Cottage Industry vs Industrialization

Cottage Industry:

• In the 1700s the primary way of making one's living was by farming
• At least 75% of the British population were farmers
• In the winter-time people had a lot of time on their hands so they would keep themselves busy with activities like weaving, knitting, candle-making, etc.
• This allowed farmers to add to their income, and provided products for urban merchants to sell - it was a win-win situation
• The cloth merchants would travel around the countryside to buy wool which he then would distribute to farming households in the winter to card, spin and weave into cloth.
• The merchant would then return at several points during the winter to pick up the cloth.

http://industrialrevolution.sea.ca/causes.html

Industrialization

• Because of the Agricultural Revolution, farm labourers who had lost their work moved to the cities looking for jobs.
• New inventions allowed products to be produced faster and more efficiently and at less cost.
• These inventions also allowed faster transportation and communication.
• Changes in the banking system to private banking, and changes in laws to free up money and commerce allowed businessmen to finance factories and business ventures.

• There was little understanding about what the pollution produced would do to the environment over time.

 

• The unemployed farm labourers began to move to the cities to work in the factories that began to spring up.
• The population of the cities in Britain began to grow astronomically.

• The population of London grew from 1/5 to ½ the total population of Britain.
• The cities were not prepared to handle such a rapid growth in population.
• Single rooms were often rented to a whole family, or sometimes several families.
• These rooms had no running water or toilets.
• Whole neighbourhoods had to share one hand operated water pump and a couple of outdoor toilets.
• Human waste was dropped into sewers that ran down the centre of streets.
• Garbage was tossed into the streets.
• The dirty, overcrowded conditions caused the spread of diseases like typhus, cholera, tuberculosis, smallpox and dysentery.
• In 1832, in London alone 31,000 people died of cholera.
• Chimneys, bridges and factories, as well as the smog from burning coal, blocked out most of the light in the poor sections of the city.

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  Social Change and Charles Dickens:

  
  

  Many people in the new middle class that arose during the Industrial Revolution were concerned with the conditions of the poor and working class.  One such person was the writer Charles Dickens.  He wrote stories in serial form for the newspapers - one chapter per week - and they were eagerly read by the people of London.  His stories were always about the social ills of Victorian England, particularly London.  Perhaps his most famous tale is A Christmas Carol.  Other books include Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and others.  

  
  

  Watch the movie "A Christmas Carol".  Think about the following as you watch:

  • How is the concept of mercantilism represented?
  • What do you think Dicken's attitude to the Poor Law, debtor's prison and the workhouses was?
  • What changes do you think Dicken's wanted to see?
  • Do you think he was successful in bringing about change?