What happened to industrial output from the late 18th century?
It grew at an unprecedented rate.
What economic pattern described alternating slumps and booms?
The trade cycle.
How did Britain’s rural and urban population shares change between 1800 and 1900?
From three-quarters rural in 1800 to three-quarters urban in 1900.
How were the Poor Laws funded, and who paid the rates?
Parish rates paid by local property owners and occupiers funded them.
What did the Elizabethan Poor Laws require each parish to provide from 1601?
Relief for the poor funded by rates on local property owners.
How did the Speenhamland system calculate agricultural labourers’ income supplements?
According to bread prices and the number of children.
What conditions did the New Poor Law of 1834 impose on assistance?
Assistance required entering a workhouse with conditions less eligible than an independent worker’s.
Which author described working-class self-dependence and cooperative societies?
John Stuart Mill.
In which year did Mill publish *Principles of Political Economy*?
1848.
What practical response did the Cooperative Movement offer to high prices and poor-quality food?
Cooperatives bought goods and sold them to workers.
How were Friendly Societies funded?
By regular subscriptions.
What was Chartism, and when did it operate?
A constitutional movement from 1838 to 1848.
What political and social goals did Chartism pursue?
Universal male suffrage and social justice.
What did the Combination Laws of 1799–1800 criminalise?
Industrial action.
What did the 1825 act permit workers’ meetings to address?
Settling wages or working hours without coercion.
What import restriction did the Corn Law of 1815 impose?
Foreign grain imports were prohibited until British wheat reached 50 shillings a quarter.
What replaced total prohibition under the Corn Law in 1828?
High duties.
Who led the Anti-Corn Law League?
Richard Cobden.
What economic benefits did free traders expect from repeal?
Cheap food and expanded foreign trade.
What body did the Public Health Act of 1848 create to supervise sanitary improvements?
A Central Board.
Which researcher documented poverty and overcrowding in London slums during the 1880s–1900s?
Charles Booth.
Which researcher initially doubted the extent of poverty in London?
Charles Booth.
What issue did the Liberal Party emphasize in its 1906 election campaign?
Defending free trade.
Which groups were parliamentary allies of the Liberal Party after the 1906 election?
Irish Nationalists and the recently founded Independent Labour Party.
How did the British Isles’ population change between 1801 and 1901?
It rose from 16 million to 41.5 million.
What chiefly drove population growth in the British Isles from the late 18th century to the 1830s?
Increased fertility as people married and began working earlier.
What was the average age at death in London in 1831?
32 years.
What was the average age at death in the countryside in 1831?
43 years.
Who qualified for relief under late seventeenth-century Poor Laws?
The settled poor.
How did eighteenth-century workhouses change their role from the late eighteenth century?
They increasingly sheltered the old and sick as able-bodied people received outdoor relief.
How much did poor-relief costs rise between 1776 and 1819?
From £1.6 million to £9.3 million.
When was the Poor Law system abolished, and what replaced it?
In 1948, with the creation of the National Health Service and modern assistance system.
Which group founded the first modern cooperative grocery store?
The Rochdale Pioneers, a group of weavers.
In which year did the Rochdale Pioneers found the first modern cooperative grocery store?
1844.
How many cooperative societies did Britain have by 1899?
1,500.
How many members did British cooperative societies have by 1899?
1.6 million.
Which six reforms did the Chartists demand?
Universal male suffrage, secret ballots, worker eligibility for Parliament, payment for MPs, equal constituencies, and annual parliaments.
Why were the Tolpuddle Martyrs convicted and transported in 1834?
They took secret oaths to join a union.
When was the Trades Union Congress founded?
1868.
When was the Labour Party founded, and on whose initiative?
In 1900, on the initiative of the Trades Union Congress.
Why did opponents call the Corn Law a “Bread Tax”?
They said landowners imposed it.
Which campaigns initially joined opposition to the Corn Law?
Corn Law agitation and electoral reform.
Which British prime minister reduced many duties, especially the corn duty, in 1842?
Robert Peel.
What event became the occasion for opening British ports to foreign grain?
The Irish Famine, beginning about 1845.
Which reformer promoted the Public Health Act after the 1834 Poor Law?
Edwin Chadwick.
What health improvement did Edwin Chadwick believe would reduce the need for poor relief?
Improving poor people’s health.
What were the sanitary priorities for drainage and household waste?
Improved drainage and sewers, and refuse removal from houses, streets, and roads.
What water and medical services were sanitary priorities for towns?
Clean drinking water and a medical officer for each town.
By what percentage did real wages rise between 1870 and 1914?
40%.
What was life expectancy in 1840?
41 years.
What was life expectancy in 1914?
53 years.
Who studied poverty in York in 1900?
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree.
When did Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree study poverty in York?
1900.
What did a worrying proportion of working-class men fail to qualify for during the Boer War?
Military service.
Which national fear became linked to poverty after Boer War fitness findings?
National degeneration.
Answer 18 questions on Britain’s Social Question 1815–1945.
1. How did the distribution of Britain’s population between countryside and cities change from 1800 to 1900?
2. What did the 1831 comparison of average age at death indicate about urban living conditions?
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