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From 2-6 M in 1750
20 M in 1850
37 M in 1901
Why? Death rate declined:
1- new vaccines
2- improvement in nutrition
3- less infant mortality -
(1773-1815)
restricted food and grain to prevent price fluctuations which implemented high tariffs on foreign corn.
did not work = did not lead to prosperity for farmers but led to inflation of the price of bread
repealed in 1846 by Tory PM Robert Peel. -
- prohibited employment of children under 9
- children between 9 and 12 to work 12 hours
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child and women's labor, social reform fed by anti-slavery campaigns
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- extended the franchise in the county, adult males who
- owned land worth 2 pounds a year
- held a lease worth 10 pounds a year
- were tenants worth 50 pounds a year
- owned or occupied a house worth 10 pounds a year- reallocated seats in the HoC
- 56 rotten and pocket boroughs disfranchised
- 22 new boroughs created and given two MPs, 20 new boroughs created and given 1 MP
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the franchise (entitlement to vote) was not a basic legal right:
depended on where they lived and what they owned.
county: men to vote if property worth 2 pounds a year
boroughs: customs and traditions (pot-walloper etc:) rotten and pocket boroughs! -
- employment of children under 9 prohibited
- 8 hours for 9 to 13
- 12 hours for 13 to 18
- children under 13 elementary schooling
- inspectors of factories
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reduce the cost of looking after the poor by encouraging them to look after themselves.
- create workhouses for poor relief
- punitive: harsh conditions in workhouses
met with criticism. -
- use of boys under 10 was forbidden but children continued to be used.
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- All men to have the vote
- Voting should take place by secret ballot
- Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years
- Constituencies should be of equal size
- Members of Parliament should be paid
- The property qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament should be abolished
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against mechanization, working class wanting reform.
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from an agrarian economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing.
fuelled by:
- increasing use of new basic material (iron and steel) and coal
- new machines like James Hargreaves’ spinning jenny, Cartwright’s power loom, James Watt’s steam engine
- the rise of mechanized factory system
- developments in transport and communication (canals, steam locomotive) -
harsh conditions
- trappers (open doors), drawers/drammers (pull carts) -
- no women working underground
- no boys under 10 working underground not properly implemented as there was a single inspector.
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Britain as “workshop of the world”
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gave the vote to part of the urban male working class for the first time:
from 1 million voters to 2 million voters -
compulsory education for children aged 5 to 13
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- American and German iron and steel overtook British
- Agricultural depression in Britain + increase in competition (US and Canada)
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- dealt locally with issues of health and sanitation
- medical officers compulsory in urban areas
- local authorities required to provide water, drainage and sewerage
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required sweeps to be licensed + duty of the police to enforce legislation
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- increase in the consumers (population explosion, women and youth working, more spending power)
- changes in the distributive trades (department stores, co-operative stores etc.) + advertisement
- more products
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made it a criminal offence to bribe voters
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all male property-owners could vote.
The 1867 Act gave the vote to men in boroughs who owned a house or paid more than £10 a year for lodgings
The 1884 Act gave the vote to men in counties on the same basis as men in boroughs