★ Must-know
Industrial output grew unprecedentedly from the late 18th century, while inequalities sharpened and economic activity alternated between slumps and booms known as the trade cycle.
Britain shifted from three-quarters of its population living in the countryside in 1800 to three-quarters living in cities in 1900.
Further detail
The population of the British Isles rose from 16 million in 1801 to 41.5 million in 1901, largely because fertility increased from the late 18th century to the 1830s as people married and began working earlier.
In 1831, average age at death was 32 in London and 43 in the countryside, reflecting the unhealthy urban environment.
Industrial growth → sharper inequality and visible urban poverty
★ Must-know
📌 The Speenhamland system of 1795 supplemented agricultural labourers’ incomes according to bread prices and the number of children.
📌 The New Poor Law of 1834 ended outdoor relief and made assistance conditional on entering a workhouse whose conditions had to be less eligible than those of an independent worker.
Further detail
From the late 17th century, relief was restricted to settled poor, while 18th-century workhouses set poor people to work and, from the late 18th century, increasingly sheltered the old and sick as able-bodied people received outdoor relief.
Poor-relief costs rose from £1.6 million in 1776 to £9.3 million in 1819.
The Poor Law system was abolished in 1948, when the National Health Service and modern assistance system were created.
Outdoor relief supports the poor outside; the 1834 law makes workhouse entry a condition
★ Must-know
Further detail
The Rochdale Pioneers, a group of weavers, founded the first modern cooperative grocery store in 1844.
By 1899, Britain had 1,500 cooperative societies with 1.6 million members.
★ Must-know
Further detail
The Chartists demanded:
In 1834, agricultural labourers known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs were convicted and transported for taking secret oaths to join a union, prompting protests.
The Trades Union Congress was founded in 1868, and trade union activity was wholly legalised by the Liberal government in 1871.
The Labour Party was founded in 1900 on the initiative of the Trades Union Congress.
Combination Laws → repeal → legal unions → Labour Party
★ Must-know
📌 The Corn Law of 1815 prohibited foreign grain imports until British wheat reached 50 shillings a quarter, and high duties replaced total prohibition in 1828.
📌 Free traders argued that repeal would provide cheap food and expand foreign trade, while protectionists claimed that cheap bread would lower wages.
Further detail
Opponents called the Corn Law a “Bread Tax” imposed by landowners, and agitation against it initially joined electoral reform before the campaigns diverged after 1832.
Prime Minister Robert Peel reduced many duties, especially the corn duty, in 1842, despite opposition within his Conservative Party.
The Irish Famine, beginning about 1845, became the occasion for opening British ports to foreign grain, although Ireland produced food that was shipped to England.
Free traders promised cheap food; protectionists feared lower wages
★ Must-know
📌 The Public Health Act of 1848 created a Central Board to supervise sanitary improvements in towns and cities, but it had limited powers and no money.
Further detail
Edwin Chadwick promoted the Public Health Act after the 1834 Poor Law on the reasoning that improving poor people’s health would reduce the number needing poor relief.
The sanitary priorities were:
Between 1870 and 1914, real wages rose by 40%.
Life expectancy rose from 41 years in 1840 to 53 years in 1914.
Sanitary improvement → better health and fewer poor-relief cases
★ Must-know
Charles Booth documented poverty and overcrowding in London slums during the 1880s–1900s, despite initially being sceptical about the extent of poverty.
The Liberal Party won the 1906 election without promising many social reforms and focused instead on defending free trade, with Irish Nationalists and the recently founded Independent Labour Party as parliamentary allies.
Further detail
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree studied poverty in York in 1900.
A worrying proportion of working-class men were found unfit for Boer War service in 1899–1902, linking poverty with fears of national degeneration.
Take a 18-question practice quiz on Britain’s Social Question 1815–1945, with every answer explained.
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?
Memorize the key concepts of Britain’s Social Question 1815–1945 with 55 flashcards.
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.
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