Why, and with what consequences, did industrialisation result in
popular protest and political change?
v Reactions to mechanisation and economic change
§ Economic change came after 1750, some benefited other did
not
§ Most rural working class people has small plots of their own
land which allowed them to survive
§ They also had other jobs in most cases like weaving or spinning
at home
§ Poor harvests would lead to food riots – rare in the first part of
the 18th century
§ Towards the end protests grew in rural areas, reasons were:
§ Rapid growth lead to smaller job opportunities in factories
§ Not as many jobs on the land
§ Food process rose
§ Enclose farming impacted rural parts, led to a loss of common
grazing land
§ Landowners only needed workers on a temporary during
harvest season
§ Parliament passed laws with heavy penalties against poaching
(catching animals for food on someone else’s land).
§ Landowners were not willing to fund the limited welfare
system of people needing help
§ Scattered food riots 1790 – 1810, usually when bread was high
§ Mainly agriculture workers or miners
§ Tended to attack and loot property of those involved in
transporting wheat or flour or those suspected of hoarding and
making a profit
§ Those involved were punished
§ Also few riots against enclosure but never really succeed those
involved were punished
§ Wasn’t riots in the beginning as enclosure requited many
workers so the impact wasn’t felt before
§ At war 1792 – 1815 so great demand for men
, § After 1815 more protests in the rural area
§ Peace with France left many with no jobs
§ Agriculture prices collapsed, which meant slightly cheaper food,
but also meant farmers cut wages and reduced employment.
§ The limited amount of welfare available was not enough to
cope with mass unemployment and poverty
§ The burning of haystacks, local food riots and attacks on
livestock spread throughout the 1820s as poverty grew among
the rural poor.
§ Another factor which led to unrest was the increase in the
number of radical newspapers.
§ Some were aimed at a middle-class readership - focused largely
on issues like the taxes imposed on imported corn to benefit
farmers
§ Others were aimed at the rural class and attacked the taxes
that had to be paid to support the rich
v The Captain Swing riots
§ of 1830–31 brought these protests to a conclusion.
§ Captain Swing was a mythical figure allegedly organising the
movement, whose name appeared on various threatening
letters to landowners.
§ To the government and local landowners the protests were
illegal, violent and destructive.
§ The protesters saw them in a different light. The protests
highlighted several related issues:
§ lack of regular employment
§ low wages and bad housing and working conditions
§ lack of welfare support
§ having to pay taxes to support the Church of England (members
of other churches thus paid twice)
§ the arrival of threshing machines, which helped harvesting, but
reduced the demand for labour
§ The main areas of protest was where there was little
alternative employment.
, § The majority of the new factories were in the Midlands and the
north of England.
§ The railway had not yet arrived to provide cheap transport to
areas where work was available.
§ The government sent Troops to keep order.
§ Normal judicial processes were suspended. Some rioters were
executed, some transported to Australia and many others
imprisoned.
§ The protests did delay the use of threshing machines for some
years, so wages increased slightly, but attempts by agricultural
workers to organise themselves into a trade union in the 1830s
were stamped out
§ The unrest in the countryside in 1830– 31 formed part of a
wider protest throughout Britain, demanding political reform.
§ the reforms of 1832 did nothing to improve conditions for the
agricultural worker in Britain.
v The Luddite riots
§ Despite the huge impact that industrialisation had on the
working classes, there was surprisingly little protest against the
changes that the factory system imposed.
§ A few attacks on the machines before 1830 but very little after
§ two significant attempts to prevent the establishment of the
new machines - Both involved skilled men in the textile
industries whose roles were now performed more cheaply and
efficiently by machines.
§ Lancashire in 1770s – the machine improved the output and
quality of woollen cloth – men and women who had made it by
hand now were without their well-paid job
§ The Luddite movement, 1811 – 1816 mobs broke into factories
and smashed the new machinery, spinning jennies and water
frames in particular.
