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Industrialisation - Impact on the People of Ulster - Coggle Diagram
Industrialisation - Impact on the People of Ulster
Impact of Mechanisation
Remuneration for hand spinning fell by 90% between 1815 and 1836 and by 1846 it was completely abandoned
Families were then forced to Belfast and East Ulster to work in factories not on their own farms
Many went and enlisted in the British army or moved to working on the power looms
In 1850s spinning sector became more capital intensive meaning big fall in the amout of workers employed
Living conditions in Belfast
Water and waste
Had to share water pump and privies which often overflowed
Conditions worsened when high tide came up through main sewers and streets became channels for human and animal refuse
Belfast's waterways were filled with pollutions and human sewage
The black river often overflowed in the nearby homes
In 1821 population was 37,000 and by the 1860s this had grown to 120,000 meaning there was little attention to urban planning (poor sewage, paving and rubbish collection)
In 1840, 57% of the poor children living in Belfast died before they were 5 years old
Housing
Housing was poor called 'back to backs' or 'ill-ventilated hovels' with no bathrooms, toilets or water with 4-5 other families
Bedding often consisted of damp straw
People slept in clothes they wore during the day
Bad districts were the Shankill District and the College District
Diet
Mainly made up of potatoes and oatmeal
Occasionally had bread, fish and buttermilk
Even more occasionally had meat (worst cut of offal)
Many could only afford one meal a day
Diet lacked variety even more than in Britian
Working conditions
Man in constant employment could earn 5 shillings a week
Normal household had weekly income of 14 shillings
There was irregular employment in the course of the year
Report from the Poor Law Commission in 1936 says 2/3 of the population in Ireland was unemployed for part of the year
There was regular trade depressions in 1826, 1837 and 1839-42 leading to a lot of unemployment
During unemployment they relied on pawn shops, there was 41 in the mid 1830s
Workhouses
Ireland did not have a system of poor relief until 1838 with the Irish Poor Law which relied on philanthropic organisations but it did little to improve
Relief was only available within workhouses
Conditions were awful
The poor were expected to sell all of their possessions
The Belfast workhouse could only accommodate 1000 immates
Compulsory rates to fund the workhouses led to a decline in contributions from voluntary charities
Soup kitchens run by the Quakers were available
Conditions in the mills
Required to work 11 to 12 hours a day 5 days a weeks and 6 hours on Saturdays
Spinning of flax fibres creates flax dust which workers inhaled causing byssinosis and therefore permanently affected with coughs, fever, shivers and fatigue
Spinning rooms were wet and hot, workers would be bare foot to stay cool causing toe or foot rot 'onychia', it becomes so infected the nail is lost and deforms the foot
Spinners also worked with hot water causing skin condition lichen
Before Factory Act 1844 minimal safety standards and dangerous machinery was not fenced off causing accidents
Amputations were very common (William Browne in December 1954 lost his arm)
Women made up 70% of the workforce in mills in 1840 so infant mortality rates were high due to 'premature births amongst women working in the mills and factories'
Women returned to work quickly after giving birth and children from the age of 8 worked in the mills (6 hours a day)
The Cholera epidemic 1848-50
Mortality rate in Belfast was particularly high reaching 33% among the 3,500 cases by October 1949 (40% in Dublin and Cork)
30,000 death in Ireland in this period with first case being in November 1848
Affects were exacerbated due to the Famine also going on
Initially believed to be 'airborne' via bad miasma but was actually a micro-organism in contaminated water
It spread rapidly as rivers became contaminated
Response
Belfast authorities responded via Dr Andrew Malcolm who was head of the Sanitary Committee
Carried out inspections of houses etc
Families received dry straw bedding, employees with symptoms were quarantined, houses were whitewashed, new sewers were constructed
Many victims treated in the Fever Hospital and also Mullholland's mill
Was declared over in October 1849 with 1,200 dead
Authorities falsely believed mortality was 16%,
Returned in 1853 and 1866 but with much lower mortality rates
Discrepancies between Catholics and Protestants in employment
In early 19th century Catholics were only 10% of Belfasts population but by mid 19th century they were 1/3 due to Famine migration
Protestants were associated with the industrial and commercials sectors due to their advantages in education and employment opportunities
Protestants predominantly in shipbuilding, engineer works, carpenters, painters, printers and iron manufacturers
Catholic women worked often in the mills and men as semi-skilled dock labourers
The Belfast Protestant Operative Association founded in 1843 defended protestant interest due to feeling threatened by the Repeal Association
BPOA was created by Tresham Gregg and wound itself up in 1848 merging with the Orange Order
Frequent sectarian riots in Belfast between Orange and Green, first anti-Catholic riot in 1835
12th July 1857 significant riot during annual parade of the Orangemen celebrating William IIIs victory, became 10 days of violence called 'Civil War rages in Belfast' 30 casualties in hospital