Industrial Revolution

A summary of the Industrial Revolution

Shortly before his death in 1883, the historian Arnold Toynbeesuggested that in the years after 1750 there was both an agricultural and an industrial 'revolution'. Many historians now challenge this idea. They put the turning point much earlier and suggest that change was much more gradual than Toynbee said.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny that the years after 1750 were a time of great achievement:

·         Agriculture - Charles ‘Turnip’ Townshend introduced the Norfolk four-course rotation of wheat‒turnips‒barley‒clover to his farm and Robert Bakewell used selective breeding to develop the New Leicester sheep. Arthur Young promoted new methods to a wider audience.

·         Industry - Richard Arkwright's Mill at Cromford heralded 'the Factory Age' of the textile industry, production of iron increased 30-fold and production of coal increased 20-fold. Newcomen and Watt contributed to the development of steam power to drive machinery more efficiently.

·         Transport and communications - Thomas Telford built roads and canals in the 1700s and George Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel oversaw the 'Railway Mania' of the 1800s. There had previously been no very fast way of transporting goods and people around the country. However, canals did already exist and so most materials were transported by boat to towns and cities which had to be located on canal routes.

There were also many scientific discoveries and technological inventions that changed society and industry.

The Industrial Revolution in context

The 1800s was a time of 'Industrial Revolution'.

The main changes were:

·         by 1914, England had become a great trading nation with a worldwide empire, which covered a fifth of the globe

·         a 260 per cent growth in population

·         a change from agriculture to industry

·         a move from domestic industry to factory work

·         a move from water and wind power to steam engines

·         a revolution in transport and communications, from canals and pack horses, to railways and the telegraph

The growth of towns:

·         In 1750, only about 15 per cent of the population lived in towns. By 1900 it was 85 per cent. This meant that there were far more people around to work in new industries but also caused problems because many more people needed foods and homes. This meant that poverty was increasing.

·         By 1900, London had 4.5 million inhabitants. The biggest other towns were Glasgow with 760,000 inhabitants and Liverpool with 685,000. Manchester and Birmingham had more than half a million people each. Much of the population had moved from the South-East to the industrialised coalfield areas in the North and the Midlands North and the Midlands.

Scientific and technological developments in the Industrial Revolution

Here are some of the most famous inventions and developments of the era:

Alessandro Volta invented the battery in 1800

John Dalton discovered the atom in 1803

Humphry Davy invented the arc lamp in 1806

·        

Issac Singer invented the sewing machine in 1851

Richard Gatling patented a machine gun in 1862

Christopher Scholes invented the typewriter in 1867

Education during the Industrial Revolution

In the 1800s, formal education became available even to the poorest people.

Schools

Before the 1800s, education was not free and poor children got what education they could in Dame schools or Sunday Schools.

·         In 1833, the government passed the Factory Act making two hours of education a day compulsory for children working in factories. The government also granted money to charities to help schools for the first time.

·         In 1844, the Ragged Schools Union was set up to give schooling to very poor children.

·         The Public Schools Act (1868) reformed Britain's public schools, such as Eton and Harrow.

·         In 1870, Forster's Act set up state-funded board schools for primary education.

·         In 1880, the Education Act made school attendance compulsory for children up to the age of 10.

·         The 1902 Education Act established a system of secondary schools.

Some historians say the improvements were made because the public were beginning to complain about the lack of education and support for young children who worked long, hard days in factories. These historians also believe that the government wanted to educate people so that they could make more money for the country.

Universities

Between 1900 and 1909, 'red-brick ' universities were founded in Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Bristol, concentrating on 'hands-on' courses such as science or engineering. These differed from universities such as Oxford and Cambridge which primarily taught less vocational and more traditional subjects such as history and the classics.

‘Self-help’ was very important in Victorian times

Mechanics' Institutes were set up in many towns to provide night-school education for working men and public libraries were built in many cities so that more people had access to improve their lives during their free time. The Museums Act of 1845 gave town councils with large boroughs the power to set up museums for the public. Members of Parliament thought that working class people would improve their lives by visiting the museums instead of spending their free time in pubs.

Agriculture in the Industrial Revolution

The historian Arnold Toynbee created the idea that between 1750 and 1830, there was an 'Agricultural Revolution'. Toynbee and other historians of the time presented the Revolution as the work of 'heroes':

·         Jethro Tull promoted the use of the seed drill and the use of horses to pull machinery rather than oxen.

