Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in Britain?

WALT
• understand the causes of
the Industrial Revolution.

WILF
• Detail the key features in
Britain that caused the
Industrial Revolution
• Explain links between the
key features
A British writer, Arnold Toynbee (1852-1883),
was the first person to use the label ‘Industrial
Revolution’. He was using it to describe the
huge changes that had occurred in the way
people worked in the years after 1750.

By 1830, one operator working several factory

machines could produce three-and-a-half
thousand times more cloth than a person
working at home could have done in 1700.
 Look at the causes of the Industrial
Revolution cards
1) Group the causes under the headings (you can
highlight them different colours)

• More people
• Inventions
• Raw Materials
• Large Empire
• Entrepreneurs
Between 1750 and 1900, the
population of Great Britain
increased from 7 million to 37
million people.
Britain’s empire was the
biggest empire the world had
ever known! These colonies
bought British made goods of
all kinds, especially cloth, iron
and later steel.
Between 1750 and 1900,
some of the world’s greatest
inventors happened to live in
Britain. Clever inventors
thought up wonderful
machines that produced more
food, more cloth and more
iron faster than ever before.
Edward Cartwright invents a
power loom which wove thread
into cloth using steam power to
drive the machine.
The growth in population
meant that people needed
shirts, trousers, coats, socks,
knives, forks, clocks and so
on. The factories that
produced these goods made
a fortune for their owners
Britain changed as its Empire
grew. Cheap goods, like
cotton, were imported from
the colonies; the factories
turned it into cloth…and sold
some of it back for huge
profits!
Steam engines, steam trains,
electric generators,
telephones and light bulbs are
just a few ‘British firsts’.
Britain changed as it became
a world leader in technology.
Key
More people =
Inventions =
Raw Materials =
Large Empire =
Entrepreneurs =
Britain changed as factories
were built to provide work for
the growing population…and
made lots of goods for them
to buy.
Entrepreneurs are business
people who are prepared to
take risks. They buy raw
materials (like clay), make it
into goods (teapots) and sell
the good for profits.
Britain was blessed with some
valuable raw materials. By
1850, Britain produced two-
thirds of the world’s coal, half
of the world’s iron, two-thirds
of the world steel and half of
the world’s cotton cloth!
Britain is known as the
‘workshop of the world’.
During the Industrial
Revolution Britain gained a
huge Empire. At one point
Britain ruled about 450
million people living in 56
colonies around the world.
Between 1750 and 1900,
there were huge numbers of
risk-taking entrepreneurs.
Banks were willing to lend
them money to put into new
businesses, factories and
inventions if they looked like
they would give them a profit.
Steam engines had been
around since 1698. 71 years
later Matthew Boulton and
James Watt modified early
steam engines to produce an
efficient and reliable engine.
Steam engines could be used to
power any machine instead of
manual labour.
 More people Inventions

Raw
1 materials
Large empire

Entrepreneurs

Task 2 - what links can we make between these key factors?

Draw a line between two factors, number it, and then briefly describe how
it helped start the Industrial Revolution - let’s look at an example on the
next slide.
 More people Inventions

Raw
1 materials
Large empire

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs were able to take the new inventions and make

1 them into profitable businesses. This created jobs and wealth.
Reasons why the Industrial Revolution
happened in Britain first
Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in
Britain? – BBC, Professor Jeremy Black.