How did Britain Change Between 1750 and 1900?

The period between 1750 and 1900 is commonly known as the Industrial Revolution, and rightly so. But it was not just an Industrial Revolution. The entire world of work changed. Not only that, but there were massive changes in population, health, transport, culture and politics

Politics changed in two distinct ways between 1750 and 1900. The first political change was that of Parliament's power. In 1750, Parliament and the King had approximately equal amounts of power. By 1900, the Monarch's power had dwindled to virtually nothing. Queen Victoria may have ruled the most widely spread empire in history, but she only ever rejected one law that Parliament proposed. She did not make any, either. The monarch's loss of power was only one cause of Parliament's increase in power. Another cause was better transport. This transport enabled Parliament to know what was going on all over the country. It also enabled them to inform the people of new laws that had been made, and allowed law enforcers (albeit very few) to travel around and enforce the law. To enforce the Factory Acts with the few law enforces they had would have been impossible without good transport. The increase in population, another cause of the rise of Parliament, meant that Parliament had more people to rule over, and more people to commit new crimes. The more laws Parliament made (and enforced), the more power they had. Also, the majority of people (75%) had now moved into the towns, where either Parliament or local authorities would be able to control them. Two of the effects of Parliament's increase in power were the Factory Acts, which were only needed because of the existence of factories, and also a massive change in culture. The latter change was the provision, and compulsory nature, of state schools. Instead of children working in factories or mines, they were now sent to school.

The second change in politics was in who was the expansion of the franchise. In 1750 only 5% of Britain's male population were allowed to vote. By 1900, most men could vote. Riots, for example the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, were one cause. These, in turn were caused by the workers who, with the better communication offered by better transport and the invention of the telegraph, were better educated about what happened in Parliament. They wanted a change and to be able to vote, so they revolted. After they were allowed to, this caused a minor change in culture. Once every seven years they went to vote. Culture was also a cause of the need to vote, as M.P.s were not considered the only educated people, the people saw themselves as equal to Parliament. This caused the rise of the Labour Party, which was for the further extension of the franchise, making the political changes more dramatic.

The most important political change was the extension of the franchise, because, despite Parliament's increased power to effect change (to the franchise, for example), Parliament's power would have increased anyway with such a large franchise. This would have happened because the people wouldn't have wanted a Monarch, but a government which seemed fair to them.

Another area of change during the Industrial Revolution was Agriculture. This, also, changed in two main ways. The first way was technology. In 1750, farming methods had been the same for hundreds of years. By 1900, food production had increased rapidly. New crops and equipment were used, animals were bred to be bigger and farmers invested in their farms. There were several reasons for this. The first was increased population. This meant that farmers needed to produce more food. As they produced more food, the population grew bigger, so farmers needed to produce even more food. Another reason was better transport. This meant that farmers could import seed and equipment and export produce in greater quantities, faster, and to a wider market, including an international market. Culture changed too - farming was no longer a family business. It changed to a big business, and each farmer made more money, so was able to invest more money in their farm, so the farm worked more efficiently, making him more profit. I think that the most important cause was transport. Without it, Britain would have been a group of loosely affiliated cells of people and farmers would not have dreamed of selling to a market that was more than a local market. More food created an obvious link to the population level. With more food, the population could treble over a century.

The second agricultural change was in farm size and layout. In 1750, a farmer would have three small strips in the three village fields. By 1900, farms were big, and certainly not scattered, with pieces miles away from each other. They were also split up into lots of fields. These changes were caused by the need for increased food production. This meant that more space was needed to produce more food. The farmers with slightly better farming methods pushed out the smaller farmers, and got larger lands. To make a claim to the lands, and have better organization, they split their lands up into fields. This had an effect on politics. It gave the politicians more power. They were needed to supervise the process known as “enclosure”. This was splitting up the large fields among the farmers fairly, where the farmers could not decide themselves. These boundaries were often straight cuts across the fields, whereas boundaries agreed by the farmers among themselves were often crooked.

The change in food production was the most important agricultural change because it affected the population level drastically, and population was the biggest cause of change in the 19th century.

Another, similar, area of change was the world of work. The first industrial change was where people worked. In 1750, 80% of the population worked on the land. By 1900, 75% of them worked in towns, and most of them in factories. The first cause of this was the change in Britain's main industries (see below). This meant that there were more factories, which thrived in cities. These new factories meant that there was now employment for the uneducated in cities that offered a regular (although small!) wage. This resulted in all the children thinking 'Who wants to work on a farm? We can work in a wonderful new factory'. So when they grew older, they moved to the towns and slaved, twelve hours a day in the mills. There was a massive change in culture at the time as well. People wanted to move to the factories. It was a similar feeling to what we have in modern society. In the last ten years, the Information Age has been sprung upon us. Computers have advanced sufficiently that a lot of people wish to be employed by a new quaternary or quinary industry. This happened in the Industrial Revolution, except everybody wanted to be employed in one of the new secondary industries. It is a simple desire to be working with the latest inventions. Another cause was better transport. This meant that people could learn about the new factories and travel more easily to them and that there was better transport for raw materials such as coal and iron ore to the factories and better transport for finished products such as textiles and pottery to the national and international markets they were sold to. The new factories also produced products needed to improve transport like rails, engine parts, bricks, etc. People living in towns meant that they caught more diseases, resulting in medicine advancing, and people such as John Snow and Alexander Fleming inventing cures or researching these diseases. The poor conditions in these factories spurred people like Lord Shaftesbury to use their political power to improve these conditions. The most important cause was the people's desire to work in factories because it was a direct result of the factories' invention, and the two, anywhere, at any time, are inseparable. If people wish to work in a factory, businessmen will see the demand and set up factories. And, as I have already described, if a new factory is built in an area previously devoid of them, people will automatically want to seem up to date and start working.

