life in the industrial revolution
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Life in the Industrial Revolution. Factories and Factory Acts. From Cottage industries to Factories. Cottage industries are replaced by factories Machines were too big and production too fast and efficient to be contained in one home - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
From Cottage industries to Factories
Cottage industries are replaced by factories
Machines were too big and production too fast and efficient to be contained in one home
Need a large building (factory) for new machines and power sources (steam engines)
Need lots of workers = city
Move from rural cottage or farm to city/ factory is very dramatic/ shocking
The Factory Richard Artwright: designed
very efficient factories
Could have all the parts of one industry in one building: fibers to thread, spin thread, woven to cloth, cut/ sewn to product
Workers homes could be attached to the factory, many rented from the factory owner and bought food (etc.) from a company store
The Factory Pay extremely low wages to limit cost
(maximize profits) Resisted paying anything to improve
working conditions (unnecessary cost)
Take part of wages in food for lunch (poor quality)
Forced to work long hours and overtime
Physical punishment No help for injuries, no recourse if fired
Child Labour No Public education Wages so low children need to help to
make ends meet
Work in machinery (in looms to pull out caught threads, etc.)
As chimney sweeps (crawl in and clean) Coal mining tunnels (open doors/ bring
water)
Exposed to industrial pollution (coal dust, soot, textile dust)
result in physical deformities for many
Poverty Severe conditions for poor workers –
crowded, filthy – one room per family Poor sanitation, lack of sewer systems/
running water
Disease – scarlet fever, Tuberculosis, tetanus, cholera
Church and rich women (social reformers) gave out charityo Unregulated and inconsistent
Government Workhouses:o Last optiono Horrible conditions – very similar to prisono Work menial jobs for basic shelter and little foodo No real chance to ever leave
Irish Potato Famine Potato is main crop in Ireland Poverty stricken region/ potato is
staple in diet
1845: potato is struck with disease and entire crop fails
Millions of Irish are starving
Irish are forced to abandon their farms and move to cities or emigrate to colonies to live
Scotland Clearanceso Enclosures come to Scotland
o Poor farmers (crofters) are forcibly removed from farms to use land for sheep grazing
o Forced to sell and land burned to prevent them from returning
o Result: many move to cities to work in Factories, or emigrate to colonies
Emigration to Colonies Why would
anyone leave Britain?
Why go to the colonies (Canada)?
Increased population in Britain Enclosures take away land/ way of
life poor conditions in Cities and
Factories motivate people to look for another option
Colonies (like Canadian wilderness) seem like an escape from poverty; an opportunity to own land and work hard to possibly improve their lives
Factory Acts Social reformers – try to improve working
conditions and give charity Workers try to use old trade guild model to
unite and look after each othero Takes until 1824 for workers to legally be
allowed to create workers associations = Labour Unions
Government against reformer parliament controlled by businessmen who profit from lack of regulations
Laws eventually change = factory actso 1802: Children can no work over 12 hours in
cotton millso 1819: no child under age of 9 in textile industry
Problem: no inspectors to enforce these rules