Did the industrial revolution improve conditions for the
working class? (note at the beginning of the chapter the large
percentage of the population who were poorly paid factory
workers)
not before 1850
this chapter is about what happened after 1850
the working class was worse off as a result of the
industrial revolution before 1850, better off after
1850--roughly
Note that workers in England in the second half of the
19th century saw more jobs with decent pay and improved
working conditions. However, they still lacked basic
protections we are used to (most significant, there was no
social security system)
critical thinking questions: what
caused the situation to change? which reasons were most
important?
new technology
individual choices (but this is limited by competition)
trade unions
workers get the right to vote
government regulation, particularly to protect children
and women who worked in factories
who did it change for?
How did industrialization eventually help factory
workers?
how did wages change?
how did living conditions change?--what were conditions
like in the cities
how did prices change?
social life and community structure
Wages rose on average after 1862
the capital industries (iron, steel,
coal, locomotives, building machines for factories)
paid higher wages because it was skilled work
unions helped workers get higher wages in some industries
the textile industry didn't see as significant a rise in
wage but there was a law in 1875 that reduced working hours
and other protections were gradually added
about 40% of workers still lived on a subsistence wage
(bare minimum food, clothing and shelter)
many were still stunted by malnutrition
How do you define whether the standard of living went up?
if the poorer factory workers made 18-21 shillings per week family
income (p. 138) did that buy more British
money system in the 19th century
How did prices change after 1850?
cheap imported food became more widely available
factories produce cheap machine-made goods,
transportation becomes cheaper as a result of the railroad
(though working class people walked to work and rarely could
afford to travel)
stores selling low cost goods become common only in the
second half of the century
What would cause the condition of workers to improve?
they get a share of the new wealth that comes from
industry--wages go up and prices go down--but this didn't
always happen
workers could fight for new laws to protect them,
improve their situation
workers could organize and use union tactics to
improve wages and conditions
improved sanitation in cities probably made the
most difference to health
Laws began to improve conditions for workers:
Expanding the right to vote was one political response to a
situation where many factory workers were hopeless and hungry
(see also Hosbawm p. 51):
before 1832 only landowners had the right to vote, so
the government tended to act in the interest of the rich
and middle class
1832 reform act reapportioned parliamentary
representation based on population and gave the vote to
heads of household with at least 10 pounds net worth or
renting land for at least 50 pounds a year, about 1/5 of
the male population
1867 reform act doubled the voting population by
adding all male householders and those who
rented unfurnished lodgings for at least 10 pounds a year,
but only in cities
extension of the vote in 1884-5 gave the vote to
rural men on the same terms. About 40% of males
still could not vote
In 1918 all men over the age of 18 and women over the
age of 30 got the vote
despite the fact factory workers didn't have the
right to vote, some laws were passed to protect them
reform laws started in 1833--
factory act of 1833 forbade employment of children
under 9 and limited hours for children to 9 hours a day
for children 9-13 and 12 hours a day for children 13-18
laws to protect the public (factory workers, consumers,
public health) were new. Before this there were two
principles of law
you can choose to take the job, including whatever
risks come with that job
buyer beware
1833 Factory Act: children under the age of 9 cannot
work, children age 9-13 can only work 8 hours a day, and
children aged 14–18 can only work 12 hours a day.
Mines Act of 1842: prohibited the employment of females
and boys below the age of 10 in mines
1844 Factory Act: women and young people 14-18 limited to
12 hours a day during the week and 9 hours on Sunday, machines
must be fenced
1847 Factory Act: limited work for women and young people
14-18 in the textile industry to 10 hours a day
1859 Act: allowed peaceful picketing during a strike--the
first protection for union activity
1860 Food and Drug Act: the first legal protection from
adulteration of food.
1866 Sanitary Act: the first effect requirement that
cities and towns deal with health hazards such as sewage
contamination
1870 Elementary Education Act established local education
boards to make sure schools were available for all children
from age 5 to 13, but these schools could still charge fees
1878 Factory Act: required children under 10 to be in
school and limited work to a half day for children 10-14
1880 Education act required children to attend school
from the ages of 5 to 10
1891 Factory Act: increased the minimum age for children
to work from 10 to 11, prohibited the employment of women for
4 weeks after childbirth and strengthened the requirements for
fencing machines
Cities were improving, but still tended to grow faster than they
could provide services and amenities
middle class people become interested in improving cities
parks and public buildings
improvements in public health were much more important
than improvements in medicine
sewers and water supply--improvement were needed for health
germ theory of disease was not accepted until the end of
the century but people began to realize the importance of
sanitation
but cities
were still growing faster than infrastructure could keep up
Workers also developed organizations to help themselves:
Social life and community structure
sense of stability--the industrial revolution was here to
stay
seek for control over their own lives, for example
joining a union
three kinds of worker advocacy:
clubs that provided burial insurance and other small
scale help
political movements like the Chartists
unions negotiating/fighting for better pay and working
conditions
worker organizations weren't just concerned with work,
they provided recreational opportunities and burial insurance
political power--Increasing political power of workers
due to expansion of the right to vote
in the second half of the 19th century trade
unions begin to get somewhere
unions at the time were usually divided up by work, eg.
coal miners union
1800 combination acts had prohibited all union activity
repealed in 1824-25 but the legality of unions was unclear
until 1871
1859 Act: allowed peaceful picketing during a strike--the
first protection for union activity
the government was afraid of revolution, realized they
needed to improve conditions to prevent workers from being so
desperate they organized a revolution
after 1850 unions become more respectable, get some right
to negotiate wages and working conditions
unions grew in the 1850s and 1860s to about a million
members in 1874--these provided sickness and unemployment
benefits and negotiated with management
successful 1889 London Dock Strike began a push to
organize less skilled workers
The middle class was expanding slowly and living more comfortably
due to lower prices
this page written and copyright Pamela E. Mack
last updated 9/9/19
