move out of crowded towns and build houses in rural areas.
 The ruling class began to realise the working class was dissatisfied, so they put Edwin Chadwick to investigate.
 He was responsible for the Royal commission report which was published in 1842.
 This report made clear the damage done to the working class by bad living conditions.
 Action to try and better these conditions were taken in the Public health act of 1842.
 There were 2 opinions about this act.
 One was that the government should force local authorities to provide basic things such as water and sewage disposal.
 The other was that the government shouldn’t get involved in these matters. They wanted to avoid the increasing taxes
that came with improvement.
32. Child labour, working hours, pay and safety
 The people who worked in factories at the time had to put up with low pay and very bad working conditions.
 The average day was made up of 12-14 working hours in a dirty and dangerous environment.
 The atmosphere in these factories was so noisy and polluted that most workers had to learn to lip read because they
couldn’t hear each other.
 There were barely any breaks and the sanitation in these factories was very bad.
 Over 65% of the population in these textile mills were women and children. They were mostly unskilled labour.
 Before the revolution, it was mostly children and women that performed skilled textile work in cottage industries.
 Afterwards, this was reversed since it was men who did skilled labour on machines in factories for £2-2.25 a week.
 This was enough to maintain a family, however unskilled labour only earned about 70p a week which was not nearly
enough to do so.
 They normally relied on income from children and women to make up for it.
 Women earned about 35-60p a week and children even less.
 For many families the income earned by the children was very important.
 In factories, children made up about 30% of the workforce.
 Some employers, such as socialist Robert Owen, took care of their employees but most employers treated their
employees very badly.
 Stopping equipment lowered production and profits, so children often had to clean moving machinery.
 Many serious injuries occurred as it was easy for overworked children to make mistakes.
 There were no health and safety regulations and machines were not guarded.
  There was also no compensation for those injured or killed at work.
 Poor children known as ‘paupers’ (who were orphans or abandoned by their families), were often exploited.
 They were used as cheap and expendable labour by factory owners and weren’t given much food, play or housing.
 Many suffered lifelong disabilities.

The impact on different social classes.

Britain didn’t really have defined social classes. The landowning elite did exist which dominated economics and politics, but
outsiders could join this. Rich men could buy large estates and gain aristocracy status and women could marry into aristocratic
families. Men from working class background could also join the middle class through hard work and good fortune, purchasing
their own houses and businesses.

