Webercise industrial revolution

Britain's Industrial Age

By countleapold
  • The Bridgewater Canal opens

    The Bridgewater Canal opens

    First man made canal

  • Roughly 10 million tons of coal had been mined

  • Cotton becomes Britain’s biggest export, overtaking wool.

  • The first large-scale Luddite riot took place in Arnold, Nottingham resulting in the destruction of machinery.

    The Luddites were a secret oath-based organization of English textile workers in the 19th century, a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery as a form of protest.
  • Frame-Breaking Act

    Frame-Breaking Act

    In response to the riots, Parliament passed a law making the destruction of industrial machines punishable by death.

  • The impact of industrialisation and creation of cities leads to a cholera epidemic across towns in Britain.

  • Rural to urban migration results in over half the population of Britain now residing in towns.

  • The British shipbuilding company Palmer Brothers & Co opens in Jarrow. The same year, the first iron screw collier, the John Bowes is launched.

  • London’s First Drinking Fountain

    London’s First Drinking Fountain

    The first fountain was built in 1859 to great fanfare, and at its peak was being used by around 7000 people a day.

  • The first iron warship, HMS Warrior is launched.

  • Extension of the Factory Act

    The Factory Act is extended to include all workplaces employing more than fifty workers.

  • The TUC (Trade Unions Congress) is formed

  • The Chimney Sweepers Act

    New law prohibited boys from climbing chimneys to clean them.

  • The industry of Great Britain reaches its peak

    The textile industry producing around 8 billion yards of cloth.
  • World War I

    World War I

    Changes to the industrial market shifting toward war supplies, and foreign markets setting up their own manufacturing industries, the golden age of British industry has come to an end.