§ A great deal of damage was done to property
popular protest and political change?
v Reactions to mechanisation and economic change
§ Economic change came after 1750, some benefited other did
not
§ Most rural working class people has small plots of their own
land which allowed them to survive
§ They also had other jobs in most cases like weaving or spinning
at home
§ Poor harvests would lead to food riots – rare in the first part of
the 18th century
§ Towards the end protests grew in rural areas, reasons were:
§ Rapid growth lead to smaller job opportunities in factories
§ Not as many jobs on the land
§ Food process rose
§ Enclose farming impacted rural parts, led to a loss of common
grazing land
§ Landowners only needed workers on a temporary during
harvest season
§ Parliament passed laws with heavy penalties against poaching
(catching animals for food on someone else’s land).
§ Landowners were not willing to fund the limited welfare
system of people needing help
§ Scattered food riots 1790 – 1810, usually when bread was high
§ Mainly agriculture workers or miners
§ Tended to attack and loot property of those involved in
transporting wheat or flour or those suspected of hoarding and
making a profit
§ Those involved were punished
§ Also few riots against enclosure but never really succeed those
involved were punished
§ Wasn’t riots in the beginning as enclosure requited many
workers so the impact wasn’t felt before
§ At war 1792 – 1815 so great demand for men
, § After 1815 more protests in the rural area
§ Peace with France left many with no jobs
§ Agriculture prices collapsed, which meant slightly cheaper food,
but also meant farmers cut wages and reduced employment.
§ The limited amount of welfare available was not enough to
cope with mass unemployment and poverty
§ The burning of haystacks, local food riots and attacks on
livestock spread throughout the 1820s as poverty grew among
the rural poor.
§ Another factor which led to unrest was the increase in the
number of radical newspapers.
§ Some were aimed at a middle-class readership - focused largely
on issues like the taxes imposed on imported corn to benefit
farmers
§ Others were aimed at the rural class and attacked the taxes
that had to be paid to support the rich
v The Captain Swing riots
§ of 1830–31 brought these protests to a conclusion.
§ Captain Swing was a mythical figure allegedly organising the
movement, whose name appeared on various threatening
letters to landowners.
§ To the government and local landowners the protests were
illegal, violent and destructive.
§ The protesters saw them in a different light. The protests
highlighted several related issues:
§ lack of regular employment
§ low wages and bad housing and working conditions
§ lack of welfare support
§ having to pay taxes to support the Church of England (members
of other churches thus paid twice)
§ the arrival of threshing machines, which helped harvesting, but
reduced the demand for labour
§ The main areas of protest was where there was little
alternative employment.
, § The majority of the new factories were in the Midlands and the
north of England.
§ The railway had not yet arrived to provide cheap transport to
areas where work was available.
§ The government sent Troops to keep order.
§ Normal judicial processes were suspended. Some rioters were
executed, some transported to Australia and many others
imprisoned.
§ The protests did delay the use of threshing machines for some
years, so wages increased slightly, but attempts by agricultural
workers to organise themselves into a trade union in the 1830s
were stamped out
§ The unrest in the countryside in 1830– 31 formed part of a
wider protest throughout Britain, demanding political reform.
§ the reforms of 1832 did nothing to improve conditions for the
agricultural worker in Britain.
v The Luddite riots
§ Despite the huge impact that industrialisation had on the
working classes, there was surprisingly little protest against the
changes that the factory system imposed.
§ A few attacks on the machines before 1830 but very little after
§ two significant attempts to prevent the establishment of the
new machines - Both involved skilled men in the textile
industries whose roles were now performed more cheaply and
efficiently by machines.
§ Lancashire in 1770s – the machine improved the output and
quality of woollen cloth – men and women who had made it by
hand now were without their well-paid job
§ The Luddite movement, 1811 – 1816 mobs broke into factories
and smashed the new machinery, spinning jennies and water
frames in particular.
§ A great deal of damage was done to property