·         Charles 'Turnip' Townshend introduced the turnip and the Norfolk four-course rotation of wheat‒turnips‒barley‒clover onto his farm.

·         Robert Bakewell used selective breeding to develop the New Leicester sheep and the Colling brothers promoted the selective breeding of Longhorn cattle.

·         Thomas Coke of Holkham publicised these new ideas by inviting hundreds of people to his 'sheep shearings', ie agricultural shows.

·         Arthur Young wrote about the new methods and spread ideas more widely.

·         The Parliamentary Enclosure Movement was said to have destroyed the old three-field system and created the modern 'patchwork' of enclosed fields.

Jethro Tull's seed drill

The Agricultural Revolution

During the 1960s, economic historians questioned this view suggesting that the changes were not really the work of this group and that they were just very good self-publicists.

What we do know is that over the period 1700 to 1850 farming output almost doubled.

Recently, historians have suggested, again, that the critical period was 1750-1830. They argue that the increasing use of fodder crops grown for animal food allowed farmers to keep more animals, which meant more meat for market and more manure to put on the fields to increase crop yields.

Consequences of the Agricultural Revolution

·         Without the Agricultural Revolution, the growing population of England would have starved and the Industrial Revolution would have been stifled.

·         It used to be thought that enclosure displaced farm-workers to the towns, but historians now doubt this. In the short term, enclosure needed more labourers to build the farms and the fences.

·         In the long term, however, increased use of machinery meant that fewer farm workers were needed. They left the land and went to the industrial towns of the north of England.

The Agricultural Revolution can therefore be seen as very significant. Historians debate whether or not it is of equal significance to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution certainly did more for the country’s development but may not have existed without the Agricultural Revolution.

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

The historian Arnold Toynbee also created the idea that, in the years between 1780 and 1830, there was an 'Industrial Revolution'.

·         Toynbee (1884) and the first historians of the Industrial Revolution thought that the industrial growth had been stimulated by Britain's trade. There was a need to develop more manufactured goods and ready-made markets around the world through the British Empire.

·         A H John (1961) thought that growth had been stimulated by the Agricultural Revolution. This had increased the population and therefore domestic demand.

·         W W Rostow (1960) traced the growth of output back to capital investment, which had allowed expansion and innovation.

·         Musson and Robinson (1969) credited science and technology. They thought that technological advancement made improvement in industry inevitable.

·         Recently, the African historian Joseph Inikori (1987) has focused on the profits made by the slave traders, which provided money for investment in British industry.

Inventions and innovations in the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution involved innovation, capital investment and increased output:

Textiles

·         John Kay’s Flying Shuttle was a very successful innovation in weaving. Spinning technology needed frequent development over the next fifty years before weaving experienced further major changes.

·         James Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny (1764) and later Richard Arkwright's Water Frame (1769), Samuel Crompton's Mule (1779) were spinning machines that all improved upon the quality and quantity of spun yarn. Edmund Cartwright's Power Loom (1785) was the first steam-powered weaving machine. Many of these inventions were powered by James Watt's steam engines (1765).

·         Large purpose-built factories were a new idea, eg Arkwright's Mill at Cromford, full of machines.

·         Output increased 15-fold in the century 1815-1914.

Iron and steel

·         Abraham Darby smelted iron using coke (1709), Henry Cort's puddling process made wrought iron (1784) and Henry Bessemer's Bessemer converter (1856) and the Gilchrist-Thomas process (1879) made steel.

·         Huge ironworks, eg Richard Crawshay's Cyfartha works in South Wales and John Roebuck's Carron Works in Scotland.

·         Production of 'pig' iron increased 30-fold in the century 1815-1914.

Humphrey Davy testing his miner's safety lamp

Coal

·         Better coal mining techniques allowed deeper mines, eg 'roof and pillar' working to support the roof, upcast and downcast shafts to provide ventilation and the Davy Lamp (1815) invented by Humphry Davy to help prevent gas explosions.

·         In 1914, the coal industry employed a million men in 3,000 collieries.

·         Production of coal increased 20-fold in the century 1815-1914.

