Industrial Britain Dates

Question 1

In which year did William Pitt (the Younger) become Prime Minister?

Answer 1

1783

Question 2

In which year did Pitt introduce his sinking fund?

Answer 2

1786

Question 3

In which year did Pitt sign a successful free trade treaty with France, whereby both countries reduced duties on imports from the other?

Answer 3

1786

Question 4

On which day did the French Revolution kick off, causing fear and unrest at home?

Answer 4

14th July 1789

Question 5

In which year did Edmund Burke publish Reflections of the Revolution in France, condemning the revolutionaries?

Answer 5

1790

Question 6

In which year did Tom Paine publish The Rights of Man in support of the revolutionaries?

Answer 6

1791

Question 7

In which year did Britain become involved in the French revolutionary wars?

Answer 7

1793

Question 8

In which year did the Irish rebel under the leadership of Wolfe Tone?

Answer 8

1798

Question 9

In which year was income tax introduced for the first time, as a war measure?

Answer 9

1798

Question 10

In which years were the Combination Acts instigated to prevent groups of workers uniting to demand better wages and working conditions?

Answer 10

1799/1800

Question 11

In which year was the Act of Union with Ireland passed through Parliament?

Answer 11

1800

Question 12

In which year did the first official census establish the population of Great Britain and Ireland at over 15 million?

Answer 12

1801

Question 13

In which year was Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar?

Answer 13

1805

Question 14

In which year did Pitt the Younger die?

Answer 14

1806

Question 15

In which year did William Wilberforce’s campaigning achieve abolition of the slave trade by Britain?

Answer 15

1807

Question 16

In which year was the Prince of Wales made regent, due to the deteriorating mental health of George III?

Answer 16

1811

Question 17

In which years were the Luddite riots, an indication of textile workers’ anger at low wages and social distress?

Answer 17

1811-1812

Question 18

In which year was Wellington’s victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars?

Answer 18

1815

Question 19

In which year was the passing of the Corn Laws to protect home grown wheat against import of cheap foreign corn?

Answer 19

1815

Question 20

In which year was the Peterloo Massacre?

Answer 20

1819

Question 21

In which year did Lord Liverpool’s government pass the repressive Six Acts?

Answer 21

1819

Question 22

In which year was the Penal Code reformed, cutting the number of crimes punishable by death?

Answer 22

1823

Question 23

In which year were the Combination Acts repealed?

Answer 23

1824

Question 24

In which year were the Test and Corporation Acts repealed?

Answer 24

1828

Question 25

In which year was Catholic emancipation granted?

Answer 25

1829

Question 26

In which year was the introduction of the first Metropolitan police force?

Answer 26

1829

Question 27

In which year was the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line?

Answer 27

1830

Question 28

In which year was the first Parliamentary Reform Act, challenging the political dominance of the landed aristocracy?

Answer 28

1832

Question 29

In which year was slavery abolished throughout the British Empire?

Answer 29

1833

Question 30

In which year was the Factory Act passed, limiting the hours children could work?

Answer 30

1833

Question 31

In which year was the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs?

Answer 31

1834

Question 32

In which year did Robert Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto define conservatism?

Answer 32

1834

Question 33

In which year was the Poor Law Amendment Act, establishing a workhouse system for poor relief?

Answer 33

1834

Question 34

In which year was the Municipal Corporations Act, leading to a complete overhaul of local government?

Answer 34

1835

Question 35

In which year was the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act passed?

Answer 35

1836

Question 36

In which year did Queen Victoria succeed to the throne?

Answer 36

1837

Question 37

In which year was the publication of the Six Points of the People’s Charter, and the start of the chartist movement?

Answer 37

1838

Question 38

In which year did Prime Minister Robert Peel’s budget introduce peacetime income tax?

Answer 38

1842

Question 39

In which year did the Mines Act prohibit underground employment for women and children?

Answer 39

1842

Question 40

In which year did the Factory Act shorten working hours in textile factories?

Answer 40

1844

Question 41

In which year was the Bank Charter Act passed to balance the issue of bank notes against the volume of gold reserves?

Answer 41

1844

Question 42

In which year did the Rochdale Pioneers start the cooperative movement?

Answer 42

1844

Question 43

In which year was the start of the Irish famine, in which a million Irish peasants perished?

Answer 43

1845

Question 44

In which year did the repeal of the Corn Laws split the Conservative party?

Answer 44

1846

Question 45

In which year was the Ten Hour Act passed, regulating hours in factories?

Answer 45

1847

Question 46

In which year was the Public Health Act passed as a response to spread of disease in overcrowded towns and cities?

Answer 46

1848

Question 47

In which year did the Great Exhibition showcase the inventiveness of Britain’s manufacturing industries?

Answer 47

1851

Question 48

In which year did the death of Lord Palmerston clear the way for parliamentary reform?

Answer 48

1865

Question 49

In which year did the Second Reform Act give the vote to some working-class men for the very first time?

Answer 49

1867

Question 50

In which year did Gladstone’s first term as Prime Minister begin, in which he carried through a series of far-reaching administrative reforms?

Answer 50

1868

Question 51

In which year did a unified Germany begin to compete with Britain in terms of industrial output?

Answer 51

1871

Question 52

In which year did the Trade Union Act give unions certain legal rights?

Answer 52

1871

Question 53

In which year did the Criminal Law Amendment Act make it difficult for unions to enforce a strike by picketing?

Answer 53

1872

Question 54

In which year did the Secret Ballot Act enable men to vote without fear of reprisal?

Answer 54

1872

Question 55

In which year did a period of significant depression kick off in agriculture and industry?

Answer 55

1873

Question 56

In which year was the Artisans’ Dwelling Act passed?

Answer 56

1875

Question 57

In which year was the unpopular Criminal Law Amendment Act replaced by the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act?

Answer 57

1875

Question 58

In which year was the Land League founded in Ireland by Michael Davitt to secure land reform for Irish tenants?

Answer 58

1879

Question 59

In which year did Charles Parnell emerge as a leader of Irish Nationalists?

Answer 59

1879

Question 60

In which year did the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge begin, linking northern Scotland with the rest of Britain?

Answer 60

1882

Question 61

In which year did the Third Reform Act extend franchise to include unskilled labourers?

Answer 61

1884

Question 62

In which year was the Redistribution of Seats Act passed, meaning the size of constituencies would relate to the distribution of the population?

Answer 62

1885