Another industrial change was the main British industries. In 1750, Britain was just like any other country with regards to its main industries being agriculture and hand made textiles. By 1900, Britain was the 'Workshop of the World' with its main industries being textiles manufacturing, iron, coal mining and steel. The first cause of this was a greater population, which meant that the previously minor textiles, iron, coal and steel industries grew, meaning that they invented new technologies. Factories now processed wool. More iron ore and coal could be mined. More steel could be made. This meant that the industries made more money, and grew more. This meant that textiles manufacturers could import cotton from other parts of the British Empire such as India, and make better textiles from it. Better transport enabled manufactures to transport materials from the mines and ports to the factories and mills, and from them to the markets. A lot of other causes are similar to the ones mentioned in the previous change (where people worked) and are mentioned there. The primary cause of the 'Workshop of the World' was the increased population. The ever-increasing population kept industry growing, while industry improved transport by creating a need for it and providing it with materials.

The final industrial change was in power source. In 1750, everything was powered either by horse or human muscle. In 1900, steam power was the norm. This was a result of more factories, which in turn needed steam power to produce more efficiently. So an inventor invented the Steam Engine. The rise of the coal industry was another cause. It gave the factories more fuel, so they could run their steam engines. This created a greater demand, so more coal was mined. Steam power also affected Transport greatly. Without it, the locomotive would have been impossible. The locomotive transported more coal, so more steam engines could run. The locomotive was the greatest effect of steam power, because it affected everybody's lives greatly by giving industry the fast transport it needed, and the Industrial Revolution was called the Industrial Revolution because it was based around Industrial changes.

The most important Industrial change was the rise in factory numbers because everything affected and was affected by the factories. Population, work, health, culture and even politics were affected by them, but most importantly Population. As 75% of them worked in factories, they were seriously affected by what happened in them.

One important area of change was improved Transport. The first change in transport occurred on the roads. In 1750, the only roads were the old Roman roads, falling apart, or mud tracks. By 1825, 20,000 miles of turnpike roads, or toll roads, as we would call them, criss-crossed the country. However, these roads were expensive to travel on, so were useless for transporting goods. As a result, canals, starting with the Bridgewater canal in 1776, also criss-crossed the country. The canal building benefited the industries which produced products for the canals or the barges. But when the locomotive arrived, industry thrived. Railways had become the norm for transporting goods and, because the Turnpike trusts, who operated the toll roads, had gone out of business and the roads had decayed, trains now carried passengers. Railway companies spent sackfuls of money to complete Britain's railway network. All this money poured into the coffers of the iron and steel industries for the locomotives and rails, the timber industry for sleepers, the gravel industry for ballast, the coal industry for fuel and the brick industry for the hundreds of stations that were built.

All the above forms of transport improved for the following reasons. First, more people were alive, so more people needed to travel. Also, more factories meant more goods had to travel. More things traveling meant that better transport had to be developed, or businessmen would lose out on a valuable source of income (tolls, canal/train fares). Another cause was a more national culture. A localized version of globalization (a 'Smith's' on every station!) was going on. This meant that people needed to travel more because they would have relatives in far off places - people didn't have all their families living in the same village any more. People moved house.

The most important cause of improved transport was 'localized globalization'. If Britain had stayed as it had been for the last millennium, people wouldn't need to travel and goods wouldn't need to travel as much. Goods wouldn't need to travel as much because each village would not need outside help - they would have continued to be sealed units, providing for themselves.

The most important form of improved transport, in my opinion, was the toll roads because they still impact us today. they were the first form of motorway network since Roman times (minus the cars). That may sound a bit odd, but the toll roads were the (mostly) well-maintained highways. Other tracks, some good, some bad wiggled across the rest of the country. That is what made the toll roads so special. They were smaller than our motorways, but there was less traffic.

The final area of change, I think, is an important one. It is culture. The first cultural change is religion. Between 1750 and 1900 church attendance rose greatly, reaching its peak in the First World War. The growth in church attendance had many positive effects. It made production in factories increase, as Christians had a good work ethic. It also influenced politics, as Christians such as Lord Shaftesbury suggested the Factory and Mining acts and William Wilberforce helped abolish the slave trade.

Another cultural change was in education. In 1750, 1% of the population had had an education. By 1900, education was compulsory for all five to twelve year-olds. This was caused by politicians, who wanted a well educated army, navy, etc., making it compulsory. Also, businessmen had set up universities. In 1750, Britain had 7. By 1900, it had 17. This was caused by an increase in high-powered secondary and tertiary industries towards the end of the 19th century. This reason was the most important reason for better education because it enabled the Industrial Revolution to end towards the end of the 20th century, and the Information Age to begin.

The final cultural change was in Newspapers. In 1750, the modern-day famous newspapers (The Times, Telegraph, Express) were merely local papers, but by 1900, they were national. This was caused by better transport, enabling news and paper to get to the newspaper offices, and newspapers to be distributed across the country. Industry made newspapers get cheaper, as well, because a steam powered machine could print newspapers, instead of an expensive human operating a printing press. This meant that more people bought the papers, so the industry expanded.

In conclusion, industrial changes were the most important changes between 1750 and 1900, because they affected everything else, and, we would never have been regarded as a world power without it. We would still be a third world country without it. It is industry that is the foundation of our economy today. However, all the areas of change were still important, and without the whole, the Industrial Revolution would have been vastly different to the reality that happened.