The Industrial Revolution had a dramatic impact on the life of Great Britain. Although evidence of industrialization had appeared on a wide scale, it should be remembered that Great Britain was still basically a rural country in 1800. Agriculture dominated the economic life of the nation, and the fastest thing one could observe was a galloping horse, which at best could cover 30 to 100 miles a day. London was a faraway place for most of the British people, and even the concept of time was irregular as people relied on when the sun rose and set in their particular locality to judge the progress of the day. Yet, if one had been born in the early 1800s, that world had disappeared almost entirely by the end of the century. The country manners of Jane Austen’s novels in the early 19th century had given way to the harsh urban realities of Charles Dickens characters in the mid-19th century and finally the wild notion of time travel in the work of H. G. Wells by the end of the century.
The forces that had begun to churn in the late 18th century— agricultural reform, population increase, and the emergence of machines powered by steam—set the stage for rapid industrialization. In 1801 British population stood at 9 million, increased to 21 million in 1851, and stood at 37 million at the turn of the 20th century. The age of the city and the factory had arrived. In the late 18th century a typical textile mill might be valued at three to four thousand pounds, while a basic hand loom might cost twenty-five pounds. In 1788 the first recorded multi-story factory enterprise had a value of 13,000 pounds and its steam engine alone cost 1,500. Operations related to mining and metallurgy had even higher values. In order to operate on this grand scale, partnerships formed to accumulate greater sums of capital and bargain for new credit arrangements to facilitate investment. These larger entities required a new organization to ensure the highest degree of productivity. In many respects, however, the pace of industrialization progressed slowly and unevenly. The typical cotton mill in 1850 had 50 workers, most of whom did not operate machinery, although some enterprises boasted 1,000 or more employees.21 Thus, much manufacturing remained on a small scale, and family firms financed through personal loans outnumbered large partnerships that drew upon the resources of banks and financial institutions. This mixed nature of industrialization should not lead one to surmise that the impact of the new economy was neither dramatic nor far-reaching. Indeed, by the middle of the 19th century, Great Britain had more than lived up to its moniker as ‘‘the workshop of the world.’’
Almost from its inception, the factory or mill required a new work ethic from its employees. Life on the farm had been a family and community endeavor. However, the hum of activity in the factory demanded a discipline and behavior that operated at a tempo and speed not previously experienced by the ordinary working man. In the initial stages, this regimentation was foreign to individuals who were used to the more irregular and leisurely pace on the farm. Even those workers who engaged in cottage industry pursuits of weaving and spinning in their domiciles could perform their tasks on a surge basis and then have time off. The machines operated by the workers, however, were expensive and could not remain inactive. Factory owners had to dictate a strict system of time-work in which employees labored in shifts for set hours and performed a specified number of tasks in a repetitive manner to obtain maximum output from the machines. Some owners sought shortcuts by hiring orphans from London and other cities and bringing them to the northern textile mills with the promise of wages, food, and housing. Women and children appeared in greater numbers in the factories, not a new phenomenon as they had worked on the farm, but their presence held down overall factory wages at times. The old practice of St. Monday when no work was done gave way to a week in which work of twelve to sixteen hours a day stopped at either midday or the end of the day on Saturday. Over time this distinct break between work and leisure time would change the nature and style of activities pursued by the working classes. By the later 19th century some of these new interests became spectator sports, such as cricket and football, and music hall entertainment. The comfort of the former rural, close-knit community no longer existed. Even the church could not fill the vacuum. Church attendance declined rapidly as evidenced by the 1851 Census Sunday Report that only 50% of the population attended a church service. The Anglican Church with its ritual and formalism suffered the most from the changing social dynamics in Great Britain. Methodism, on the other hand, took heartily to the new spirit of the age that the Lord watched over those persons who take care of themselves. Methodism’s emphasis on honest, hard work and self-discipline meshed neatly with the mores of the era.
Mature workers faced a litany of fines and punishments if they did not perform according to the factory owner’s standards. These shortcomings might include tardiness or slovenly behavior such as drunkenness, an extremely serious infraction that employers viewed as having a negative influence on the work force. Adults might be given a reduction in pay or outright dismissal. Children, often prized by factory owners because they could be easily disciplined for the arduous work, often received beatings to enforce the rules. At times the conditions under which the labor force toiled played havoc with the workers. The many physical dangers inherent in the early factories might include working in mills with temperatures of more than 80 degrees, inhaling dust from the textile fibers, and injury or death from fast-moving, unsafe machinery. The mines might have cave-ins, explosions, or poisonous fumes. Furthermore, working in mines with damp crawl spaces of only three or four feet in height resulted in twisted bodies and lung disease. Although not attractive places to work, the necessity for the booming population to find work drove many workers into the mines, factories, and mills. Pauper apprentices, orphans in the community under the control of local parishes, were another source of workers. The parishes often put the children to work in the local factory for low wages and little food. Until child labor reform appeared later in the 19th century, these unfortunate children were easy prey for profit-driven factory owners who possessed no moral pangs about abusing these children. However, as long as the population growth remained steady, there were always new workers to replace those whose productivity fell short of expectations. By the second and third generations of the factory system, the majority of British workers had accepted the new regimentation of factory life, a development that helped to sustain British industrial growth throughout the 19th century.
The larger impact of the early period of industrialization has fueled much debate. The standard of living did drop for many rural workers, and many rural women lost their jobs as spinning moved to the factories. As stated earlier, the hand weavers suffered a dramatic decline in wages and numbers throughout the first half of the 19th century. Factory and mining wages remained more stable for unskilled workers, and those persons with skills associated with constructing or maintaining machines fared even better. The annual average wages for a man working in a factory rose from roughly 25 pounds in 1750 to 44 pounds in 1860. Yet, in comparison to productivity of the workers, wages remained low for several decades and allowed the factory owners to invest in new equipment and often times expand operations. But workers had no safety net to catch them if times turned difficult. Employers made no provisions for workers who became ill or too elderly to perform their duties. Few options existed to affect change. In the past, workers always could turn back to the land, but that option no longer existed. In the early years, as will be discussed later, workers did conduct mostly unsuccessful heated verbal protests against reduction in pay or increases in the price of food at company commissaries. At times such acts became more violent.
World History