Steam power

·         In around 1712, Thomas Newcomenbuilt the first commercially successful steam engine to pump water out of mines.

·         James Watt made steam engines much more efficient in the 1760s and 1770s giving huge savings on fuel. His other improvements meant steam engines could replace water and horse power in a wide variety of industries, which in turn allowed factories to be built anywhere.

Consequences for industry

Recent historians have undermined the idea of an 'Industrial Revolution 1780-1830'. They have claimed that:

·         The rate of economic growth between 1780 and 1830 was much slower than previously thought.

·         There was significant industrialisation in Britain before 1780.

·         Some sectors of the economy grew, eg textiles, iron and coal, but the rest stayed stagnant, or grew very slowly.

·         Most of England in 1851 was little different from England in 1751.

Many historians think that the likelihood is that Britain's economy grew unevenly but gradually from 1700 to 1900, but there was no revolutionary 'spurt' of growth between 1780 and 1830. They are in opposition to traditional historians who believe that industrial advancements such as machinery and railways, revolutionised Britain, boosted the economy and laid the foundations for long-term change.

Transport and communications during the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution saw a dramatic improvement in transport and communications. However, historians debate just how much of this change really took place during the Industrial Revolution. Many developments in transport had already been made beforehand.

This involved innovation, capital investment and increased extent:

Roads

·         General Wade, Jack Metcalf, Thomas Telford and John Macadam developed better roads, with firm foundations, drainage and a smooth surface.

·         Ever since the 17th Century, Turnpike Trusts were set up to improve main roads, for which a toll was charged. This pre-dates the standard period of the Industrial Revolution.

·         In the early 1800s, investment in Britain's roads was more than £3 million a year.

·         Between 1803 and 1821, Thomas Telford alone built 1000 miles of road, including 1000 bridges. His greatest achievement was the London‒Holyhead road (1815‒1826). However, others had already been building new roads over the past several hundred years.

Canals

·         Some people argue that the first modern canal was the Sankey Brook Navigation. It was used to transport coal which links directly to the Industrial Revolution. Others say it was the Bridgewater Canal built by the Duke of Bridgewater in 1761.

·         About £20 million was invested in canal-building between 1755 and 1835. There was 'Canal Mania' in the 1790s and famous canal-builders include James Brindley and Thomas Telford.

·         The fact that more money was now spent on canals could be seen as a natural development as the country gets richer and trade is more necessary.

·         By 1850, the canal network covered 4,000 miles.

·         However, canals had existed long before this period. The Exeter Canal had been built way back in 1566. It is the viewpoint of some that the developments made during the Industrial Revolution were no different to those made beforehand.

Railways

·         The first railway was the Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825). George Stephenson built the Rocket (1829). Significant engineering achievements included the London Underground (1863) and the Forth Bridge (1890).

·         There was a 'Railway Mania' in the 1840s. £3 billion was spent building the railways between 1845 and 1900.

·         In 1870, 423 million passengers travelled on 16,000 miles of line.

George Stephenson's Rocket

Other developments in transport and communications

Timeline of transport and communication:

1837 - Samuel Morse invented the telegraph.

1837 - Rowland Hill invented the postage stamp.

1839 - Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented the bicycle.

1843 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Great Britain steamship (using screw propellers).

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

1885 - Karl Benz invented the motor car.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution on transport and communication

Subway tunnels in London

·         The world shrank – in 1700 it took four days to get from London to Manchester, but in 1880 it took four hours. Raw materials, goods, food (eg fresh milk) and post arrived faster.

·         Economic growth – the railways needed bricks, cement, sleepers, iron and coal and as a result, those industries were stimulated. In 1847, more than a quarter of a million people worked on the railways. Their wages helped the economy grow.

·         Finance – huge numbers of people bought shares in railway companies. Many later lost their money when the boom ended.

·         The 1844 Railway Regulation Act improved conditions in third-class. In 1883, the Cheap Trains Act made railway companies offer a greater number of cheap trains for workers. Transport became available to more people than ever before.

·         By 1880, it became clear that speedier travel and railway timetables needed the whole country to take up a national standardised time. Before this date people used local time that varied from place to place.

·         The growth of the shipping industry allowed a huge growth in worldwide trade.

·         By 1902, the whole British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables called the 'All Red Line'.