industrial_revolution

Industrial Revolution -

Changing Landscapes



Before the 1750s society was very different. Roll over the items with your mouse to find out how things

related to each other and click to read more.



Capital

William III (1650-1702) with his wars had massively increased public debt in England - which resulted

in the need to raise money from taxpayers. In the late 1600s, the government issued bonds in order to

raise funds, and this gilt-edged stock accustomed men to the idea of personal investment. This

mobility of capital allowed investment in new areas of industry. It was socially beneficial and led to a

substantial fall in the rate of interest from 8% in 1625 down to 4% in 1727. In the 1750s the rate of

interest was reduced again to 3%. The returns on investments were diminishing, so investors no longer

had an advantage in locking up their funds in long term bonds. They were looking for new and

profitable ways to invest their money.



Links:

William of Orange http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/sceptred_isle/page/81.shtml?question=81

Courses

Y152 Living Arts

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02Y152_history



Enclosures

Enclosing land concentrated wealth into the hands of nobility. The low rates of interest in the 1700s

encouraged them to invest in yet more land. They bought out the yeomen, some of whom invested

their money in manufacturing. The humbler cottagers, who may have had a small strip of land in the

open-field system, found themselves squeezed out by the enclosures. This freeing up of labour helped

drive the industrial revolution.Enclosing land improved yields as wasteland was taken over for grazing.

Robert Bakewell (1725-94) used methods of inbreeding to improve his herds of cattle, sheep, and

horses. Agricultural improvements also came in the form of improved grasses, clover and artificial

feeds.



Links:

Enclosures

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist4_prog7d.shtml

Poverty in Elizabethan England

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/monarchs_leaders/poverty_02.shtml

Robert Bakewell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bakewell_robert.shtml

Courses

Y151 Living in a Changing Society

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02Y151_business_studies



Cottage Industries

The majority of the people in Britain prior to the industrial revolution worked in agriculture. The

landscape was a patchwork of enclosed fields, surrounded by hedges, stone walls or rows of trees, a

process that had been taking place from the early thirteenth century. Many of the fields housed sheep,

which provided wool to the expanding textile industry. In the villages, this wool was processed. Every

household had a spinning wheel, which the womenfolk used to create yarn. Every village had a loom.

Eighteenth-century Britain had well-established craft industries and these supplied the expanding

export market. Fashions favoured English wool, and by 1800 the annual consumption of raw wool as

46 million kilos. The cotton industry also boomed, fuelled by raw material imported from the West

Indies. By 1850 cotton goods comprised 50% of British exports.LinksDid Trade Drive Empire or Empire

Drive Trade?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/empire/trade_empire_01.shtml



The Spinning Jenny

The legend of the spinning jenny has it that James Hargreaves’ daughter Jenny knocked over a

spindle in his family home. He watched, fascinated as it continued to function. This supposedly gave

him the idea that a whole line of spindles could be worked off one wheel. What is certain is that in

1761, Hargreaves won a competition for a £50 prize for a machine that would spin six threads at a





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time. The spinning jenny successfully broached the gap between the spinning wheel and large scale

factories. It was small enough to be set up in a family home, and rapid enough to feed the voracious

demands of the flying shuttle looms. It could be said that this machine was the stepping stone for

further developments in spinning.

Links

James Hargreaves

http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/hargreaveso.htm

The Flying Shuttle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/geo_fly_shuttle.shtml

Courses

T173 Engineering the Future

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T173_technology



Canals

The construction of the canal network massively reduced the cost of moving raw materials across

England. The opening of the Worsley Canal in 1761 connected coal mines with Manchester and cut

the average cost of coal in half. Josiah Wedgewood helped develop the Grand Trunk Canal, which

linked the Potteries to the Mersey, the Midlands and London. He built his works at Etruria on the bank

on the canal, which bought coal and china clay barges straight to his factory. Investment in the canal

system was massive, by 1825 eighty canal companies had a paid-up capital of £13 million, and the ten

most successful companies had a annual return of 27.6 per cent. But by the latter half of the

nineteenth century, the monopolies of the canal companies forced businessmen to look elsewhere for

their transport needs.Links

Transport and the Turnpikes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/geo_turnpikes.shtml

Courses:

TXR174 Technology in Action

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02TXR174_technology



Railways

The development of railways was a secondary phase of the industrial revolution, for they depended on

a fully developed iron industry. By 1850 about two million tons of iron had gone into railway track alone.



By the 1840s the railway locomotive stirred the public imagination. The cost of transporting anything

was cut by up to 50 percent. In 1850 there were 10,000 kilometres of railway in Britain, worked by

around 2,500 locomotives. Trains could travel at a top speed of 65 km per hour. Timetables set new

standards for punctuality and standardised the use of Greenwich Mean Time across the nation.

