History CM

By begum
  • Period: to

    Population doubled

    From 2-6 M in 1750
    20 M in 1850
    37 M in 1901
    Why? Death rate declined:
    1- new vaccines
    2- improvement in nutrition
    3- less infant mortality

  • The Corn Laws

    (1773-1815)
    restricted food and gran to prevent price fluctuations which implemented high tariffs on foreign corn.
    did not work = did not lead to prosperity for farmers but led to inflation of the price of bread
    repealed in 1846 by Tory PM Robert Peel.

  • 1819 Factory Act (only in cotton mills)

    • prohibited employment of children under 9
    • children between 9 and 12 to work 12 hours
  • Period: to

    Growing demand for social reform

    child and women's labor, social reform fed by anti-slavery campaigns

  • The First Reform Act of 1832

    1. extended the franchise in the county, adult males who
    2. owned land worth 2 pounds a year
    3. held a lease worth 10 pounds a year
    4. were tenants worth 50 pounds a year
    in the boroughs, adult males who
    - owned or occupied a house worth 10 pounds a year
    1. reallocated seats in the HoC
    2. 56 rotten and pocket boroughs disfranchised
    3. 22 new boroughs created and given two MPs, 20 new boroughs created and given 1 MP

  • Electoral system before 1832

    the franchise (entitlement to vote) was not a basic legal right:
    depended on where they lived and what they owned.
    county: men to vote if property worth 2 pounds a year
    boroughs: customs and traditions (pot-walloper etc:) rotten and pocket boroughs!

  • 1833 Factory Act

    • employment of children under 9 prohibited
    • 8 hours for 9 to 13
    • 12 hours for 13 to 18
    • children under 13 elementary schooling
    • inspectors of factories

  • New Poor Law

    reduce the cost of looking after the poor by encouraging them to look after themselves.
    - create workhouses for poor relief
    - punitive: harsh conditions in workhouses
    met with criticism.

  • 1834 Chimney Sweeps Act

    • use of boys under 10 was forbidden but children continued to be used.
  • Period: to

    Victorian Period

  • The People's Charter, 1838

    1. All men to have the vote
    2. Voting should take place by secret ballot
    3. Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years
    4. Constituencies should be of equal size
    5. Members of Parliament should be paid
    6. The property qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament should be abolished

  • Chartism, Thomas Carlyle

    against mechanization, working class wanting reform.

  • Industrialisation

    from an agrarian economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing.
    fuelled by:
    - increasing use of new basic material (iron and steel) and coal
    - new machines like James Hargreaves’ spinning jenny, Cartwright’s power loom, James Watt’s steam engine
    - the rise of mechanized factory system
    - developments in transport and communication (canals, steam locomotive)

  • 1842 Report of Children's Employment Commission

    harsh conditions
    - trappers (open doors), drawers/drammers (pull carts)

  • 1842 Mines Act

    • no women working underground
    • no boys under 10 working underground not properly implemented as there was a single inspector.

  • 1851 Great Exhibition

    Britain as “workshop of the world”

  • 1867 Reform Act

    gave the vote to part of the urban male working class for the first time:
    from 1 million voters to 2 million voters

  • 1870 Forster Education Act

    compulsory education for children aged 5 to 13
  • Period: to

    The Late Victorian Recession

    • American and German iron and steel overtook British
    • Agricultural depression in Britain + increase in competition (US and Canada)

  • 1872 and 1877 Public Health Acts

    • dealt locally with issues of health and sanitation
    • medical officers compulsory in urban areas
    • local authorities required to provide water, drainage and sewerage

  • 1872 Reform (secret ballot)

  • 1875 Chimney Sweepers' Act

    required sweeps to be licensed + duty of the police to enforce legislation
  • Period: to

    Consumer Revolution

    1. increase in the consumers (population explosion, women and youth working, more spending power)
    2. changes in the distributive trades (department stores, co-operative stores etc.) + advertisement
    3. more products

  • 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act

    made it a criminal offence to bribe voters

  • 1884 Reform Act

    all male property-owners could vote.
    The 1867 Act gave the vote to men in boroughs who owned a house or paid more than £10 a year for lodgings
    The 1884 Act gave the vote to men in counties on the same basis as men in boroughs