British History of the Industrial Revolution

British History of the Industrial Revolution

In 1750 Britain was very different to what it is like now. People think that Britain just lacked technology, such as Televisions and computers etc. How ever these were not everything that Britain did not have during the18th century. People had not yet discovered that germs caused disease and only simple operations could be made because there were no anesthetics. 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. Before the revolution, manufacturing was done by hand or simple machines. Most people worked at home in rural areas. A few worked at shops in towns. The Industrial Revolution eventually took. Manufacturing out of the home and workshop. Power-driven machines replaced handwork, and factories developed as the best way of bringing together the machines and the workers to operate them.

The population of the 18th century was a lot smaller than it is today. This is not just because of more people being born since then, but because they did not have the technology to cure simple illnesses that we get today, and they also didn't have as good operations to perform on the sick. The approximate amount of people living in Britain in 1750 was eleven million people. Many babies died in there first year of life, 80 percent of the population lived and worked in the countryside the annual death rate was 28 deaths per 1000 people. By 1825 the population had risen to about twenty-one million. Many babies still died in there early years but families were becoming larger. Nearly 60 percent of people now lived and worked in the country. Dropping by 20 percent. The death rate was now 22 deaths per 1000 people. In 1900 the population had increased to forty million. Now nearly 75 percent of the people lived in towns and huge urban areas. The annual death rate had fallen to only 18 deaths per 1000 people. The population helped Britain to become an industrial nation by so many people moving to main area's everyone was getting what they needed. Such as food, medical care, better living conditions and were earning more money. Also if the population increase slowed down there would not be enough workers for industry because they would be aging and they wouldn't have enough manual workers for the industries to produce goods.

Agriculture was Britain's strongest industry in 1750. This is because there were very few towns, if any at all. British agriculture went through many changes between 1750 and 1900. Some of which were affected by transport. Transport helped farmers to carry there goods around Britain helping them to sell goods easily, this also helped the people of Britain because they would be getting there food easier and they would be able to focus on different jobs and not have to farm for there own food. The most common types of farming that took place in Britain in 1750 were farming for food and wool. By 1850 most wasteland had been successfully turned into good land for growing crops. Also new farming methods had been brought into action by this time. These methods consisted of new field rotation systems, some crops such as turnips and ray helped restore the nutrients in the ground. Swede was also used for this as well. So these crops were grown especially for this. These also made good foods for the animals. Enclosure was also brought in. This meant a farmer did not have to share his land and he would be free to make his own changes without consulting with someone else. New machines had also been discovered to help plough the ground and lay the seeds. There were more iron industries being made, this meant that it would be cheaper to make the equipment, many machines were still horse powered. Selective breeding had also started to be used. This helped animals to become healthier, become larger helping to produce more meat and probable help them to live longer. Agriculture helped British industry by producing more food products for people to eat, this helping the population to become more stable and healthy.

Power served a large purpose in Britain during this period (1750 - 1900) during the 18th century the main types of power were hand power, animal power and later on waterpower. Power was needed to run the machines in mines, factories and in fields and farms. As more power was needed they came onto inventing more powerful ways of moving machines and vehicles. Horsepower was used with ploughs in fields and was also used when lifting raw materials from mines. Waterpower was the mostly used type of power. This was used through a large wheel and water was turning the wheel to produce power. Then after these methods of power, came the steam engine. This was produced by coal being heated to evaporate water into steam. This