Living Conditions of Industrial Cities in the 19th Century

In 19th Century England, living conditions were horrible for the poor. If you didn’t have enough money to stay out of poverty you were heading into a harsh and unforgiving life as a person in the slums. People took poison to escape the horrors that a poor person could easily slip into. Both adults and little children drank gin and beer because of all of the sewage and garbage dumped into the rivers. For the many, many poor people there was often no clean water and people went to the bathroom in ‘bathroom’ privies that everyone in the slums used outside. At least half of the poor children died before their fifth birthday. In contrast, the wealthy could have mansions with servants, grand food, and clean drinking water. On top of all of this,

The Industrial Revolution created an enormous increase in the production of many kinds of goods. Some of this increase in production resulted from the introduction of power-driven machinery and the development of factory organization. This then led to a large influx of people into the cities. Also, as a result of the demands that the British were making the Americans demanded more in their own country.

People who lived during the Industrial Revolution suffered from many hardships with their working and living conditions. The Industrial Revolution started in England due to a high amount of land, labor and money. Although the Industrial Revolution furthered technological advances it lead to a high mortality rate, poor living conditions, overcrowding and more.

On the other end of the society scale, the working poor were working and living in unbearable conditions. There were no irrigation systems, running water or any way of preserving hygiene in the homes or the factories. The working poor lived in slums and tenements which were breeding grounds for diseases. In the book, “The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844” by Friedrich Engels, he states, “...at the end of the covered passage, a privy without a door, so dirty that the inhabitants can pass into and out of the court only by passing through foul pools of stagnant urine and excrement.” (page 78)1. This gives us a peek into the horrible unsanitary conditions that the working class were forced to endure while the business owners were living in beautiful mansions and summer houses.

The industrial revolution began in Great Britain because of the textile industry. Britain had an abundance of cotton used in the making of textiles. When the cottage industry and the manufacturing of clothes at home changed to the factory system, new machines were being created. Also several key-inventors of theses machines where from Great Britain, and contributed to the factory system being established. Also efficient transportation was already set up in Britain and was further innovated with the demand between procedures and suppliers. Great Britain also had a lot of natural resources. Also the workers in the new factories of the

During the nineteenth century Britain was facing a Public Health crisis and was in dire need of new sanitary reforms. There was a problem with Britain’s vast rise in population, diseases, housing conditions and governmental issues all being faced during this era. Living conditions through the nineteenth century was unimaginable (Clark, G. 2005). This was the era of the big industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was a time period in which the change in the economy through machines, such as the steam engine, characterized Europe and England. The revolution began to raise the standard of living for society. However, overtime, the transition from handmade goods to machine made products had the opposite effect on the people. The Industrial Revolution, despite the prosperous economy it brought, was not worth the health issues, harsh conditions, and dehumanization the common people had to face.

The Industrial Revolution started in Britain because by the end of 19th century, it was one of the most stable and powerful countries in the whole world. Great Britain had a lot of natural resources such as iron and coal that helped to build new machines. The location of England also had an impact because being an island it was isolated from wars and conflicts in Europe. Population development created new opportunities because people were moving from countryside to big cities for jobs which increased the demand for different products. In the 18th century England had all needed factors that contributed to the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Inventions such as the central water wheel and the steam engine were essential to the process of Industrialization as they brought immense change to the work environment. Before the Industrial Revolution many people worked at their own homes under their own hours, but once Industrialization began many people moved closer to urban centers and worked in factories along side machines. Standards of living increased as more people were becoming employed and earned a greater salary, which in turn caused an exponential growth in population. As more industries began to industrialize, more individuals were being employed and moving closer to urban areas. Cities began to grow in population and needed to expand in order to house the people who needed to be closer to their work environment.

The Industrial Revolution affected Europe’s surpassing of other nations in a huge way. Europe’s population increase influenced significant economic adjustments across the nation such as the demand for industrial goods and resources. Britain brought the way of industrialization introducing manufacturing businesses and more urbanized societies. This significant change brought industrialization throughout all other European countries. Britain was the height of resources such as coal and iron, which were also at a high demand across the world. Technology began to advance as iron and copper became the common use of new tools and machinery making Britain’s metal production globally dependent upon across the

In the 1700s, improvements in agricultural practices and a boom in the population allowed Great Britain to industrialize. As people were able to buy food at lower prices with less labor, there was in increase of people who contributed to the surplus of labor in growing factories. Great Britain had investments in industrial machines and factories, as well as an efficient central bank and credit facilities that allowed an environment in which people were in favor for innovative ideas. The nation had an abundant amount of mineral sources that were needed in the manufacturing process, which also led to the country having excellent exports and a ready outlet for the shipment of goods. As time went on, the Second Industrial Revolution came to be.

During the period of the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain saw great and fast change. Many new inventions and innovations vigorously improved the economic sate of Britain and the lives of the people. The inventions of the flying shuttle, spinning jenny, the water frame, and the spinning mule sparked what is known as the textile industry. These inventions increased the speed and quality of spinning and weaving. This also made it more efficient and required less human labor. As a result of not needing much human labor people resorted to cities in search for jobs, thus leading to factories. The factories became center or the “power house” of the industrial revolution. New machinery was introduced allowing cheaper labor and mass production at a lower cost. This new way of creating manufactured goods increased the economy of Britain exponentially. People were very pleased by the increase of Britain’s economy. Britain was also big on coal. Coal made it simpler and cheaper to melt iron . This

All fields of the industry were cultivated to the utmost but their were many arable fields for the working man to feed the growing population. Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures(doc 6).Steam engines were very reliable and cheap to run they produced cheap goods and in their exchange they were supplied with the necessities and comforts of life from foreign lands. The Revolution came with a couple of negatives, the new working class was so vast that they were forced into small packed tenements in dirty unsanitary places in the lowest of low in society. Fredrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (doc7).Most workers were segregated in separate districts where everyday was a struggle. The living was inhumane people huddled in corners, animal waste and vegetable refuse surrounding them.

As rent prices were not cheap, some families offered to have other extended family to stay with them. Also is was very common for families to have strangers stay with them in order to compensate for the high rent. More and more people flocked to the cities, and the need for affordable housing was out of control. The main concern for families was finding a place to live, even if it meant living in a tenement faced with overcrowding and safety issues. Most tenements had few if any windows, poor ventilation systems which led to bad air quality, which in turn led to the development of sickness and diseases. The tenements also were extreme fire hazards with no viable escape routes, and most had no indoor running water or plumbing

The high production lowered the cost of the food and raised the standard of life. On the other hand, small farmer and peasant class was unemployed as they lost their land to rich landholders. There was increase in the labour force. It seems that socially and economically England possessed everything needed to fuel the industrial revolution.