Section 10 - The Industrial Revolution

Question 1

Where did the Industrial Revolution begin?

Answer 1

North Britain.

Question 2

Give 3 reasons why the Industrial Revolution began here.

Answer 2

1) As a result of the agricultural revolution there was a huge population growth. This provided more workers and a greater demand for industrial goods.
2) Many new inventions made producing industrial goods easier (E.G. Newcomen’s steam engine).
3) Britain ruled over many countries known as colonies, these colonies provided a cheap supply of raw materials and a market to sell to.

Question 3

There were two main processes in the textile industry, name them.

Answer 3

Spinning and weaving.

Question 4

Name two inventions (and their inventors) that made spinning easier.

Answer 4

1) Arkwright’s Water Frame

2) Hargreaves’s Spinning Jenny

Question 5

Name two inventions (and their inventors) that made weaving easier.

Answer 5

1) Cartwright’s Power Loom

2) Kay’s Flying Shuttel

Question 6

These machines were expensive and took up a lot of space. Give 3 effects on the textile industry as a result of them.

Answer 6

1) The textile industry moved from the home to big buildings known as a factory.
2) The textile industry was controlled by rich factory owners.
3) Craftsmen had to move to cities where factory owners cruelly exploited them

Question 7

Give an example of a location a Mill could be found.

Answer 7

Lancaster, England

Question 8

What might a mill worker have done in a mill?

Answer 8

Operated spinning or weaving machines (e.g. Cartwright’s Power Loom).

Question 9

How much were male mill workers paid?

Answer 9

€1 per week.

Question 10

How much were female mill workers paid?

Answer 10

Half of what the men got (€0.50 per week).

Question 11

Describe the climate of inside a mill.

Answer 11

It was always very hot and humid.

Question 12

Were mill workers allowed to open windows?

Answer 12

No, if the mill workers opened the windows the cotton thread might snap.

Question 13

Were the mills a safe place to work?

Answer 13

No, the machines were very dangerous (e.g. a woman’s hair might get caught in a machine and it could tear her scalp off).

Question 14

What were the working hours like at mills?

Answer 14

The mill workers worked long hours (e.g. 6am to 8pm) with very short breaks.

Question 15

What might children have done in the mill?

Answer 15

Children as young as 6 worked in mills crawling under machines to get cotton.

Question 16

How much were children paid in the mills?

Answer 16

2c an hour.

Question 17

What did the mill workers try to do to get treated fairer by the factory owners? Why didn’t it work?

Answer 17

They tried to set up trade unions. It didn’t work because the government had taken the side of the factory owners and banned trade unions (until 1825).

Question 18

Give an example of where a coalfield could be found.

Answer 18

Yorkshire or South Wales.

Question 19

Coal was very important in the smelting of steel, however it was not coal that was used but rather a substance derived from it. What was this substance and who figured out how to convert it?

Answer 19

Abraham Darby discovered how to convert coal into coke to smelt iron ore into “pig iron”.

Question 20

Many coal mines could not be used due to flooding. Who figured out how to get around this and how?

Answer 20

Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine. This machine could pump water out of the mines.

Question 21

Who furthered Thomas Newcomen’s idea and what benefit was it to the industrial revolution?

Answer 21

James Watt furthered Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine by attaching a wheel to it. With belts, it could power machines in the textile industry and it was later used to power trains.

Question 22

Give an example of a location a coal mine could be found.

Answer 22

Yorkshire or South Wales.

Question 23

At what age could a boy work in a mine? Doing what?

Answer 23

At the age of 5 a boy could become a trapper. Trappers worked in mines by opening and closing the trap doors.

Question 24

What is the second position a boy could be employed as in a mine?

Answer 24

At the age of 8 a boy could become a hurrier. Hurriers drag baskets of coal from the coal face to the surface.

Question 25

What was the final position a man could get in a mine? How was he paid?

Answer 25

A man could be employed as a hewer. Hewers used pick axes to hew (break off) coal from the coal face. They were paid based on how much coal they hewed.

Question 26

What are the roofs of mines held up by? How reliable were they?

Answer 26

Pit props. Pit props are strong lengths of timber. Sometimes the pit props would collapse and miners would be buried alive.

Question 27

Some of the gases in mines would explode if they came into contact with a naked flame. What is the name of the lamp that prevented this?

Answer 27

The Davy Lamp.

Question 28

Name one cause of a miners death due to respiratory problems.

Answer 28

Miners’ Cough caused by all the coal dust in the mines.

Question 29

Give two other health problems suffered by miners.

Answer 29

1) Deformed backs

2) Poor eyesight

Question 30

What fuelled the furnace that smelted iron ore?

Answer 30

Coke, as discovered by Abraham Darby.

Question 31

What resulted as a result of smelted iron ore? What did this then produce?

Answer 31

“Pig iron” was produced when iron ore was smelted. It was used to make iron and steel.

Question 32

How did Henry Cort produce irought iron?

Answer 32

Cort used a method of “paddling and rolling”: First he stirred the pig iron (“paddling”) and then ran it through rollers (“rolling”) to make sheets of wrought iron.

Question 33

Who found an effective way to produce wrought iron from pig iron?

Answer 33

Henry Cort

Question 34

Who found an effective way of producing steel from pig iron?

Answer 34

Henry Bessemer

Question 35

How did Henry Bessemer convert pig iron into steel?

Answer 35

By blowing hot air through the melted pig iron. This produced better and cheaper steel.

Question 36

Give 3 effects of the industrial revolution.

Answer 36

1) The growth of cities: poor people crowded into the cities in search of work. These poor people lived in slums.
2) Trade: Britain became very rich through overseas trade. British colonies provided cheap resource materials and a good market for the industrial goods.
3) Clothing: Cotton became the most popular clothing fabric and, due to the new textile machines, clothing became very cheap. However mill workers could only afford few clothes because they were paid so little.

Question 37

Describe (in 3 points) the slums that poor people lived in.

Answer 37

1) There were no toilets or running water.
2) Rubbish was thrown onto rat infested streets.
3) Due to poor living conditions and polluted drinking water, many people died of diseases such as TB and Cholera.

Question 38

In what year did trade unions become legalised?

Answer 38

1825

Question 39

When was the first successful trade union set up? What was it called?

Answer 39

“The amalgamated society of engineers” was the first successful trade union. It was set up in 1851.

Question 40

During the industrial revolution many people were socialists. What are socialists?

Answer 40

Socialists are people who believe that working class people should have more power.

Question 41

Other people were communists, who did they support?

Answer 41

Karl Marx

Question 42

When was the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 42

1750 and onwards.