Unit 2 - Changing Britain Flashcards
1
Q
Reasons for Overcrowding
A
- Irish potato famine, leading to immigration
- Highland clearances
- People looking for jobs or need to live near factories for work
- Agricultural revolution, new technology replacing people’s jobs
- Better leisure opportunities like theatres, shops
- social opportunities
2
Q
Describe Poor Quality Housing
A
- Crowded as very expensive to have more than one or two rooms
- Poor building materials
- No fresh water or ventilation in houses
- No sewage systems so human waste and rubbish were dumped on streets outside houses
- Black mould on inside of walls in houses
- Pollution form heating homes and factories making air
3
Q
Describe Medical Problems and Diseases
A
- Dentists were almost non existent and places like butchers and blacksmiths did there job
- Un-Hygienic streets as no sewage systems
- Cholera, dirty water
- Typhus, lice
- Tuberculosis, disease in lungs
- Black mould on walls
4
Q
Improvements in housing
A
- Nuisance Removal Act 1855, police power to close property that threatens public health
- Chadwick’s Report, found the housing conditions to be terrible
- By early 1900’s housing had to be provided with better waste disposal systems
- The Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwelling Improvement Act 1875, allowed councils to demolish slums and build new ones in place
- Introduction of gas stoves and electricity in some houses
- Many now had access to clean water
- Rent restriction act 1915
5
Q
Improvements in Health
A
- Public Health Act 1848 to ensure proper drainage and lavatories and waste disposal so water was not contaminated
- Improved medical knowledge
- Smallpox Vaccines 1853, made taking vaccine compulsory
- Public Health Act 1875, council compulsory to provide clean water etc. and appoint local health officer
- Improvements to housing
- Knowledge of hygiene
6
Q
New Technology in Coal mines
A
- Ventilation shafts
- Second exit shaft
- Davey lamps, no longer open flame
- Water pumps
- Steam Engines, allowed coal to be sold and moved across country
- Metal supports instead of wood, less rot more stable
7
Q
New Technology in Factories
A
- Owenism, idea of treating workers better for better results at New Lanark
- Silence monitor, pitting people against each other rather than physical punishments (Owenism)
- Power Loom 1785 increased production and did not rely on water like water wheel
- Steam Engines, powered machines instead of human labour
- Spinning Mule 1779, had over 1,000 spindles was faster and higher quality thread
- Water frame 1775, powered by running water no people but means only could be used next to rivers etc. not cities
8
Q
Conditions in Coal mines
A
- Flooding
- Gas
- Cave-ins
- Children working to transport coal through small gaps and could get injured
- Cutting coal was very labour intensive
- Poor ventilation, cause diseases like black spit
9
Q
Conditions in textile factories
A
- Fires due to small cotton fibers
- Poor ventilation due to cotton fibres being breathed in regularly
- Hot and damp environment which was bad for health as going to cold outside could cause pneumonia
- Didn’t want to waste cotton so people often children were sent under running machines
- Long working hours, 14 hour days were common and rarely had 30 min break
- Harsh punishments such as nailing children’s ears to tables
10
Q
Improvements to working conditions in mines
A
- Water Pumps
- Second shaft
- Ventilation shafts
- Pit ponies, to replace children
- The Coal Mines Act 1911, restricted to 8 hour day and no boy under 14 could be employed underground
- Coal Mining Act 1842, no women to work underground
11
Q
Improvements to working conditions in factories
A
- Owenism, new Lanark
- Silence monitor
- Factory act 1833 must go to school part time and no work for under 9’s
- Factory Act 1878 10-14 only employed for half days and any thing younger not at all
- Power Looms 1785, quicker, less people needed at once and more efficient
- Sadler Report, shocked many on the conditions and helped increase awareness for the matter
12
Q
Reasons why canals declined
A
- Unpredictable eg. Froze over in winter
- Very slow so produce went off
- Farmers raised prices of land so they did not have to sell to canals
- Compensation claims of kart and pack owners as it took away lively hoods
- Restricted on where they could go due to hills and mountains
- Long time and very hard to build so had less canals to travel through
13
Q
Building the railways
A
- Navvies built railways often by hand using picks and shovels and lived in huts on the lines being worked on, very dangerous work
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel was chief engineer of Great western railway (linked London to Bristol)
- George Stephenson invented fix gauge 4f 8.5inch known as father of railways
- Viaducts or bridges were built over canals to allow trains across
- To bypass hills or mountains, tunnels though them but was dangerous work to do
- Railway stations were very grand designs which took a lot of time and materials to make
- Crossing bogs
14
Q
Development of Railways
A
- Deadman’s handle to reduce crashes
- Standard Time GST to keep all railways on time across country
- Roofs over 3rd class carriages reduce deaths/injuries
- Electric Signalling, cut down on pedestrian deaths and crashes
- Telegraphs which allowed stations to communicate with each other making trains arrive on time
- Express trains, trains that covered large distances with no/little stops allowing quicker and easier travel across Britain
15
Q
Impact of Railway on society
A
- Better diets as fresh food could be distributed to country easier
- People could commute to work so did not need to live in cities any more
- Postal Service were significantly more efficient
- Farmers were annoyed as their land was being invaded by loud noisy trains
- Fatal accidents among public were common when building railways such as Tay Bridge disaster 1879, killed 75 people in train due to faulty designs
- Day trips
