-The industrial revolution saw a massive population shift from the countryside to the towns. -By 1901, only 1/5 of the population of England and Wales lived in what might be called ‘rural areas’. -With 80% of the population being urbanised, this was a far greater proportion than any other European country. -By 1901, there were 74 towns with over 50,000 inhabitants and London grew from 2.3 million in 1851 to 4.5 million in 1911 (or 7.3 million if suburbs are included). -The largest growth came in what can be called ‘conurbations’. These were large areas of industrial and urban land in which several cities merge to form a single non-rural unit. -By 1911, Britain had seven of these (no other European country had more than two). -These were: Greater London (7.3m!), SE Lancashire (2.1m), West Midlands (1.6m), West Yorkshire (1.5m), Merseyside (1.2m), Tyneside (0.8m) and central Clydeside (1.5m).

-Most conurbations contained a significant Irish community and their politics tended to be more ‘orange and green’ than elsewhere (e.g. Liverpool and Glasgow). -At the end of the century, London and Leeds also absorbed large Jewish communities, the victims of an Eastern European ‘rural depopulation’. -Standards and style of architecture varied enormously: indestructible stone tenements of Glasgow, ‘back to backs’ in Yorkshire (if you were a skilled worker you might have a ‘through’), cellar dwellings in Liverpool, and ‘two up two downs’ in the mining towns, to the decorous suburbs of the lower and upper middle classes. -Usually all of it was leased or rented although owner-occupiers were more common by the 1900s. -Some were built by civic-minded local councils (with libraries, parks, etc) but many were built by unscrupulous speculative builders.

-These towns were dominated by the railways. The centre of towns gave up space for the railways. The more well off could live further away from the grime and smog of the town centres. -Filth and noise characterised a Victorian city. Filth from the trains, chimneys, the horses and noise from the carts, carriages and horses. -In the early 19th century toilets were usually cesspits, which were infrequently emptied and sometimes overflowed. Or urine might seep through the ground into wells from which people drew drinking water. -Given these disgusting conditions it is not surprising there were outbreaks of cholera in many towns in , , 1854 and Slowly, (don’t forget that housing conditions are relative to what happened before) the demand for improvements in urban life became a powerful one (Booth and Rowntree plus other social investigators aided this).

-Don’t forget…that life in the rural communities was also effected by depopulation and depression (due to the attraction of jobs in the towns and Free Trade leading to competition from abroad). -BUT, it needs to be remembered that overall the industrial revolution made a much higher standard of living possible for many ordinary people. -The death rate fell, especially among children, a figure which says a lot about the socio-economic condition of the people. -In the 18th century when goods were made by hand they were scarce and therefore expensive. Machines meant that goods could be mass produced and so they became much cheaper. -It is true that in the early 19th century many people worked very long hours and they lived in appalling conditions in overcrowded towns. However by the late 19th century housing for most people was better than in the 18th century.

-People were also better fed. Inventions like trains and steamships made it possible to import cheap food from abroad, wheat from North America and meat from Australia and New Zealand. For thousands of years bread was the staple diet of ordinary people. The poor lived mainly on bread. By the end of the century bread was ceasing to be the 'staff of life' and most people were eating a varied diet. -Furthermore a host of inventions made life more comfortable and convenient. -Railways made travel much faster. Waterproof clothing also made life more comfortable. So did anaesthetics. -Furthermore today we take street lighting for granted but in the 19th century gas street lights made going out at night much easier and safer. -We also take photography for granted but people in the 19th century thought it was wonderful. For the first time ordinary people could have pictures of their loved ones to remember them by if they lived far away.

-It is true that poverty was common in the 19th century but things had always been that way. A large part of the population lived at subsistence level, or below, it but that was nothing new. -Public Health Acts (1848 and 1875) obliged local authorities to make towns and cities cleaner and by the 1870s most towns and cities had installed sewers and water supplies. -In addition, workers, firstly skilled then unskilled, started to form trades unions to represent their views to employers (up until 1824 and 1871 they had been pretty much illegal). -The Trades Unions Congress (TUC) was formed in It has also been estimated that real wages rose by 50% between 1869 and 1914 and the standard of living rose between 17 and 25% between 1870 and BIBLIOGRAPHY -Harvie C., and Matthew H.C.G., Nineteenth Century Britain, Oxford, accessed accessed

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