by_the_end_of_the_2nd_half_of_th

Content type

User Generated

Type

Homework

Uploaded By

zjnfwbu5479

Pages

Rating

By the End of the 2nd Half of the 19 Century Britain Was a Mature Industrial

Society and Was Able to Experience Many of the Benefits of the Industrial

Revolution. Discuss

By the second half of the nineteenth century Britain was a mature industrial society and was able

to experience many of the benefits of the industrial revolution. Discuss.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Britain experienced enormous industrial expansion, thereby

creating an improvement in the lives of most of its people. The middle classes fare well by the

opening of new opportunities in employment, residing, for the most part, in the new suburbs of

the industrial cities and towns. They surrounded themselves with the clutter of possessions

associated with a new consumer age. There were modest improvements in the working and living

conditions of working class people, many of whom were drawn to the cities from rural areas in

the hope of a better life. This essay will examine the conditions of life in late Victorian Britain in

order to establish the extent of the benefits brought about by industrial transformation, insofar as

they affected the lives of the different classes.

In 1800, twenty five per cent of the population of England lived in the cities and towns. Within a

period of eighty years this position was reversed. In 1850, the year of the Great Exhibition,

which was a celebration of British industrial achievement, the ‘number of urban dwellers

exceeded those who dwelt in the countryside’. The cities of Birmingham and Manchester more

than doubled their populations between 1801 and 1831. The industrial revolution was

synonymous with the cotton industry in the early part of the century. This was followed by the

development of the coal and iron industries, essential to the construction and running of the

railways. By the eighteen-eighties, the new industries of steel, engineering and chemicals were

well established. British engineering was, for the most part, involved in the manufacture of steam

engines and locomotives. Shipping was another area in which Britain was heavily engaged. The

expanding empire created a demand for increased shipbuilding, especially steamers. Harland and

Wolff in Belfast, Jarrow in England and Glasgow in Scotland were the main centres of

shipbuilding, giving massive employment in their areas. Factory work gave steady employment

to a large section of the working population, due to the introduction of mass production and the

consequent demand for cheaper goods.

In 1873, eighty per cent of the land of the United Kingdom was owned by an elite seven

thousand, out of a population of thirty two million. This group dominated thinking, not only

politics and government, but in most aspects of life including education, the arts and fashion.

Queen Victoria, who gave her name to this era together with her husband Prince Albert, carved

out a role for the monarchy. They identified with the values of the middle-class, which

encompassed sobriety, hard work and strict sexual morality. Following the headline set by the

Royal family, the nobility got involved in philantrophic works. This sector of society was

accepted unquestioningly as an elite group and they, in turn found common cause with the

middle classes. What bound these groups together was their mutual interest in the ownership of

property and involvement in capital investment . Furthermore, there was a practice of younger

sons of the nobility and gentry opting for careers in trade and the professions, which helped to

lower barriers between themselves and the middle classes. There was also ‘integration through

marriage, of merchant bankers from the city of London and landed aristocrats, being particularly

striking’. Changes to the electoral system watered down the political influence of the ruling elite.

The franchise was extended in 1867 to urban householders and to those paying ten pounds or

more per annum in rent. This had the effect of doubling the electorate. While not adequate, these

changes ‘sounded the death knell of the rule of the elite’. The organisation of party machines on

a large scale with a central office heralded the movement of power towards the urban areas. This

was the result of a changed Britain in the aftermath of the industrial revolution.

The rising middle classes were not clearly defined but varied from skilled workers to

entrepreneurs. The widest definition of the middle class or those who aspired to imitate them was

that of keeping domestic servants. Although it has been thought that Victorian Britain was a

middle class nation in fact Hobsbaum claims that they were a relatively small community. They

were mainly urban dwellers involved in manufacturing industry or shopkeeping. Between 1850

to 1870, the number of shopkeepers rose by fifty-four per cent. In the ranks of the upper middle

class were groups of professional men. They had organisations to represent them, such as the

British institute of architects, founded in 1834 and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers formed

in 1847. These organisations reflect not only the affirmation of the status of these professionals,

but the rise of Britain as an industrial power in the Victorian era. The middle class professionals

lived for the most part in the newly-developed suburbs of the cities and towns. It was

increasingly an urban phenomenon, or perhaps as Hobsbaum described it a suburban

phenomenon with the migration of the non-proletarians to the outskirts of the cities increasing so

much that townsmen outnumbered countrymen for the first time in 1851 and by 1881 two out

every five Englishmen lived in the six giant conurbations of London, Merseyside and Tyneside.

These professionals built substantial villas, detached and semi-detached, with gardens. They

housed their servants in attic rooms and basements. This class benefited from new innovations

such as running water and bathrooms, which became features of up-market housing of the late

Victorian era. The rising upper middle class, although deferential towards the aristocracy and

gentry, were aware of their new-found status and comparative wealth.

A new lower middle class became more defined towards the latter end of the nineteenth century.

This class emerged through the growth in trade, transport and communications. They included

railway clerical employees, bank and shipping clerks and insurance officials. A feature of the

Victorian era was the rise in bureaucracy. The industrial revolution and population explosion

created problems which central government was forced to tackle. The idea that the state had a

role to play in solving social problems was in itself novel, and worked only from the ‘negative

premise that unless government intervened things would only generate into chaos’. By its

intervention, the state was guaranteeing that ‘private enterprise would flourish unimpeded.’ This

was the view of the utilitarian Jeremy Bentham. Once the state intervention was acceptable the

way was paved for further control into most aspects of daily life. The phenomenon of the Royal

Commission, set up to investigate a particular issue, became a feature of Victorian government.

This, together with the establishment of a census office, which produced statistics on the

population every ten years, created a burgeoning bureaucracy. The expansion of the civil service

together with the introduction of primary education in 1870, necessitating the recruitment of

teachers, created a new group in the ranks of the lower middle class. These people had

guaranteed employment and were in a position to purchase modest terraced houses in the cities

End of Preview - Want to read all 6 pages?

Access Now

Unformatted Attachment Preview

By the End of the 2nd Half of the 19 Century Britain Was a Mature Industrial Society and Was Able to Experience Many of the Benefits of the Industrial Revolution. Discuss By the second half of the nineteenth century Britain was a mature industrial society and was able to experience many of the benefits of the industrial revolution. Discuss. By the end of the nineteenth century, Britain experienced enormous industrial expansion, thereby creating an improvement in the lives of most of its people. The middle classes fare well by the opening of new opportunities in employment, residing, for the most part, in the new suburbs of the industrial cities and towns. They surrounded themselves with the clutter of possessions associated with a new consumer age. There were modest improvements in the working and living conditions of working class people, many of whom were drawn to the cities from rural areas in the hope of a better life. This essay will examine the conditions of life in late Victorian Britain in order to establish the extent of the benefits brought about by industrial transformation, insofar as they affected the lives of the different classes. In 1800, twenty five per cent of the population of England lived in the cities and towns. Within a period of eighty years this position was reversed. In 1850, the year of the Great Exhibition, which was a celebration of British industrial achievement, the 'number of urban dwellers exceeded those who dwelt in the countryside'. The ci ...
Purchase document to see full attachment