Origins of the Industrial Revolution Life in England

Origins of the Industrial Revolution

Life in England Before the Industrial Revolution? • Most people lived in the country • Subsistence farming • Cottage industries • Products were made by hand • Developing towns – Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow Welsh spinsters

How did people get around before the Industrial Revolution? • ‘We set out at six in the morning and didn’t get out of the carriages (except when we overturned or got stuck in the mud) for 14 hours. We had nothing to eat and passed through some of the worst roads I ever saw in my life’ This is a description of a journey by Queen Anne in 1704 from Windsor to Petworth – a journey of 40 miles. What does it tell us about transport at the time?

Definitions of Industrial Revolution and Industrialization • Industrial Revolution: a period of increased output of goods made by machines and new inventions; a series of dramatic changes in the way work was done • Industrialization: the process of developing machine production of goods that led to a better quality of life for people and also caused immense suffering

Origins---Why England? • Agricultural Revolution – Horse and steel plow – Fertilizer use – Yields improved 300% 1700 -1850 • Growth of foreign trade for manufactured goods – Foreign colonies – Increase in ships and size • Successful wars and foreign conquest

Why England? • Factors in England – No civil strife – Government favored trade – Laissez faire – Large middle class – Island geography – Mobile population – Everyone lived within 20 miles of navigable river – Tradition of experimental science – Weak guilds

The Agricultural Revolution • The Agricultural Revolution, in the 1700 s, resulted from a series of discoveries and inventions that made farming much more productive than ever before. • By the mid 1800's, the Agricultural Revolution had spread throughout much of Europe and North America. • One of the revolution's chief effects was the rapid growth of towns and cities in Europe and the United States • Because fewer people were needed to produce food, farm families by the thousands moved to the towns and cities.

Agricultural Revolution Food production increased over 60% during the 1700 s; twice the rate between the 1500 s and 1700 s. English farmers began to raise potatoes, brought from America by the Columbian Exchange, which proved cheap and nourishing. Other new crops indirectly benefitted humans as they improved animal feed: corn, buckwheat, carrots and cabbage. This new animal feed produced larger quantities of better tasting meat and milk.

OPEN FIELD SYSTEM---Old System ADVANTAGES • All villagers worked together • All the land was shared • Everyone helped each other • Everyone had land to grow food • For centuries enough food had been grown

OPEN FIELD SYSTEM---Old System DISADVANTAGES • Strips in different fields • Fallow land • Waste of time • Waste of land • Common land

Disadvantages of the Open Field System People have to walk over your strips to reach theirs No hedges or fences Field left fallow Difficult to take advantage of new farming techniques No proper drainage Because land in different fields takes time to get to each field Animals can trample crops and spread disease

Why did the Open Field System change? What was happening to population?

Enclosures? • This meant enclosing the land with fences or hedges. • The open fields were divided up and everyone who could prove they owned some land would get a share. • Everyone had their own fields and could use them how they wished. • Open land common land would also be enclosed and divided up.

Enclosure Movement • By the late 18 th century, enclosures were becoming very common in Great Britain. • This meant that a farmer had his land together in one farm rather than in scattered strips. • The farmer now had a greater amount of independence. • This was not a new idea • Enclosures had been around since Tudor times, but increased dramatically in the 1700 s because they made it easier for farmers to try out new ideas.

The Enclosure Movement

Methods of Enclosure • Farmers could now invest in new machinery for use on their land, work in one area and not waste time walking between strips of land. • The enclosed land was also useful for farmers wanting to experiment with selective breeding and new crops from abroad. • There were two ways for villages to enclose land. • One was by getting the whole village to agree among themselves, which was more common during the early 18 th century. • The second was by an Act of Parliament. By 1770, landowners were forcing enclosure on their local village by using an Act of Parliament.

“Enclosed” Lands Today

Groups That Supported The Enclosure Movement • Landowners: They made large profits from the enclosures because the new fields were more efficient, and they could charge their tenants higher rents. • Tenant Farmers: They did not mind the higher rents, because they were making so much profit that they could afford new machinery and the best fertilizer. • Laborers: They were given more work digging ditches, planting hedges, and building roads. Many of them even gained new homes on their master’s estates.

Groups That Were Against The Enclosure Movement • Smallholders: Many villagers lost land were forced to become laborers, either because they could not prove their right to the enclosed land or because they could not afford to enclose the land. • Landless Laborers: People like squatters really suffered, because the common land was turned into enclose land. Many of them were left hungry.

