Was the adoption of a factory system the main reason that trade unionism grew in the years 1785-34?

Question 1

What are the two other ways in which the ‘factory system’ factor may manifest itself?

Answer 1

mechanisation of industry and industrialisation

Question 2

What are the four factors that need to be discussed?

Answer 2

Factory system
Protection from workers
External Factors
government policies

Question 3

The external factors factor is mainly concerned with which country?

Answer 3

France

Question 4

What did the consolidation of the factory system in which year mean generally for workers?

Answer 4

1769 marked the start of an era that would give workers much greater cause for protection

Question 5

What were many factories pursuing profit at the expense of?

Answer 5

Everything else

Question 6

What could workers unite over thanks to the mechanisation of industry that they did not previously have?

Answer 6

Mutual causes and grievances

Question 7

The increased efficiency of the factory system compared to the old cottage industry greatly reduced what?

Answer 7

The significance of the individual

Question 8

As well as the factory system, what also reduced the role of the individual?

Answer 8

The massive increase in population

Question 9

Such was the demand for jobs due to the exponential population growth that what could happen?

Answer 9

individuals could be sacked and replaced very quickly with little to no consequence or cost to the employer

Question 10

Between when did the population grow from what to what?

Answer 10

Between 1750 and 1850 the population rose from 6 million to more than 17 million

Question 11

Before the 1833 factory act, what was the employment situation?

Answer 11

Before the 1833 Factory Act a working week was 6 days long with 14 hour working days being a common undertaking

Question 12

So focussed on productivity were the employers that employees faced what?

Answer 12

fines for lateness or actions that reduced the speed that they could carry out work with

Question 13

What was the fine a means for the employer to do?

Answer 13

Compensate them for the lost work

Question 14

If someone was 10 minutes late to work, how big could their fine be?

Answer 14

two hours’ wages

Question 15

If an employee was caught talking, what could be their fine?

Answer 15

1/5 of their daily wage

Question 16

There was a high injury rate in factories, but why did employers not put in place safety measures?

Answer 16

costly and could have decreased productivity

Question 17

Wages were always as low as employers thought that they could get away with, but what were they?

Answer 17

12-15 shillings a week

Question 18

prior to the factory system, how was work often conducted?

Answer 18

in small units, with a master, his journeymen and apprentices

Question 19

Prior to the factory system, a master would work alongside his journeymen and apprentices, what did this mean?

Answer 19

That there was a direct connection between the employee and the employer who was visibly present and working alongside his employees

Question 20

What did the factory system do to this previous line of communication between employer and employee?

Answer 20

Severed it, preferring an automated atmosphere to encourage productivity

Question 21

With an increased distance from their workforce, what idea was lost with the advent of the factory system?

Answer 21

The idea that they employer was working towards the same goal as his workforce

Question 22

By creating a division between worker and master, the factory system created an environment where mutual progress was replaced by a conflicting set of values. What were they?

Answer 22

fair wages and respect for one and profit and productivity for the other

Question 23

By creating a division between worker and master, the factory system created an environment where mutual progress was replaced by a conflicting set of values: fair wages and respect for one and profit and productivity for the other. What was workers’ only way to redress this conflict?

Answer 23

to bind together

Question 24

Government thought that prosperity could only occur if what happened?

Answer 24

the market remained deregulated and entrepreneurs were left to their own devices

Question 25

Employers were free to set their own wages and working conditions due to what?

Answer 25

The laissez faire free market approach of government

Question 26

Government was not going to be the driving force for change, so people were compelled to do what?

Answer 26

organise into groups to achieve common goals of reform and to protect themselves

Question 27

Though the Combination Acts in 1799 and 1800 from William Pitt’s government had a purpose of preventing unionisation, but what had it actually done?

Answer 27

Increased the sources of working class discontent and resent that fuelled the growth of unionism

Question 28

During the time of the combination acts, what meant that unionism still grew?

Answer 28

The advent and growth of the postal service and other new communications

Question 29

Describe how the combination acts were implemented?

