The Conditions of Britain's Working Classes c.1840

The Conditions of Britain's Working Classes c.1840

For many centuries, Britain's economy was centred on agriculture,

which became mechanised in the early 18th century. In the 1840s,

however, the working state of Britain was very different - Britain was

industrialising; capitalism resulted in massive dislocation. The

number of jobs becoming available in the cities due to the building of

factories and workshops meant that people were both internally

migrating and immigrating. The majority of immigration was from

Ireland; Irish workers named 'navvis' were entering Britain to work on

the canals. However, even though so many jobs were being created, the

massive influx of people into the cities put great pressure on

precious resources and resulted in population explosion due to the

ever-increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, which exacerbated

public health issues which had been ever-present over centuries. The

intensity was almost unprecedented, resulting in early deaths - an

average age of around 16 or 17.

The rapidly expanding population was causing environmental problems,

mainly ill health, early death (the majority due to the effects of the

poor housing), water supply and sewerage and drainage issues. The most

extensive problem, which invariably reflected the medical state of the

working class, was housing. Thousands of people were in need of not

only cheap housing, but also housing that were close to their work,

because transport was expensive up until the horse-drawn trams and

workmen's trains came into operation in the late 1800s. This also

aided the capitalist-orientated factory owners, because it meant that

the worker...

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...es' and were afraid that if the

government did actually do anything to help them, that they would

become idle and depend to much upon the government.

Overall, the conditions in which the working class were living were

terrible but they could not do anything to help themselves because

they were powerless. The government had its policy of laissez-faire,

which it rigidly stuck to, and it wasn't until the late 1800s, during

a period of Utilitarian reform, in which state intervention was a

response to an 'intensification of social ills', that the policy,

which had been sacrosanct to Britain for so long, was defeated. This

was largely due to a report published by Edwin Chadwick, 'A Report on

the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain'

in 1842. The working class would be once more treated as humans.