Life in Britain during the Industrial Revolution
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During the 1700's and early 1800's, great changes took place in the lives and work of people in several parts of the world. These changes resulted from the development of industrialization. The following sites will give examples of primary documents written during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Find the heading with the name of your assigned person (factory owners, factory workers, mine wokers, women, children) and click on the link to the documents for you to examine.
Industrial Centers:
Factory Owners:
- Description of the city of Manchester, England. Manchester was a major industrial center for the textile industry durng the 19th century. (at Spartacus)
- Description of the horrible condition of Manchester in 1844 by socialist writer Friederich Engels (at Modern History Sourcebook).
Factory Workers:
- The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, 1835 by Andrew Ure, a Scottish writer who supported capitalist practices (at Modern History Sourcebook).
- Letters of George Courtauld Courtauld was a English silk mill owner who mainly employed children in his mill (at Spartacus)
Mine Workers:
- The Life of the Industrial Worker in Ninteenth-Century England multiple primary sources (at Victorian Web)
Women Workers:
- Contemporary Accounts of Working Conditions in the Mines (at Peel Web)
- Contemporary Illustrations of Conditions in the Mines (at Peel Web)
Child Workers:
- Evidence Given Before the Sadler Committee on Women's Working Conditions (courtesy of Laura Brown)
- Women Miners in the English Coal Pits From Lord Ashley's 1842 report to Parliament (at Modern History Sourcebook)
- Child Labour in Cotton Factories (at Peel Web)
- Manchester's Children Factory Committee (at Spartacus)
Page created by Ryan Folmer, 1 July 2001