Answer 29

Poorly

Question 30

Why were, in part, few people actually prosecuted under the 1799 and 1800 combinations acts?

Answer 30

acts such as the 1797 Unlawful Oaths Acts carried harsher sentences than the 3 months’ prison sentence for organising that the Combination Act provided

Question 31

What were the combination acts passed as a reaction to?

Answer 31

the french threat

Question 32

What happened to the combination acts when the french threat had receded by 1815?

Answer 32

They were largely ignored

Question 33

What does the repeal of the combination acts in 1824 suggest?

Answer 33

That they were not doing their job successfully

Question 34

The repealing of the combination acts by were by more open-minded, thoughtful politicians such as?

Answer 34

Peel and Hume

Question 35

The repealing of the combination acts by more open-minded, thoughtful politicians such as Peel and Hume recognised what?

Answer 35

the rights of workers to have peaceful, effective outlets for discontent

Question 36

What did the repeal of the combination acts legitimise?

Answer 36

the growth of unions as a sanctioned method of protest

Question 37

What did John Doherty found and when did he do so?

Answer 37

1829 General Union of Operative Spinners and then the National Association for the Protection of Labour

Question 38

What did the repeal of the combination acts in 1824 do to participation?

Answer 38

Encouraged those to participate who would have previously been unwilling to challenge government authority to become involved in trade union activity

Question 39

What did the french wars lead to that bothered workers?

Answer 39

rising food prices

Question 40

what did the rising food prices as a result of the french wars mean for workers?

Answer 40

Any wage increases were felt far more acutely

Question 41

The war is France led to rising food prices and so created an environment whereby what could flourish?

Answer 41

social discontent that could be channelled into unionism

Question 42

What did the french revolutions of 1789 and 1830 demonstrate to the world?

Answer 42

The potential of a united workforce

Question 43

Who organised themselves into an association to strengthen themselves against wage revolutions and when did they do this?

Answer 43

1799 weavers in wigan

Question 44

By May 1799, how many branches did the Association of Weavers have across Lancashire?

Answer 44

14

Question 45

Complete the sentence: The war with France did provide a source of discontent in its own right, however this did not have the same

Answer 45

monumentally deleterious and crucially long lasting effect on workers as the factory system did.

Question 46

Complete this sentence about the french wars: Ultimately the war was going end of its own volition, however the workers realised that in order to enact change of the factory system..

Answer 46

..they would need to constructively unite.

Question 47

The war with France also created economic discontent when they ended in 1815 which, combined with the mechanisation of industry, caused working class discontent that led to moves to create what after 1815?

Answer 47

general trades unions

Question 48

The growth in union activity also tended to coincide with what, undermining the extent to which the mechanisation of industry can be considered completely responsible?

Answer 48

wider economic problems, such as the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, rather than the general consequences of mechanisation

Question 49

The impact of mechanisation often led to what?

Answer 49

violent, direct action such as the Swing Riots or Luddism rather than organised peaceful unionised action

Question 50

The Grand National Consolidated Trade Union of 1734-35 claimed to have over how many million members?

Answer 50

1

Question 51

What does the size of the Grand National of 1834-35 suggest?

Answer 51

suggests that the motive was mutual protection

Question 52

Who petitioned their masters for an increase in wage due to the higher cost of living and when did they do this?

Answer 52

London Printers 1793

Question 53

How many signatures did the London printers generate in support of their aims?

Answer 53

539

Question 54

Were the london printers successful?

Answer 54

Yes they generated enough support to increase their wages

Question 55

What is significant about the strike of the London printers?

Answer 55

The printers were not, like Textiles or coal, one of the industries that experiences the most adverse effects of industrialisation.

Question 56

The printers were not, like Textiles or coal, one of the industries that experiences the most adverse effects of industrialisation. What does this suggest about the growth of unionism?

Answer 56

It was not necessarily after protection from the factory system, but from the pressures of a changing economy.