19th Century England

The industrial revolution that took place in the 19th century transformed Britain completely. More people started living in towns, factories were common and goods were mostly manufactured by machine.

Unrest in the Early 19th Century

The early 19th century in Britain was characterized by huge social and political unrest.

1812, May 11th - Tory Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated, is shot and killed by John Bellingham.

1820 - A plot was hatched to kill the whole cabinet but the conspirators were arrested and Arthur Thistlewood who led the so called Cato Street Conspiracy was hanged.

1811-1816 - Textile workers in the north of England and the Midlands went around breaking machines, fearing that they were likely to cause unemployment.

1817 - Textile workers from Manchester marched to London to appeal to the Prince Regent.

1830 - The Swing Riots broke out in which farm laborers in Sussex and Kent smashed agricultural machinery lest it caused unemployment.

Political Reform

A Tory government formed in 1822 introduced several reforms.

In 1829 the first modern police force was formed in London.

The Duke of Wellington who was prime minister from 1828 to 1830 introduced the Catholic Emancipation Act, which re-allowed Catholics to become MPs and to hold public office.

The Great Reform Bill was passed on 7th June 1832 in response to increasing demands for more constituencies distributed more fairly as well as extended franchises. As a result, newly formed industrial towns were now represented in parliament and the urban middle class had an increasing voice.

The working class who were excluded from the reforms launched the Chartists protest movement in 1838. Named after their People's Charter, the Chartists had several demands including salary for MPs, the abolishment of property qualification for anyone wanting to become an MP, the right to vote for all men, equal sized constituencies and voting by secret ballot.

By the late 1840s, with the improvement in conditions for the working class, discontent declined and Chartism had fizzled out. However some of their demands were eventually met. In 1867 most workers in towns were given the right to vote; in 1872 the Ballot Act was passed, which introduced voting by secret ballot and in 1884 farm laborers were allowed to vote.

With the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 a uniform system of town government was formed.

The Corn Laws

Fearing that cheap foreign grain would replace local produce, British landowners passed the Corn Laws in 1815, which imposed import duties on imported wheat unless certain local conditions were met. However, many of the tariffs were abolished in the early 1840s after public opinion changed in favor of free trade.

The Railways

In 1825 the first passenger railway was opened between Darlington and Stockton and by 1848 there were about 5,000 miles of railways in Britain. The railway network expanded dramatically in the later 19th century.

The Factory Acts

Female and child labor soon became the norm with the industrial revolution and in the new textile factories their work days often extended to more than 12 hours a day. Acutely aware of the problem, the government passed an act in 1819 that made it illegal for children under 9 to work in cotton mills. In 1833 another act was passed, which put children in particular age-groups and specified the number of hours that they were permitted to work. Inspectors were appointed to conduct regular checks on factories.

Subsequent acts in 1842, 1844 and 1847 banned children and women from working underground in mines or working over 10 hours a day in textile factories.

Another act in 1850 forbade factories from staying open for over 12 hours a day and stated that all workers should be permitted 1 ½ hours for meal breaks.

Bank holidays were created in 1871 followed by a week's annual paid holiday for skilled workers. By the 1890s non-working weekends became the norm.

19th Century Trade Unions

Trade unions were legalized in 1871 and in 1875 the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act legalized peaceful picketing.

In the 1850s and 1860s moderate trade unions were formed, wherein subscription members were allowed unemployment and sickness benefits.

1889 saw the formation of the Seaman's union, Gas Workers and General Laborers Union, the General Railway worker's Union and also a trade union formed by match girls who worked in factories manufacturing matches.

The 5-week Great London Dock strike that was launched on 14th August 1889 was a great success and the Dockers won their minimum wage plea of 6 pence an hour.

19th Century Housing

In the early 19th century there were no building regulations and housing conditions were overcrowded, unsanitary and generally appalling. Expectedly cholera was rampant and there were multiple outbreaks from1831 to 1866.

A Public Health Act passed in 1848 made formation of local Boards of Health mandatory in towns where the annual death rate exceeded 23 per 1,000 persons or if 10% of the town's population voted for it.

The act was further strengthened in 1875 when it became compulsory for local authorities to appoint Medical Officers of Health who were authorized to prosecute vendors who sold food or drink deemed unfit for human consumption. It was also mandatory for local councils to provide refuse collection. In the 1860s and 1870s water supplies were created, sewers were dug in most towns and slums began to be demolished. By the end of the 19th century living standards improved considerably and towns were much cleaner and healthier than they were at the beginning of the century.

The Poor Law

In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed wherein the poor were treated unsympathetically in an attempt to discourage them from seeking assistance from the state. All able bodied, unemployed persons were forced to enter a workhouse where the inmates were forced to do hard labor including breaking bones for making fertilizer or breaking stones for making roads. These so called 'bastilles', named after the notorious prison in Paris eventually became more humane down the century.

Living Standards in the 19th Century

A host of inventions including waterproof clothing, anesthetics, street lighting, railways and photography made life more convenient and comfortable for the people towards the end of the 19th century.

The Decline of Britain

Being the first country to industrialize Britain had a head start over other nations but in the late 19th century industrialization caught on in several other nations including the US, Germany, France, Japan, North Italy, Sweden and Russia.

British Foreign Policy in the 19th Century

Britain spend the 19th century building up a great overseas empire including New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, India, Burma, Sudan, Egypt and large swathes of Africa.