England's Industrial Revolution: 1700-1850

Between the years 1700 and 1850, England underwent a period of vast and rapid industrialization. In doing so, England established itself as the leader of industrialization in the world and caused other countries in Europe and America to follow the same trend during the late 18th century. In England during 1700, England was a nation composed of several rural villages. If any change occurred in England, it occurred very gradually, since the people moved slowly. The population had only limited amounts of information regarding the world outside of their villages. The civilization within Great Britain was primarily agrarian. As time progressed far into the 19th century, England began to advance at a higher speed in social, political, and economic

The lifestyles of this wealthy class, called the nouveau riche and who emerged in 1783, were considered lavish. Though they weren’t apart of the English aristocracy, they were able to live comfortable lives like them. This new class was able to emerge because of the influx of immigration into the rapidly forming cities; people were in search of employment. As these people arrived to the newly formed cities, factory owners obtaianed a larger labor force that would work for them. Nevertheless, they would continue to pay workers fixed wages and make large profits (Manolopoulou and Eagleton 3). Despite this change of social stratification in England, the society remained patriarchal. For marriage to occur, a woman had to either bring land into marriage or pay a dowry. In addition, any land or property inherited by women had to be passed on to her husband. Furthermore, patriarchal forces were reinforced since women were still restricted to the same low-status, low-paid, and low-skilled jobs they always had. A reason for this continuity was the decrease of employment opportunities given to women during the industrial revolution (Chalus and Barker 82). The dominance of men at the end of this time period was still

Changes began to come about quickly and successively. The emergence of facotires occurred during this period, along with development of new sources of energy. Water power was the first new system to be implemented, followed by the steam engine and gas lighting. England owed this progression to their position as a colonial and maritime nation; this provided England with access to and abundant supply of essential and raw materials. Furthermore, the earlier commercial revolution that England experienced meant they had sufficient capital to invest in new businesses. Though much of the progress was accomplished through change, not all aspects of life were altered during this time period. Religion remained a vital force of unification in English society and due to increased pollution the low life expectancy persisted. Ultimately, England set the foundation and pattern of industrialization that would be used by other nations in 18th and 19th