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Industrial Britain 1800-1900 - Coggle Diagram
Industrial Britain 1800-1900
Chartism
The Demands
Votes for all men
Equal sized constituencies
Voting in secret
Wages for MPs
No property qualifications to vote
Elections every year
The events and the way they protested
The movement was started in 1836 by William Lovett and later joined by Thomas Attwood
They were peaceful and organised mass signing of petitions.
The First petition was submitted in 1839 and was rejected
Second petition in 1842 that was also rejected
Third petition was sent by 1847 after a surge of support due to economic depression
1839 The Newport Uprising was in Wales where many where starving and then the chartist leader was arrested and they planned to break him out of prison but the soldiers were ready and they killed 22 men
Fergus O'Connor was the undisputed leader of the movement after the second petition and called for violent action and some workers began to vandalise machinery. He also called for a general strike as well
Government Response
The government was feared the Chartists as they were able to mobilise lots of people and had respected leaders
They rejected their petitions and put up posters asking people to boycott the meetings
Some leaders like William Cuffay were sent to Australia as transportation which was a deterrent
1848 and the possible end of Chartism
The Duke of Wellington brought police and soldiers to stop the crowd from entering the city of London to give parliament the petition
The End of the Chartism
Chartism seemed to be over when the chartists met on Kennington Common in London in 1848 and there was only 50,000 people and the petition they carried had fewer than 2 million signatures many which were foraged
Why?
The Government response was prepared to stop them and suppress the movement
in the 1850s the standard of living began to increase and there were other working class movements
There was division of leadership with O'Connor and Lovett as well as lots of fringe groups
By 1928 all the chartists aims were fulfilled bar the regular elections
The Anti-Corn law league
The Corn laws
the Corn laws prevented the prices of the wheat from going too low
This was because the wars with France which prevented French imports so wheat became high priced
They were supported by wealthy landowners
The Anti-Corn law league
How they protested
made pamphlets and articles in newspapers
Sent messages through railways
Why they were repealed
the prime minister at the time Robert Peel supported the Corn league but when he repealed them he lost his support in the conservative party
Bread was a staple in people's diet
it would reduce the amount of money people would need to pay for food so they were able to buy other things
The Consequences
The Corn laws were repealed in 1846
The influence of the landowners was challenged
The Anti-Slavery movement
Causes
The Slave trade was no longer as profitable as it was before
Religion meant that people saw that the Slave trade was against the church
People thought the slave trade was morally wrong
The people and the methods
Signing petitions
Writing pamphlets
made poster
Key individuals
William Wilberforce was an MP who was spoke for abolition and set up Anti-slavery society
Granville Sharp was a lawyer who argued for slaves and
public meetings
Abolition was achieved but both gradually and was not very effective because former slaves where forced to fight for low wages and still had to live in horrible conditions
Slave trade was abolished in 1807 and slavery was abolished in 1833
Trade Unions and their development
prior to the IR people were workers guilds but afterwards there were no workers rights and people where forced to compete for wages
Groups fighting the changes to the factories
Luddites - Deliberately broke machinery
Swing Rioters - Angered by new threshing machines
The Changes to trade unions
The Combination Act 1825 allowed unions to meet and discuss pay and working conditions but everything else was illegal so no striking
The formation of the GNCTU (Grand National Consolidated Trade Union) in 1834
Made by Robert Owens
Umbrella organisation that brought all workers together
Conflict between interests and groups of workers would weaken the workers
New Model Unions
1851
These where unions that where for highly skilled workers and could afford the membership cost that enabled sick pay and benefits
they were very successful and by the 1870s they would have a legal status and would be able to picket
New Unionism
There were still lots of unskilled workers that mobilised into actions like the match girls strike and Dockers strike
The Dockers strike 1889
they closed the docks and there was lots of support for the dock workers and collections to support them. They picketed and stopped the docks from opening
The strike was successful
They carried rotten fish heads and vegetables through London to show how they were living
Inspired by the match girls strike and demanded better pay and working conditions
The Match Girls strike 1888
The factory conditions were terrible and many women died
They began an a strike and it was successful and the first strike by un skilled workers
the labour party was formed as part of this to support the working class people
Tolpuddle Martyrs
What happened
Farm labourers met up and made a secret oath to keep a union secret and their aim was to try and negotiate better pay and conditions
The Government was still concerned from the swing rioters as well as the luddites and so 6 men were arrested and it showed the message of No unions
They were sentenced to transportation to Australia
people heard and began to protest against it and the government was petitioned and 1000s met and marched
1836 they were given a full pardon and set free
a big win for the working class
Factory and social reforms
Conditions
Working conditions were very dangerous and children worked as young a 6 and there was work for the whole family in coal miens
People were horrified by the conditions and wanted change and the workers began to be referred to as white slaves
Important people
Michael Sadler MP - He saw the terrible conditions and decided to start doing something and suggested the maximum 10 hour day for those under 18
Lord Shaftesbury - Motivated to change the lives of children and by his Christian faith. He supported the 10 hour movement and campaigned for greater education for children and supported the Mines act of 1842
Robert Owen - Mill owner who believed in the happiness of his work force and he opened up a school in his mill and made social areas for workers to meet and introduced an 8 hour day
Edwin Chadwick - Wanted to improve the living conditions of those in towns and cities. He wrote reports
Elizabeth Fry - Motivated by being a quaker and opened a school and raised prison reform
Josephine Butler - Motivated by faith and helped to campaign for women and not arrest women as prostitutes and raise the age of consent
Great Reform Act 1832
the political system of the 19th century was bad because people were under represented and only the rich were represented
the rotten boroughs where areas without people that sent MP but cities like Manchester didn't have any MPs
there was no secret ballots
Only people who owned property could vote
People began to get very angry and formed organisations and so the government passed the Great Reform Act to appeases them
It removed rotten boroughs and allowed new towns to elect MPs
Merchants and industrialists given the vote
but working class people could not vote and only 1 out of 7 men could vote which shows that it was only a small concession.