33. The impact on aristocracy:

 The aristocracy was in control of economics and politics in Britain at the time.
 They owned a large part of the wealth and land in Britain, and they made up the House of Lords and the House of
Commons.
 Aristocrats made a lot of money from agricultural improvements and industrial development in this period.
 They also made money from investing in overseas trade.
 The good thing was that making money wasn’t seen as damaging to their social status like in France.
 An example is the Duke of Bridgewater made a lot of money by building the first large canal to to transport coal from
his mines to sell in Manchester.
 Big landowners wanted to develop new agricultural techniques and make them public.
 They also wanted to exploit any mineral resources they had to the full.
 A lot of these aristocrats also educated their sons in public schools alongside many new entrepreneurs.
 They were also happier to marry their sons (and get the dowry) to daughters of men from the growing middle class.
 One of the reasons Parliament was so supportive of industrialisation was because many of its members would make
more money from these reforms.
 An example is that they passed acts to keep the price of corn high and stopping cheap corn imports in the corn Laws of
1815.
 The fact that Britain had a constitutional monarchy also helped a lot since the monarch didn’t stop the decisions of
parliament from passing.
 The monarch still had some powers, but if the PM and government wanted something, they got it.
 The aristocracy was also willing to accept political change, which helped them avoid what happened in France
(aristocracy was overthrown).
 In conclusion, the aristocracy did retain a lot of it’s power, the rich got richer and they took care of the other class’s
interests as well.
34. The growth of the middle class:
 One of the biggest social changes was the growth of a middle class.
 There were barely any professional men such as bankers and lawyers, and there also few wealthy merchants before
1750.
 Industrialisation led to expansion of this group, which became known as the middle class during the 19 th century.
 Businessmen, inventors, factory owners, architects, station managers, slum builders and landlords emerged in large
numbers.
 Great engineers gained a lot of wealth and status.
 Robert Peel, PM from 1841-1846, was the son of a successful textile manufacturer.
 Robert Peel was educated in a public school and Oxford university alongside the sons of the aristocracy.
 He married the daughter of a minor aristocrat, and his eldest daughter married the son of an earl.
 The need for civil servants and local government officials increased as the government grew.
 The railways also needed architects for their new stations, and they needed surveyors for their new lines.
 They needed accountants to manage the large sums of money needed in railway building.
 The surplus income held by the middle class meant that the demand for servants and luxury goods increased.
 This increased the growth of a retail system.
 Railways also led to emergence of segregation of social classes in housing.
 The working class lived in slums, whereas the middle class were able to afford transportation migrated to the suburbs.
 The suburbs were away from the factories and many domestic workers were employed there.
 Progress into the upper reaches of society was also made possible.
 An example is Robert Smith, a banker who was made a member of the house of lords in 1797.
 The aristocracy didn’t close off their ranks to the lower classes.
 In conclusion, the middle classes benefitted a lot from the industrialisation process.
35. The working class:
 The rest of the population didn’t really get any real benefit from industrialisation.
 Some of the conditions for some classes got even worse.
 The agricultural workers in the South and East of England went through poverty as the demand for homemade textiles
went down.
 They faced high levels of homelessness and starvation.
 There were also differences in how industrialisation affected men of the lower classes.
 Those who worked in factories and coal mines got mixed fortunes.
 Their incomes increased as their real wages increased, but this doesn’t really show the whole picture.
 Many semi-skilled and unskilled men relied on the money from their wives and children’s labour for survival.
 They didn’t really have any educational opportunities so increasing living standards wasn’t really possible.
 In times of economic recession thousands of workers could be laid off.
 If they fell ill or were injured, there wasn’t really any help available.
 One of the benefits of the revolution was that by the late 1830s, cheap rail transport was available.
 This meant that workers could move around the country to find work, and work was always available.
 However, working conditions in the coal mines during the time were still terrible.
 Some improvements had been made in safety, but working conditions were still some of the worst in the country.
 Wages were low, death rates were high and the men were often paid not in British currency, but their employer’s own
currency.
 This currency could only be used in shops owned by the employers, and prices there were higher than anywhere else.
 The labour class who benefitted somewhat were the skilled labourers.
 There was a shortage of these men so they were paid highly.
 An example is an engineer could be paid £4 a week, nearly three times as much as other workers.
 Another advantage these skilled labourers had was that there was that work was nearly guaranteed.
36. Government responses to these consequences: moves towards the regulation and control of working and living
conditions
 Even before the industrial revolution, working and living conditions of the lower classes was bad.
 However, it was the industrial revolution that significantly increased the scale and visibility of these poor working and
living conditions.
 Women and children were unable to protect themselves from exploitation, but industrialists claimed a 10 year old child
was perfectly capable of deciding whether or not to work and whether the working conditions were satisfactory.
 These industrialists didn’t want the government to interfere in the market.
 They believed the market forces of supply and demand should apply and that the government shouldn’t get involved in
capitalism.
 They claimed any increases in the pay for these women and children would lead to them getting bankrupt.
 The government did try to regulate child labour before 1830.
 Examples are acts 1802 and 1819, which placed controls on the hours children could work and to stop children under
the age of 9 from working.
 This wasn’t actually implemented since no inspection system was created and persecuting law breakers was difficult
and expensive.
 The early 1830s saw some improvements for workers.
 The working class relied on others to represent them, since they didn’t have any representation in parliament.
 Slowly, a factory reform movement was organised.
 Some of these reformers were actual humanitarians, some of them just wanted to see the downfall of capitalism and
the spread of industry.
 One important motivating factor for change was religion.
 Some members of the Church of England were content with the state of society, but some believed that it had a lot of
space to change for the better.
 The Whigs and the Tories (the 2 main political parties at the time) didn’t really care about social or economic reform.
 The Tories were conservative and the Whigs were laissez faire (meaning they believed the government shouldn’t really
be involved).
 However, it was 2 tory MPS (Michael Sadler and Richard Oastler) who began to gain support from workers to reduce
working hours for all.
 A letter in a Leeds newspaper gave th idea of regulation for children some momentum.
 Written by Richard Oastler, it was given the title of ‘Yorkshire slavery’.
 The letter was only published in a local newspaper but quickly gained national attention.
 This uncensored press made the exploitations of industrialists transparent to the working class all over Britain.
 Michael Sadler later managed to get a bill introduced into parliament giving a maximum 10 hour day for all workers
under 18 years old.
 The bill didn’t pass, but got a lot of publicity during its passage through parliament.
 Sadler was able to set up a committee of MPs to examine the bill and made sure the majority of these were its
supporters.
 He also managed to get a lot of witnesses to give their accounts of the abuses and bad practices that took place in
factories.
 In 1832, Sadler lost his seat in Parliament after being opposed by many factory owners and those who believed in
laissez faire policies.
 Although the 10 hour bill failed to pass by just a vote, parliament agreed to set up a royal commission to examine the
subject.
 Sadler’s committee only gave the worker’s side, but the royal commission (under Edwin Chadwick), gave a lot of scope
for manufacturers to present their views.
 The recommendations of the commission were eventually accepted by the government and made into law in 1833.
 This was known as Lord Ashley’s 1833 act.
 This was called the factory act, and was very important.
 The most important terms were:

1. This would apply to most textile mills.

2. No child under the age of 9 could be employed.
3. Restrictions were places on the number of hours people under the age of 18 could work.
4. Children over the age of 9 and under 13 had to receive 2 hours of education a day.
5. Inspectors were appointed to ensure the law was being obeyed and had some powers to enforce the law.

 However, many were disappointed by the act.

 It only covered some factories and not other things like coal mines, were children also worked in dangerous conditions.
 It also didn’t include women.
 Men who were looking for a shorter working day were also disappointed.
 The act also proved very difficult to enforce, and many factory owners simply ignored the requirement to educate
children.
 Parents were desperate for money so they didn’t really push factory owners to comply.
 Even if the factory owners were fined, they could easily afford it so they didn’t really care.
 However, this act was a critical first step.
 It showed that the government was now accountable for enforcing these laws and that the state now had a
responsibility to protect the interests of vulnerable people.
 This was a very important principle and led to many bigger changes in the future.
 Men who previously believed in laissez faire and non interference had now been persuaded to take action.
 This was due to humanitarian instincts, public opinion and a press that was very upsetting.
 A lot of the factory owners began to operate under the guidelines of the 1833 act, which was progress.
 Lord Ashley had the 1833 act reviewed by a select committee of parliament.
 This made public the failings of the 1833 to deal with things such as coal mines.
 This then led the coal mines act of 1842, which stopped all children under ten and women from underground work.
 It also established investigators which had the power to investigate and prosecute.
 It also led to the 1844 and 1847 factory acts.
 These reduced the working hours of 6-13 year olds to 6 ½ a day, increased the education from 2 to 3 hours, stopped
women from night shifts and laid down a maximum 12 hour day for women, which was later reduced to 10 hours a day.
 These acts of parliament represented a significant step forward when it came to state intervention.
 However, while some of the worst effects were alleviated, the working and living conditions for Britain’s working class
remained poor.