Links:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/brunel_kingdom_isambard.shtml

The Rocket Animation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_ani_rocket.shtml

Speed Revolution

http://bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/speed_01.shtml

Courses:

AT272 Ancient and Medieval Cities: A Technological History

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02AT272_technology



Roads

Roads surfaces and maintenance were better at the end of the eighteenth century than they had ever

been before. With the introduction of John Louden McAdam’s (1756– 1836).

technique of surfacing roads and providing side drains, standards improved further. The new roads

reduced the journey times of long distance coach travel. Even when coach travel was replaced by the

railways, their legacy was a network of serviceable roads. Not only could horse-drawn travel move

faster on the new ‘metalled’ roads, but horses could pull three times more. In the cities and towns road

traffic multiplied, with drays, horse-drawn omnibuses, carriages and handsome cabs competing for

supremacy.

Links

Thomas Telford

http://www.britannia.com/bios/telford.html

Road Construction





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http://www.fofweb.com/Subscription/Science/Helicon.asp?SID=2&iPin=ffests0714

Courses

T173 Engineering the Future

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T173_engineering



Steam Engines ~1823

In 1763 James Watt improved steam engine technology by separating the condenser from the

cylinder. In 1781 he developed the rotary-motion steam engine, freeing the steam engine for use in

applications other than mining.In 1796 Richard Trevithick produced a working engine/boiler

combination, and followed this up in 1801 with the Puffing Devil, one of the first locomotives. George

and Robert Stevenson with Henry Booth built the Rocket, which won the 1829 Rainhill Trials with a

speed of around 24 miles per hour. It wasn’t the only steam engine present - and certainly was not the

first!

Links

James Watt

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/watt_james.shtml

Beam Engine Animation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_ani_beam_engine.shtml

William Murdock

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/murdock_william.shtml

Richard Trevithick

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/trevithick.htm

The Rocket Animation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_ani_rocket.shtml

Steam Engines for Pumping

http://www.rhosybolbach.freeserve.co.uk/steam.htm

Courses:

T207 The Engineer as Problem Solver

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T207_technology



The Potteries

The development of the potteries is closely linked with Josiah Wedgewood (1730-95). His

experimentation with glazes, clays and jasperware raised the quality of English chinaware to new

levels. A friend of Boulton and Watt, he took a keen interest in the development of steam engines, and

used the new technology to grind materials and for turning lathes. But most of the work was done by

hand - he introduced a division of labour which increased productivity and profits. Wedgewood was an

innovator, not personally responsible for any single technology or invention, but facilitated and

encouraged greater efficiency in his trade that allowed English pottery to grace the tables, great and

small, of Europe.

Links

The Rise of the Victorian Middle Classes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/middle_classes_01.shtml

Tea, Coffee & Chocolate

http://www.open2.net/pleasure/features/teacoffee.htm

Origins of Networking

http://www.open2.net/ictportal/comm/networks/history1.htm

Course:

DD100 An Introduction to the Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02DD100_european_studies



Mills

In 1769 Richard Arkwright set out to design a more efficient spinning machine. His invention was run

by a water wheel and it became known as the water-frame. Too big to be used in a cottage, it was

housed in large buildings that looked like water mills, and so became known as mills.The frame

needed power and in 1785 a Boulton and Watt steam engine was installed at a mill in Nottinghamshire.

The steam-powered spinning mill was born. The power loom was slower in implementation. The first

loom was installed in 1791, but although its success was clear by 1820, it took a generation before it

forced the hand loom out of use.

Links:

Richard Arkwright

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/arkwright_richard.shtml





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Industry and Invention

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/victorian_britainlj/industry_invention_1.shtml

The Cotton Millionaire Game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_gms_cotton_millionaireshtm

Spinning Mill Animation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_ani_spinning_mill.shtml

Courses:

T207 The Engineer as Problem Solver

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T207_technology



Mining

Improvements in mining during the Industrial Revolution was in increments. The introduction of ponies

in the pits in the 1750s reduced the cost of coal. The use of iron also improved mining, with the

introduction of cast-iron tubbing in the shafts, which allowed an increase in shaft depths. The cast-iron

rail, which John Curr introduced in pits in Sheffield in 1777 also reduced costs. Ventilation improved in

the 1750s when Carlisle Spedding introduced the use of brattices to guide air through underground

passages, and again in the 1790s, when John Buddle introduced his system of triple shafts and more

elaborate methods of coursing. Gunpowder came into use towards the end of the century. Illumination

improved in 1813-15 with the production of several safety lamps, which not only made mining safer,

but resulted in larger coal output.

