Life in Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution

Work became more regimented, disciplined, and moved outside the home with large segments of the rural population migrating to the cities.

[1] The industrial belts of Great Britain included the Scottish Lowlands, South Wales, northern England, and the English Midlands.

The establishment of major factory centers assisted in the development of canals, roads, and railroads, particularly in Derbyshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire.

[3] The nature of the Industrial Revolution's impact on living standards in Britain is debated among historians, with Charles Feinstein identifying detrimental impacts on British workers, whilst other historians, including Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson claim the Industrial Revolution improved the living standards of British people.

[5] Poor ventilation in workplaces such as cotton mills, coal mines, iron-works and brick factories is thought to have led to development of respiratory diseases among workers.

[6] Housing conditions of working class people who migrated to the cities was often overcrowded and unsanitary, creating a favourable environment for the spread of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and smallpox, further exacerbated by a lack of sick leave.

This act was a major step towards a better life for children since they were less likely to fall asleep during work, resulting in fewer injuries and beatings in the workplace.

One finding of the investigation was the observation alongside increased productivity, the number of working hours of the wage workers had also doubled in many cases.

[14] The efforts of Michael Sadler and the Ashley Commission resulted in the passage of the 1833 act which limited the number of working hours for women and children.

We then came down to sixty-nine; and since Lord Althorp's Act was passed, in 1833, we have reduced the time of adults to sixty-seven and a half hours a week, and that of children under thirteen years of age to forty-eight hours in the week, though to do this latter has, I must admit, subjected us to much inconvenience, but the elder hands to more, in as much as the relief given to the child is in some measure imposed on the adult.

With the basic mathematics and English skills that children were acquiring, however, factory owners had a growing pool of workers who could read.