2 - Industrialisation and protest Flashcards
The impact of industrialisation
The countryside
Enclosure caused crop yield to increase by 40%
From 1866 to 1880 the volume of milk imported by rail rose form 7 million to 20 million gallons.
The impact of industrialisation
Railways
By 1834, 500 miles of track has been completed
By 1850 over 6,000 miles of track and been opened
The impact of industrialisation
Towns
By 1801, London’s population was around 1 million which was approximately 8% of the total population of the UK
The impact of industrialisation
Industry
90% of British steel was smelted in the 5 coalfields of South Wales
100 furnaces were built from 1796 to 1806 in South Wales and Monmouthshire
Steam engine introduced in 1769
Banking
1825 = Post Napoleonic war depression caused many banks to fail
Following the 1833 Act of Parliament which permitted the use of joint stock banks, …
by 1866 there were 154 joint stock banks with 850 branches. = safer (backed by money)
Economic improvements of industrialisation
The national capital invested in industry, and trade and transport grew from 5% in 1760 to 26% in 1860.
Average annual wage for a family = £24
2/5 of workers were employed by the manufacturing industry in 1801 —> 2/3 by 1871
In 1801, half of the West Country villages were involved in industry
Richard Arkwright facts
+ growth of the middle class
Middle class + self made
When he died in 1792 he had £500,000 in his bank
He employed more than 300 people at his mill
He invented a water frame for more effective cotton spinning
+ middle class grew by 75% between 1816-1831
Social disadvantages of industrialisation
3/20 children died before their first year of life.
Overcrowding due to urbanisation — by 1800 25% of the population lives in towns and by 1880 it was 80%
The population increased by 27% each decade from 1801-1851
employers rules on being 10 minutes late resulting in 2hr wage reduction
Improvements in working conditions in urban areas
Davy lamp in 1815 was safer (no fire hazard)
Chadwick’s 1842 report found that 252 streets in Manchester had stagnant pools of effluence or piles of rubbish = forced the government to react
Disadvantages of the working conditions in urban areas
Mines were dangerous: on average they were 300 meters deep by 1850
Sewers were not — first built in 1865 in London and were invented by Joseph Bazalgette
Asiatic cholera killed 70,000 from 1848-49
Factory Reform
1833
No children under 9 to be employed
Children under 13 to receive 2 hours schooling — no schools built
Four full time inspectors to enforce the Act — to cover 4,000 mills
— however, it only covered textile mills
Factory Reform
1842 Miners Act
Banned the underground employment of children under 10 and women too. = Peel
+ school for 2 hours a day but no schools built
Factory Reform
1844
Children were allowed to work from the age of 8 but for only 6.5 hours a day
Children aged 13-18 and women were to work a maximum of 12 hours a day
Included most types of factories
All dangerous machinery was to be fenced off. vs. Martha Appleton in 1859 lost her fingers in unguarded machinery and was fired as she was unable to work
Factory Reform
1847
Introduced the 10 hour working day for all women and children
— most men got it too because the factories would close due to a loss of workers
However, in 1850 it was extended to 10.5 hours
Who enabled factory reform to take place
Individuals
Michael Armstrong’s factory boy was published in 1840 = first industrial novel
Factory inspectors:
Implemented in the 1833 Factory act
Leonard Horner addressed loopholes made in the 1847 Factory act and drafted a bill that formed the 1853 Factory Act