Links:

Victorian Technology

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/victorian_technology_01.shtml

Courses:

SXR260 The Geological History of the British Isles

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02SXR260_science



Smelting

Coke-fed blast furnaces were beginning to be used in the iron industry in the mid-eighteenth century in

the early stages of pig-iron production, replacing charcoal. But it was not until Henry Cort (1740-1800)

took out two patents in puddling and rolling in 1783-84 that a higher quality of iron was produced using

coke. His method: re-heat the pig iron with coke until it forms a paste, then stir it with iron rods until the

carbon and impurities burns away, finally pass it through iron rollers, pressing out the remaining dross.

This technique was a revolution, freeing forge-masters from their dependency on forests. It was only

made possible by the steam engines that raised water to run the bellows, forge hammers and rolling

mills. It led to integrated mining/smelting works which were controlled by single proprietors. New

communities grew around the pits and the output of iron increased dramatically.

Links:

Blast Furnace:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/industrialisation/launch_ani_blast_furnace.shtml

Courses:

T203: Materials Engineering and Science

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T203_technology



Science

The science of the late 1700s set the stage for later industrial developments when the work of a

number of gifted men bore fruit simultaneously. Joseph Black founded quantitative chemical analysis in

1754, Henry Cavendish identified hydrogen in 1766, Joseph Priestley published his History of

Electricity in 1767. Many of the originators of the new science were closely connected with industrialists

- Watt was connected with Black, Joseph Priestley with ironmaster John Wilkinson, whose invention of

bored canon made the construction of Watt’s engines possible.The sciences of physics and chemistry

gave birth to the concept of energy, leading to the development of thermodynamic theory, and from

there the formulation of quantum theory.

Links

John Wilkinson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/innovators/john_wilkinson.shtml

Courses

S103 Discovering Science

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S103_science

S207 The Physical World

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S207_science





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AS208 The Rise of Scientific Europe 1500-1800

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02AS208_history_of_science__technology_and_medicin

e



Medicine

Improved sanitation and the application of the scientific method in medicine saw the death rate from

infectious diseases drastically reduced. The population of the United Kingdom consequently

soared.Advances included the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) experiments conducted in 1799 and 1800

by Dr. Thomas Beddoes and Humphry Davy. William Withering (1741 - 1799) experimented with

foxglove as a cure for dropsy (congestive heart failure) after one of his patients was given a remedy by

a gypsy. In 1753 James Lind conducted the first ever clinical trial and with his vitamin C cure for

scurvy was the real hero behind Captain James Cook’s journey to the east coast of Australia.



Links

William Withering

http://www2.exnet.com/magsample/science.html

James Lind

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/lind_james.shtml

James Lind A Treatise on the Treatment of Scurvy

http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/Nautica/Medicine/Lind(1753).html

Renaissance Secrets

http://www.open2.net/renaissance2

Courses

S103 Discovering Science

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S103_science





Urban Drift



While workers were able to produce more per capita during the industrial revolution, the value of their

labour was reduced. The work of craftspeople in the villages was replaced by factory workers. The

traditional structure of the independent master, journeymen and apprentice was challenged by the

growth of sub-contracting and outwork. The artisans did not completely disappear, but they no longer

dominated their trades.



Although many working conditions in the factories were appalling, the availability of jobs in the centres

of manufacturing sparked a social revolution. People flocked to the manufacturing centres in search of

a better life. During the industrial revolution, people’s occupations changed and by 1850 more and

more families earned a living from manufacturing rather than agriculture.

Links:

Earning a Living

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/victorian_britainlj/earning_a_living_1.shtml?site=history_victorianlj_earni

ng

Courses

DD100 An Introduction to the Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02DD100_economics





Courses

The science that drove the inventors and their inventions in the Industrial Revolution was both varied

and often new. A better appreciation of the innovation and insight of these industrial pioneers can be

gained through studying science at the Open University.



The introductory course S103 Discovering Science

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S103_science

serves as an introduction to science and covers a range of topics that broadens your understanding of

many of the scientific principles that explain how the inventions of the Industrial Revolution worked.



This can be taken further at the second and third level where your understanding of science can be

developed and enhanced. These subjects focus on particular disciplines of science. For example

S205 The Molecular World,





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http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S205

S207 The Physical World http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S207

and S204 Biology: Uniformity and Diversity http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02S204

provide a deeper appreciation of chemistry, physics and biology respectively.



Alternatively, interdisciplinary subjects such as U205 Health and Disease

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02U205 or T173 Engineering the Future

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02T173

allow you to focus on a particular subject of interest and see how it was influenced by the changes

brought about by the Industrial Revolution.









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