Agricultural Advances • Selective breeding choosing the best animals to breed together to get the best result • Norfolk Crop Rotation wheat, turnips, barley, clover the course of four years • Seed drill invented by Jethro Tull, used to evenly spread out seeds • Threshing machine invented by Andrew Meikle, separated the grain from the stalks and husks far more quickly than hand threshing

Textile Industry • Cotton Gin – Eli Whitney • Spinning Jenny – James Hargreaves, home-based machine that spun thread 8 times faster than when spun by hand • Flying Shuttle – John Kay, Handoperated machine which increased the speed of weaving • Water Frame – Richard Arkwright, Water-powered spinning machine that was too large for use in a home – led to the creation of factories

Textiles • The Factory: – In 1742 Paul and Wyatt opened a mill in Birmingham which used their new rolling machine – In 1743 A factory opened in Northampton using Paul and Wyatt’s machines – In 1764, Thorp Mill, the first water-powered cotton mill in the world. It was used for carding cotton. – In 1771 Richard Arkwright used waterwheels to power textile machinery. It contained his invention of the water frame.

Textiles • The Loom – The first power loom, a mechanized loom powered by a drive shaft, was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. – Looms made the large factory possible – The Quarry Bank Mill: IN 1810 they used a new steam engine, it was twice as powerful as the regular engines, to power their looms – In 1857 there were 250, 000 looms in the UK

The Power Loom

Coal Industry • Most of the coal was found in the midlands, the northeast and parts of Scotland – Towns and industries were built around the coal mines – The coal mines got deeper as coal was needed more – Thomas Newcomen’s invention of the steam engine allowed the mine to be drained – James Watt improved the steam engine – Humphrey Davy invented the safety light – The workers had a difficult time working underground – Mine Act of 1842 – There was a big difference in coal production from 1750 -1850

Steel Industry • The iron industry used large amounts of lumber to produce charcoal – Too many trees were being destroyed • Abraham Darby discovered that coke (carbon, like coal) could be used to smelt iron • Henry Cort developed the puddling furnace • Henry Bessemer – the Bessemer Convertor • Iron was used to build bridges and ships and to improve machines and tools

Transportation • Turnpikes – Turnpike trusts were created to maintain the newly created roads • Canals – Boats on canals, rivers best for long-distance travel, in early 1800 s • Trains – Trains could carry heavy loads, traveled faster than watercraft – India’s first train, 1851 – First African railroad, Egypt 1852 – Trans-Siberian Railroad in Russia, world’s longest, 1891

Transportation • Effect on trade – Expansion of railroads increased markets – Trains moved huge loads efficiently, transportation costs declined – New products became available – Perishable foods could get to market before spoiling – Frozen beef shipped by rail from west to east – Shoppers had more food choices

Advances in Transportation Steamships • • • Steamships changed ocean travel Not dependent on wind, could travel through any weather U. S. steamship service began, west around South America to east, 1849 Long distance movement of goods economically viable by 1870 Passenger travel began shortly thereafter The Automobile • • First attempts, Europe 1769 • 1885 -1886 Daimler and Benz developed • practical automobiles • • Early U. S. autos too expensive • Henry Ford built first affordable cars, • mass production, 1908 • More roads than rail lines, 1915 The Airplane Wilbur and Orville Wright flew first sustained powered flight, 1903 Developed airplane over four years Glider-powered with internal combustion engine Paved the way for commercial, military airplanes

Advances in Communication Early 1800 s Communication The Telegraph • Much slower than today • Telegraph invented, 1837 • Boat, messenger on foot, horseback or carriage • Samuel Morse also invented a “language” for those messages • Entrepreneurs, inventors searched for faster ways • Messages transmitted as electrical pulses “What hath God wrought? ” • First telegraph message from Morse, 1844 • Telegraph wires between Washington D. C. , Baltimore • New era in communication Growth of Telegraph • Much of country linked by 1861 • Telegraph cable to Europe, 1866; to India, 1870 • Globalized personal and business communication

Advances in Communication The Telephone • Alexander Graham Bell tried to create way to send multiple telegraph messages at same time • Invented telephone 1876 “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you. ” • Bell sent message to assistant from one room to another • Watson heard message through receiver Demand for telephones • Increased during 1880 s • Thousands of miles of phone lines laid across U. S. • Almost 1. 5 million phones installed by 1900

Advances in Communication The Radio and Phonograph • Telephone technology limited by length of wires • New wireless technology – Guglielmo Marconi built wireless telegraph, 1895 – Radio first used as communication device for ships – Later used for entertainment and news • Sound recording technology – Thomas Edison invented phonograph – Music became available to everyone