The Industrial Revolution:Working & Living ConditionsJohn Estrella, Alexis Feliciano & Kate HeaneyCentral & South Asia

The Industrial Revolution:

The period starting in the mid-1700s in Britain… economic changes…

affected people’s lives… long, slow, uneven process…

from simple hand tools to complex machines…

spread around the globe…

Ellis, Elizabeth G., and Anthony Esler. World History: the Modern Era. Boston: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2007.

Working & Living Conditions

• The Proletariat• Work/Labor

– Hours/Conditions– Wages– Children– Women

• The Growth of Cities– Industrial Cities– Living Conditions– Population

• Reforms

The Proletariat

• Definition:

– 1: the laboring class; especially: the class of industrial workers who lack their own means of production and hence sell their labor to live

– 2: the lowest social or economic class of a community

“Proletariat.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2007-2008 Merriam-Webster,

Incorporated. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proletariat

Working Hours/Conditions

• Factory hours—one man who worked at a blanket factory described working from 6 am to 8 pm on a usual day with one hour for lunch at noon—14 hours total

• When “trade was brisk,” hours were from 5 am to 9 pm—16 hours total—1 hr. for dinner

• Couldn’t get breakfast at mill—ate at home

• If late to work, “commonly beaten”—severely

• Also could be fined if late—take away half of wages for an hour—fine greater than loss of time

Scott, Jonathan F., and Alexander Baltzly, eds. Readings in European History Since1814. Appleton-Century-Croft, Inc., 1930.http://www.victorianweb.org/history/workers1.html#sadler

Working Hours/Conditions

• Perpetual “chastisement”—always heard crying

• Being beaten made people want to work—finish work and not be beaten

• At home, only time to eat and sleep• Some tried to run away—esp. children—

beaten when found• Children could be “bound” to masters—

had to work for them for a certain number of years—their parents would get paid

Scott, Jonathan F., and Alexander Baltzly, eds. Readings in European History Since 1814. Appleton-Century-Croft, Inc., 1930.http://www.victorianweb.org/history/workers1.html#sadler

Working Hours/Conditions

• Hours—more than 12-14 hours a day or more six days a week

• Strict overseers and managers• By 1820s, income improved but

conditions, for the most part, did not

• During the early Industrial Revolution, workers were forced to live in dilapidated housing around the factories

• Work was monotonous, tedious, dangerous—operating machines was often unsafe

"Industrial Revolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577952_2/Industrial_Revolution.html

"The Industrial Revolution." The West: Encounters and Transformations. 2008. 6 May 2008 http://wps.ablongman.com/long_levack_west_2/44/11325/2899233.cw/index.html

Working Conditions

• Pollution in cities affected the quality of life

• Factories in Manchester produced a “cloud of coal vapor”

• Rapid population growth also made conditions less favorable– Between 1750 and 1900, London’s

population grew by about 5 million people

• In textile mills, workers breathed in lint, which damaged their lungs

Ellis, Elizabeth G., and Anthony Esler. World History: the Modern Era. Boston: PearsonPrentice Hall, 2007. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/core/pics/0253/img0056.jpg

Wages

• Rise in the Standard of Living • Woman earned about half what men earned• Currency

– shilling(s) - twelve pence, or one twentieth of a pound– pound

shilling

pound

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598895

Trend in Average Full-Time Earning 1755-1835

0102030405060708090

Real Wage Index

1755 1797 1810 1819 1835

Year

Trend in Average Full-Time Earning1755-1835

Series1

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598895

Reasons Child Labor Emerged

• Increased poverty rates• Working was traditional and customary• Cheap source of labor• Since machines were designed to be

simpler, more unskilled workers could be hired for lower wages

• Orphans were often used and treated worse than other children

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/tuttle.labor.child.britain

Children during the Industrial Revolution:Wages and Hours

• Little or no pay• Average working hours: 12-14 hrs per day

– Same as adults

• Some worked up to 19 hours • Horrible conditions

– Same dangers adult males endured– Large heavy dangerous equipment– Many accidents

http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

Children during the Industrial Revolution:Movement to Regulate Child Labor

• Factory Act of 1833– Limited the amount of hours children

of certain ages could work – From ages 9-13; only allowed to work

8 hours a day– From ages 14-18; could work no more

than 12 hours a day– Children under 9 were not allowed to

work at all– Had to attend school for no less than 2

hours during the day

http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

Child Labor Statistics

• British Parliamentary Report (1834) – Roughly 23-57% of the work forces in

cotton, wool, flax and silk mills were between the ages of 13 and 18

– From 1/6 to 1/5 of the total work force in the textile towns in 1833 were children under 14

– 4,000 in mills of Manchester– 1,600 in Stockport– 1,500 in Bolton– 1,300 in Hyde

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/tuttle.labor.child.britain

Child Labor Statistics

http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

The Role of Women

• Domestic Services

–cooking, cleaning, caring for children & the sick, fetching water, making & mending clothing –Most unpaid

• Factories–new machinery changed the gender division of labor in textile production– textile production– the spinning jenny

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_05.shtml

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/burnette.women.workers.britain

Distribution of Male and Female Factory Employment by Age, 1833

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/burnette.women.workers.britain

The Growth of Cities

• The Migration: from countryside to city– Forced relocation

• Bigger population = competition for fewer jobs

• Small farms disappeared - new enclosure laws

– Mills & factories• Availability of work – 1000’s workers

needed• Better pay

– Trade & politics became more influential

• http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577952_2/Industrial_Revolution.html

• http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

The Growth of Cities

• Cities were close to sources of power– Coalfields supplied fuel

to factories– Abundance of iron &

wood as well

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577952_2/Industrial_Revolution.html

