Pitt To Peel

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

18th century= Britain had financial wealth & population undergoing rapid growth
1711= 6 million
1791= 8.3 million
1821= 13.9 million
-industry grew, children able to earn valuable wage, became valuable economic asset, average examiners,y grew in size due to increasing birth rate

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

-increased rapidly
increased food & clothes production= decrease in infant morality
-agriculture revolution brought people into Britain, increased pressure on land to feed growing population
-death rate falling as advances being made in medicine & hygiene

Question 3

Agriculture

Answer 3

-society predominantly rural & agrarian, based on 18th century values
-massive scaled & pace of agrarian & industrial changes brought consequence
enclosure of arable land= better use of land
-selective breeding increased quality & quality of meat and dairy products
- turnips & clover ended need for fallow land
cheaper iron making= major developments in ploughs, not used till after 1850 that agriculture machines widely used
-increased area of land for cultivation due to reclamation

Question 4

Industrial

Answer 4

-coal & miners brought new fuels
textile industry= cotton more hygienic, easier to wash, housed fewer bugs than wool
-cheaper iron making, more machinery & technological advances
-huge pool of lankier to encourage sharing of ideas but were poor wages & working conditions
-massive growth of industrial towns (midlands & north)
-steam power
-factories

Question 5

What are the implications of the economic changes on society?

Answer 5

-new middle classes
-growing working class, class consciousness
-loss of patriarchal community
wage dependence= problem in times of unemployment as prices high
new urban centres= slum conditions & disease, problems of representation in parliament

Question 6

The working population

Answer 6

-earned wages through manual work
agriculture= labourers, north/side divide, social hierarchy & based in skill
industrial= hierarchy based in skill, artisans, skilled factory workers, women inferior, handloom weavers, framework knitters, creation of new skills/jobs & economic fluctuations

Question 7

The middle class

Answer 7

-needed to earn living but did so using their brain
-city bankers & large industrialists
composed of= smaller manufacturers, shop keepers, tailors, local brewers, a growing number of clerks, school teachers, managers, accountants, pharmacists & engineers

Question 8

The landed classes

Answer 8

-landowners
-gentry
-owner occupiers/freeholders

Question 9

How did Britain’s political system work?

Answer 9

-commons, lords, government & monarchy
king= choose who was in government
government= cabinet, chancellor, minister of trade, made up of people in lords & commons
-until American war of independence & French Revolution, called for a change in political system

Question 10

How did Britain’s political system work?

Answer 10

-coomoms, lords, government & monarchy
-king chose who was in government
government= cabinet, chancellor, ministers, lords & commons
-until American war of independence & French Revolution, called for change in political system

Question 11

Monarchs & lords in 1780’s

Answer 11

-monarch called parliament & elected prime minister
-influence general election & who would become MP
- outdoor make someone a lord, good stay on favourable side of king
lords=dukes, earls, bishops, good representation of landing classes, backward looking, like tradition & resisted to change, conservative

Question 12

House of Commons

Answer 12

-son of peers had 1/5 seats
-industrialists bought themselves into parliament with profits from their trade
-100 MPs came from professions. & 200 MPs substantial land own sees
-owed their seats to patrons in lords

Question 13

Types of members

Answer 13

counties= 40 represented by 80 MPs, expensive to fight elections, by elections for MPs accepting ministerial positions, need income of £600 or ,for for land to qualify
boroughs= 203 with 405 MPs, about half could be brought, income of £300 or more
universities= Oxford & Cambridge returned 2 MPs

Question 14

Elections

Answer 14

-septennial act 1715
-elections at least every 7 years, death of monarch & at monarch’s choosing (advised by government)

Question 15

The electorate (1780’s)

Answer 15

England & wales= 435k out of 7.5 million people could vote
Scotland & Ireland= less than 1% of population of 6m could vote
excluded= anyone u dear age of 21, Roman Catholics & dissenters

Question 16

Who could vote in counties

Answer 16

-2 MPs to parliament
-all 40 shilling freeholders vote
-larger electorates & more democratic than boroughs

Question 17

Who could vote in boroughs

Answer 17

-2 MPs to parliament
-situation confused as to who had franchise
- more than 40% of boroughs had electorates of less than 100
-2/3 had electorates below 500
-1/3 of seats contested, not many had money or land and no point putting yourself forward against someone who was sure to win

Question 18

Rotten boroughs

Answer 18

-borough that has scarcely any electorates
Old Sarum= 7 people voted for 2 seats
-route for young & talented MPs, meant that new cities like Manchester were poorly represented

Question 19

Pocket boroughs

Answer 19

-wealthy landowners that secured their support of candidates in elections
1800= about half of all MPs owned their seats to such patronage

Question 20

Impact of economic changes

Answer 20

-new centres of production/popluation
Lancaster= from small, population to centre of textile production, 1831 had population of 1.3 but only 14 MPs
-Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham & Bradford had no MPs of own, represented by county MPs
Cornwall= had 340,000 people & 42 MPs