Britain Booklet 2 Flashcards
How did industrialization impact the countryside?
Enclosure of open fields, commons and wastes
Crop yields increased by 40% in the 18th century, 2/3 of that came from more intensive land use
Land cost was £12 an acre, £5 a hectare
A strong agricultural sector would support rapid economic and population growth
How did industrialization impact the turnpike and canals?
22,000 turnpiked roads in England by 1836 - 20% of total mileage
London to Shrewsbury took 4 days in 1753, which became a day and a half in 1772, and by 1835 was only 12 hours
Bristol to London went from 30 hours to 16 hours in 1784
For every 16 miles of turnpiked road in 1836, one mile of river navigation had been improved
Number of annual passengers on the Forth Clyde Canal rose from 44,000 in 1812 to 200,000 in 1838
How did industrialization impact the railways?
Canal and rail industries fought over Liverpool and Manchester for 20 years
South West England and Scotland had no railways
Total Railway network by 1912 was 3x that of 1850
By 1838 there was 500 miles of railway track, by 1850 there was over 6000 miles
How did industrialization impact the towns?
Manchester grew from 50,000 in 1775 to 84,000 in 1801
Half of the 16.9 million population lived in an urban environment
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds all had populations exceeding 50,000
London had a population of over 100,000
How did industrialization impact the industries?
Early spinning factories in the cotton industry were water powered
In 1801, half the population were engaged in industrial pursuits
South Wales and Monmouthshire, 100 furnaces built in 1796 and 1806 by which date 90% of British Pig Iron was being smelted in the 5 coal fields of Wales, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Scotland
How did industrialization impact banking?
In 1808 there were 800 banks, before in 1784 there were only 119
In 1797 banks were granted to issue notes
In 1866 – there were 154 joint stock banks and 850 branches nationwide
In 1833 the actions of parliament allowed banks to issue checks, speeding up commercial transactions
The new inventions were expensive and therefore had to be purchased through accessible banking
Smaller banks were absorbed into larger joint-stock enterprises
What fraction of children died in their first year of life?
3/20
In Sheffield and Manchester what fraction of children died before their 5th birthday in the 1830s
1/2
In 1801-1871 what percentage did agriculture and fisheries working population decline?
35% to 15%
By 1811, how much were British manufacturers producing and how much of that was exported?
£130 million of goods, of which £40 million was exported
How much money did Richard Arkwright die with in 1792?
£500,000
What was the new industrial middle class?
The middle class were mainly the factory owners and entrepreneurs, they rented their land from the upper class and built their factories on them
Before the 1833 Factory Act how many hours on how many days a week would men work?
6 days a week, 14 hours a day
What are some examples of punishments for workers?
10 Minutes late, fined 2 hours’ wages
Being caught talking, often fined 1 shilling or 1/5 of the daily wages
Which advancement made mines slightly safer in 1815?
Davy safety lamp
Between 1770 and 1850, by how much did coal production increase by?
6 million to 55 million tons
What were the working hours like in mines?
6 days a week, 12 hours a day
Where was the first major cholera outbreak and how many people died within a year?
Sunderland, 1831, 32,000 died within a year
What issues were there with urban housing?
Built efficiently, but lacked quality
Foundations were only 3 bricks deep
Courtyards were communal areas but also served as toilets and access to properties leading to low quality sanitation
Rent for back houses was 1s 10d per week compared to front houses which was 2s 6d per week
Between 1801-1851 how much did the population increase by every decade?
27%
What did the 1835 Municipal Corporations act attempt to do?
Improve the living conditions and reforming the local governments, but the short term effect was limited
What results came from Chadwick’s 1842 report?
Of 687 streets inspected in Manchester, 248 were unpaved, 112 were ill-ventilated and 242 had stagnant pools of effluence or piles of rubbish
57% of children to working class patients died before their fifth birthday
How many people died of typhus each year?
4000
Which 2 diseases were young people very vulnerable to?
Diptheria and Scarlet Fever
How many major outbreaks of typhoid were there from 1830-1836
4
How many people did Asiatic Cholera kill?
1832: 52,000
1848-49: 30,000
1853-54: 70,000
1866: 18,000
What did the 1833 factory act do?
No Children under nine years to be employed
Children aged 9-12 to work a maximum of 9 hours a day (max 48 a week)
Children aged 13-18 to work a maximum of 12 hours a day (max 68 a week)
Children aged 9-11 receive 2 hours schooling per day
No Night work for anyone under 18
Factory owners had to keep a register of all the children they employed
Four full time inspectors employed to enforce the act
A break of 1 1/2 hours was to be provided for meals during the day
Which industry did the 1833 factory act cover?
Textile mills
How many inspectors were there for how many mills?
4 inspectors for 4000 textile mills
What did the 1842 mines act do?
Banned the underground employment of women and children under 10
What did the 1844 factory act do?
More inspectors appointed
New safety rules I.e., fence off dangerous areas while machines are being cleaned
Children could start work aged 8 but not work more than 6 ½ hours a day.
What did the 1847 factory act do?
10 hour working day for all women and children
Young people and women restricted to a 10 ½ hour working day which basically extended to men as well as the factories couldn’t function without the full workforce
Restricted working hours for children from 6am-6pm
What did the Factories Act Extension Acts do?
Further extensions were made to include more industries, Bleaching and dyeworks (1860), lace work (1861), calendaring (1863), finishing (1864), potteries (1864)
What did the Swing Riots do?
Mainly agricultural workers in the south
Lasted for 2 years
Caused £600 riot damage
Caused £100,000 arson damage
252 sentenced to death, 505 transported
Used hunger politics to force reform
What was the 10 hour movement?
The backbone of the drive for reform, a campaign for the reduction of hours worked in textile mills to 10 hours per day
Led by Richard Oastler, a Tory landowner from Huddersfield driven by improving humanitarian conditions and treating child workers well
John Fielden was instrumental in bringing about the Factory Act 1847 which included the 10-hour working day
Never extended to men only women & children
What were Luddites?
Groups of workers who caused incidents e.g. machine breaking
Began in Nottingham and lasted for 6 years, started in 1811 with threatening letters
In 3 weeks they’d destroyed 200 stocking frames
Spread to Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire
12,000 troops sent to Luddite active areas
Feb 1812 - 1000 frames destroyed in Nottingham, between £6000 and £10,000 of damage
1812 - 18 Luddites in Lancashire killed, 13 transported
What was the 1812 Frame Breaking Act?
A law that increased the penalties for the Luddites to discourage more people from joining the Luddites
What was the Health of Towns Association, 1844?
This was a pressure group created by Southward Smith and grew rapidly, establishing branches across the country, aimed to pressure the government into passing a public health act
How many copies did Chadwick’s 1842 report sell?
100,000
What was the Public Health Act, 1848?
Creation of the Central Board of Health
Only applied to areas with a 23/1000 mortality rate
Improved health and sanitation
What were Burial Acts, 1852-57?
Made normal graves around 1.5 meters deep
1852 burial act passed, overseen by a burial board
What was the Sanitary Act, 1866?
Promoted better health conditions in Britain
Made it punishable to disregard someone who needed quarantining
Significant for improvement of living conditions
Forced local corporations to keep records of inspections they were required to perform
Sanitation inspections made compulsory
By 1833, how much money was the cotton industry making and how many people were employed?
£300 million and 833,000
Which economist published the ‘Wealth of Nations’ in 1776?
Adam Smith
From 1816-1831, by what percentage had the middle class increased?
75%