Major Industrial Cities (18th – 19th centuries)

• Major British industrial cities: Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, and especially Manchester

• Manchester– Textile industry– 1830: Liverpool &

Manchester railway– 1850: Center of

cotton manufacturing

• http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

• http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ITmanchester.htm

Major Industrial Cities (18th – 19th centuries)

• Liverpool– Source of wealth: from slaves to cotton– Cotton: from half to 1.5 million bales a

year between 1820 and 1850 – 8 new docks built between 1815 & 1835

• Birmingham– Abundance of coal, iron and wood– Positioned at the heart of England– Railway: line to London completed in

1838– City's workshops (specializing in metal-

based industries): supply a wider market

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

Major Industrial Cities (18th – 19th centuries)

Living Conditions

• Most cities were not prepared for the great population increase

• Rooms rent out to whole/several families– If not, people stayed in lodging houses

• Worker’s homes:– Near factories– Built cheaply & quickly– Cheap; 2-4 rooms (2 for up &

downstairs)– No running water or toilets inside

• Whole street shared outdoor pump & a couple of outside toilets

http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vindust.html

Living Conditions

• New towns: dirty & unhealthy– Perfect breeding grounds for diseases– 31,000 died – cholera outbreak in 1832– Killed also by typhus, smallpox &

dysentery

• Pollution– Smoke blocked most

light into towns– Layer of smoke

covered streets– Came from steam-

powered factorieshttp://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vindust.html

Cities – Living Conditions

Cities – Living Conditions

• “Back-to-backs" – Most houses in the

North of England – Built in double rows– No windows at front– No backyards– A sewer down the

middle of the street– Built crammed

close together w/ very narrow streets between them

– Crowded with five or more people possibly crammed into a single room, even cellars

Population Changes

• Rural population rose sharply– New sources of food available

• As a result (in combination w/ forced migrations): growth in cities & their pop.

• 1750 to 1815: only 7% of the European population lived in cities

• Pre-industrialized England: ¾+ of population lived in small villages

• However, by mid-19th cen., England became 1st nation w/ half its population in crowded, grim, industrial cities – millions!

• Reformers spoke of mills & factories as dark, evil places

• http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/chapter3.html

• http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577952_2/Industrial_Revolution.html

Population Changes

• Average life expectancy at birth:– 33 years (1730s)– 38 years (1811)– 41 years (1861)

• High urban death rates– Cities could only sustain their growth

through mass migrations from countryside

• But late 19th cen., death rates declined– Both city & country– Fewer wars & plagues– Supply & quality of food increased – Employment & incomes: relatively optimistic – Sanitary arrangements slowly improved

http://www.ehs.org.uk/industrialrevolution/PH_Population_2.htm

Population Changes

Average Life Expectancy at Birth

05

1015202530354045

1730s 1811 1861

Year

Ave

rag

e L

ife

Exp

ecta

ncy

at

Bir

th (

year

s)

http://www.ehs.org.uk/industrialrevolution/PH_Population_2.htm

Population Changes

• Manchester & Salford had joint population of:– 25,000 (1772)– 181,000 (1821)– 455,000 (1851)

• Liverpool population:– 60% in single decade– 1840s: 250,000 to 400,000

• Birmingham population:– Between 1801 & 1851: 86,000 to

233,000

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

Population Changes

Manchester/Sanfold Population

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

1772 1821 1851

Year

Pop

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Num

ber

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

Population Changes

Liverpool Population (1840s)

050,000

100,000

150,000200,000250,000300,000

350,000400,000450,000

Po

pu

lati

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er

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

Population Changes

Birmingham Population

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

1801 1851

Year

Po

pu

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http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kuq

Population Changes

England Population & Urbanization

Year Population (million)

1701 5.06

1751 5.77

1801 8.66

1851 16.74

http://www.ehs.org.uk/industrialrevolution/PH_Appendices.htm

Population Changes

England Population

0

5

10

15

20

1701 1751 1801 1851

Year

Po

pu

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(m

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)

ReformsImprovements on Living Conditions

• 1848 – Parliament passed laws that allowed city councils to clean streets– One of the 1st cities to get cleaner:

Birmingham– Proper sewers & drains built– Houses built on a set standard– Paved streets – lighting put up– Slums knocked down, new houses built

• However, few could afford new housing– 1875 - When slums knocked down, little

choice but to move to another one

http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vindust.html

ReformsImprovements on Working Conditions

• Utopians, such as Robert Owen, created socialist communities where work and property were shared equally

• Owen also advocated for laws that would limit child labor and help to create labor unions

• Karl Marx advocated for communism, a classless society in which all means of production would be owned by the community

Reformists

Robert Owen Karl Marx

Similarities and differences between feudalism and life during the Industrial Revolution

• Feudalism—the state was too weak to protect citizens, so people put themselves into the service of lords in exchange for protection

• Similar to industrial rev. –children were “bound” to masters and their families were paid

• But feudalism became hereditary—being “bound” during the industrial was not hereditary

Peasants could not leave the land they worked on, did not get remuneration for work, had to pay large taxes to lords

"Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World." Oneworld --Publications. 6 May 2008.http://www.oneworld-publications.com/samples/pre-industrial-societies.htm

Ocana, Juan C. "Feudal Europe: What Was Feudalism?" Historiasiglo20.Org. 2007. 6 May 2008 >.http://www.historiasiglo20.org/MEC-BC/2-6-2.htm

Conclusion

The growth of population in rural areas…

The great migration…

The growth of cities…

Increased population…

Harsh working/living conditions…

Reforms for these conditions…

The Industrial advancements & overall prosperity of the time make up for the

negative aspects