Industrialisation: Working and Living conditions

Question 1

Living Conditions: What type of housing was common place in urban areas?

Answer 1

• Back-to-back houses: average just 4m wide, one room deep with a bedroom upstairs
  Foundations were often only 3 bricks deep, and there was often only one wall that could have windows

Question 2

Living Conditions: How many citizens lived in back to back housing in Birmingham? and how many of these houses were there in Nottingham?

Answer 2

2/3 lived in B-to-B Houses in Birmingham

by 1841 Nottingham had 12,600 B-to-B houses

Question 3

Living Conditions: What was the first major cholera outbreak?

Answer 3

1831: the first major cholera outbreak was in Sunderland, and killed 32,000 a year.

Question 4

Living Conditions: What were some of the problems with sewage?

Answer 4

• Sewer seepage into water supply

- Slaughterhouses and Factories pumped their offal and blood and dangerous products directly into sewers

Question 5

Living Conditions: How many people died from Typhus?

Answer 5

4000 per year

Question 6

Living Conditions: How many victims did Cholera claim?

Answer 6

Asiatic cholera killed 170,000 between 1832-1866

Question 7

Living Conditions: What was the life expectancy like for working class children?

Answer 7

57% of children died before their 5th Birthday.

Question 8

Working Conditions: How long was the man’s working week and daily hours in a factory?

Answer 8

6 day working week, 14 Hour days

Question 9

Working Conditions: what was punishable by loss of daily wages?

Answer 9

turning up 10 mins late: 2 hours wages gone.

talking: 1/5 of daily wage gone.

Question 10

Working Conditions: What were the risks of Factories and Mines?

Answer 10

Factories: No safeguards or machine safety checks so frequent injuries
Mines: Flooding, Gas leaks, Explosions, collapsing shafts.

Question 11

Working Conditions: What was the average shift in a mine?

Answer 11

12 hours 6 days a week

Question 12

Working Conditions: What was the problem with mining as a profession?

Answer 12

Until 1844 most miners weren’t permanently employed but were bound for agreed hours and lengths of time, had to present themselves whenever called upon but had no guaranteed fixed wage.

Question 13

Women & Children: What was the general wage for a working woman?

Answer 13

As low as an employer could possibly get e.g. 12-15 shillings a week.

Question 14

Women & Children: What was a typical job of a woman?

Answer 14

‘Hurrier’ in a mine - hauling carts attached to shoulders, often lead to stillbirths and miscarriages
‘Bone Cleaners’ in butcheries - Cleaned and skinned bones in order to be ground to make china.

Question 15

Women & Children: What percent of the working population was under 20?

Answer 15

1821: 49% was under 20

Question 16

Women & Children: What were 2 jobs typically performed by children?

Answer 16

‘Scavengers’ Collectors of waste in the smaller gaps in dangerous machines which were often not switched of

‘Trappers’ Opened trap doors in mines for carts to pass through.

Question 17

Women & Children: An example of a child harshly treated after sustaining a major injury?

Answer 17

13 year old Martha Appleton lost her fingers in a machine and was fired without compensation due to her inability to do her job.

Question 18

Women & Children: how many mine workers who were children?

Answer 18

1842: 1/3 of the mining workforce were under 19.