1. Population boom / agricultural revolution

2. Economic development in 19th century Britain
Population
Agricultural Revolution
Industrial Revolution

3. Lecture outline I/ The population boom II/ The Agricultural Revolution
III/ The Corn Laws

4. I/ The population boom

5. Outline A) An increase in population B) The census
C) Population and the Agr. Revolution

6. Introduction: Britain in 1815
Largely rural
Sparsely populated (13 million inhabitants, 3 cities of more than )
Few roads, few schools and only a minority had the vote

7. Introduction: Britain in 1914
The population had more than trebled
Mostly urban population
Highly literate
A majority of men had the vote
 « Politics had been transformed from the pastime of the landowners to something recognisably similar to the business it is today » (Years of Expansion p.2)

8. A) An increase in population

9. Population growth
= fastest population growth ever in the UK.
1815: 13 million inhabitants.
Doubled by 1871.

10. Fertility, birth and mortality rates
Increase in birth rate
Biological reasons
Social reasons
Drop in the mortality rate
Limited impact of wars and epidemics
Improvement in living conditions
!! Social and geographical disparities !!

11. B) The census

12. The earliest census attempt
First census in England = Domesday Book (1086), compiled for tax purposes
Source: historyof information.com

13. Source: Wikimedia + abhsscience.wikispaces.com
Thomas Malthus ( )
1798: An Essay on the Principle of Population
Source: Wikimedia + abhsscience.wikispaces.com

14. John Rickman ( )
1798: 12 reasons for conducting a census (taken up in Parliamentary debates)
Source:dustshovellersgazette.blogspot.com

15. Decennial census
1801: first census of the general population of Great Britain (1811 UK)
: purely statistical censuses.
1841: first census to record the names of all individuals in a household or institution.
Source: histpop.com

16. C) Population and the agricultural / industrial revolution

17. A consequence or a cause?
More productive agr. + more manufatured goods  better living conditions  lower death rate.
A cause:
Larger population  more labour force + larger market.

18. II/ The Agricultural Revolution

19. Outline A) Enclosures B) Spreading ideas C) Role of the gentry
D) Improvements in crops and cattle
E) Mechanisation
F) Conclusion

20. A) Enclosures

21. Introduction End 18th cent. Britain = predominantly agr. country
Could feed most of its population
Agr = 1/3 labour force + 1/3 national income

22. Definition and chronology≈
Open fields enclosed with fences and hedges.
Wastelands and commons reclaimed.
1801: General Enclosure Act (but in fact, the process was largely complete by then).

23. Strip farming (top) and enclosures (bottom)

24. Open field system (advantages)
People too poor to buy land could use the commons
Community feeling: farmers could always get help

25. Open field system (drawbacks)
People have to walk over your strips to reach theirs
Field left fallow
Difficult to take advantage of new farming techniques
No hedges or fences
Show picture first and ask for ideas about what the problem might be. Introduce and explain – encourage note taking at this stage in brief bullet points
Land in different fields  takes time to get to each field
Animals can trample crops and spread disease
No proper drainage
(c) Mrs Sims-King schoolhistory.co.uk

26. Social consequences Economically successful but socially damaging.
Poor peasants could no longer rely on the commons.
Growing landless class.
BUT
Each farmer independent = free to introduce any necessary improvement.

27. A new hierarchy
Landlords
Tenant farmers
Landless labourers

28. B) Spreading ideas

29. 1660: Royal Society (Philosophical Transactions)
1798: Board of Agriculture
 Popularized new methods of farming

30. C) The role of the gentry

31. Landowners sensitive to new ideas.
Increasingly managed their estates themselves.
Were willing to experiment (improvement  fashionable).
Money  investment.

32. D) Agricultural and technical improvement

33. Introduction of new crops
Crop rotation
New breeds of animals

34. New crops Swedish clover Turnip (1700) Charles 2nd Viscount Townshend
(« Turnip Townshend »

35. Crop rotation: the old system
Year 1-2 = grain
Year 3: fallow

36. Crop rotation: the new system
Year 1
Year 2
Grain
Grain
Root crop
Animal food
Year 4
Year 3

37. New breeds of animals Robert Bakewell
Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (« Coke of Holkham »)
New Leicester sheep
(selective breeding)
Technical improvement as moral duty

38. Jethro Tull (1674-1741) and the seed drill

39. John Fowler (1826-1864) and the steam driven plough

40. E) Consequences of the Agricultural Revolution

41.
(written by Pr Mark Overton, University of Leicester)
By 1850, only 22% of the workforce in agriculture (smallest proportion in the world).
Most of the great figures overrated.

42. A farm market economy Farmers no longer worked to feed their family
Market gardening for towns and cities
Exports
Feeding the army (up to the Napoleonic wars)
Farming became profitable + subjected to the laws of the market.
!! British agriculture never as outstanding as industry !!

43. Resistance movements: the Swing riots (1830-1831)
« Captain Swing »: a fictitious identity
Destruction of agricultural machinery
Arson (in particular haystacks)
Demands for food, beer or money contributions.
600 rioters imprisoned, 500 sentenced to transportation, 19 executed.

44. III/The Corn Laws

45. Outline A) The Corn Laws B) The Anti-Corn Law League
C) Towards the repeal of the Corn Laws

46. A) The Corn Laws

47. Definition and chronology
Protecting British corn (= grain) by taxing imports.
1815 Importation Act
Importation of corn forbidden until price > 80 shillings per quarter
1828: Prohibition replaced by high import duties 47

48. Problems (1) Encouraged speculation.
(2) High cost of living for urban / industrial middle and lower classes.
Riots
(3) Contrary to the interests of free trade (defended by industrialists).

49. B) The Anti-Corn Law League

50. 1838: Anti-Corn Law Association (Anti-Corn Law League after 1839).
 Peaceful agitation for repeal.

51. Richard Cobden ( )
Manchester businessman and leader of the Anti-Corn Law movement.

52. Anti-Corn Law arguments
Argument 1: cheaper bread = lower wages.
Argument 2: repeal  other countries would buy manufactured goods in return for corn.

53. C) Towards the repeal of the Corn Laws

54. A changing context 1840s = « the hungry forties »
Bad harvests ( )
 Corn Laws accused of increasing cost of living + limiting foreign trade and home manufacture 54

55. Sir Robert Peel ( )
1841: Sir Robert Peel elected as Prime Minister.
Conservative BUT believed in liberal (= free trade) doctrines.

56. Conclusion 1845: potato famine in Ireland.
1846: repeal of the Corn Laws.
No benefit for the Irish.
Robert Peel had to resign.