1. General characteristic of the Victorian Age (1837–1901)
the Victorian era of British history was the
period of Queen Victoria's reign from
20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of
peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for
Britain. Some
scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and
political concerns to the passage of the Reform Act 1832.
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22
January 1901) was Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until
her death. From 1 May 1876, she had the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria was
the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and
Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the
Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under
close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her
father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate
children. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held
relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to
influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became
a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
Victoria
married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married
into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and
earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's
death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public
appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily
gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign her popularity recovered.
Her Golden and Diamond
Jubilees were times of public celebration.
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| Portrait by Winterhalter, 1859 |
Her reign of 63
years and seven months is known as the Victorian era.
It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military
change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.
She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover.
Her son and successor, Edward
VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father.
Culturally
there was a transition away from the rationalism of the
Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism
with regard to religion, social values, and arts. In international relations the era was a long period of peace, known
as the Pax
Britannica, and economic, colonial, and industrial
consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the Crimean War in 1854.
The end of the period saw the Boer War.
Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in
the direction of gradual political reform, industrial
reform and the widening of the voting franchise.
Two especially
important figures in this period of British history are the prime
ministers Benjamin
Disraeli and William Gladstone, whose
contrasting views changed the course of history. Disraeli, favoured by the
queen, was a gregarious Tory. His rival Gladstone, a Liberal distrusted by the
Queen, served more terms and oversaw much of the overall legislative
development of the era.
The population
of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5
million in 1901. Scotland's
population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901.
Ireland's population however decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to
less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great
Famine. At the
same time, around 15 million emigrants left the
United Kingdom in the Victorian era, settling mostly in the United States,
Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
During the
early part of the era, the House
of Commons was headed by the two parties, the Whigs and the Conservatives. From the
late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the Liberals. These
parties were led by many prominent statesmen including Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord
Derby, Lord Palmerston, William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli,
and Lord
Salisbury. The unsolved problems relating to Irish
Home Rule played a great part in politics in the later Victorian era, particularly in
view of Gladstone's determination to achieve a political settlement.
Leadership - prime Ministers of the period included: Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Derby, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery.
Disraeli
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| Disraeli |
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), prime minister 1868 and 1874–80, remains an iconic hero of the Conservative Party. He played a central role in the creation the Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal leader William Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He was born into a Jewish family, which became Episcopalian when he was 12 years old.
Disraeli fought to protect established political, social, and religious values and elites; he emphasized the need for national leadership in response to radicalism, uncertainty, and materialism. He is especially known for his enthusiastic support for expanding and strengthening the British Empire in India and Africa as the foundation of British greatness, in contrast to Gladstone's negative attitude toward imperialism. Gladstone denounced Disraeli's policies of territorial aggrandizement, military pomp, and imperial symbolism (such as making the Queen Empress of India), saying it did not fit a modern commercial and Christian nation.
In foreign policy he is best known for battling and besting Russia. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company (in Ottoman-controlled Egypt). In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to maintain peace in the Balkans and made terms favourable to Britain which weakened Russia, its longstanding enemy.
Disraeli's old reputation as the "Tory democrat" and promoter of the welfare state has faded as historians argue that he had few proposals for social legislation in 1874–80, and that the 1867 Reform Act did not reflect a vision for the unenfranchised working man. However he did work to reduce class antagonism, for as Perry notes, "When confronted with specific problems, he sought to reduce tension between town and country, landlords and farmers, capital and labour, and warring religious sects in Britain and Ireland—in other words, to create a unifying synthesis."
Gladstone
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| Gladstone |
Gladstone's financial policies, based on the notion of balanced budgets, low taxes and laissez-faire, were suited to a developing capitalist society but could not respond effectively as economic and social conditions changed. Called the "Grand Old Man" later in life, he was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to British workers and lower middle class. The deeply religious Gladstone brought a new moral tone to politics with his evangelical sensibility and opposition to aristocracy. His moralism often angered his upper-class opponents (including Queen Victoria, who strongly favoured Disraeli), and his heavy-handed control split the Liberal party. His foreign policy goal was to create a European order based on cooperation rather than conflict and mutual trust instead of rivalry and suspicion; the rule of law was to supplant the reign of force and self-interest. This Gladstonian concept of a harmonious Concert of Europe was opposed to and ultimately defeated by the Germans with a Bismarckian system of manipulated alliances and antagonisms
2. Economic progress in the Victorian Age
A. Introduction of the
economic development - prior to the
Industrial Revolution most of the workforce was employed in agriculture, either
as self-employed farmers as land owners or tenants, or as landless agricultural
laborers. By the time of the Industrial Revolution the putting-out system whereby
farmers and townspeople produced goods in their homes, often described as cottage
industry, was the standard. Typical putting out system goods included
spinning and weaving. Merchant capitalist provided the raw materials, typically
paid workers by the piece, and were
responsible for the sale of the goods. Embezzlement of supplies by workers and
poor quality were common problems. The logistical effort in procuring and
distributing raw materials and picking up finished goods were also limitations
of the putting out system.
Some early spinning
and weaving machinery, such as a 40
spindle jenny for about 6 pounds in 1792, was affordable for
cottagers. Later
machinery such as spinning frames, spinning
mules and power looms were expensive (especially if water powered), giving
rise to capitalist ownership of factories. Many workers, who had nothing but
their labor to sell, became factory workers out of necessity. The change in the social relationship of the factory worker compared to
farmers and cottagers was viewed unfavorably by Karl
Marx, however, he recognized the increase in productivity made possible by
technology.
B. Free trade - after 1840 Britain abandoned mercantilism and committed its economy to free
trade, with few barriers or
tariffs. This was most evident in the repeal in 1846 of the Corn
Laws, which had imposed
stiff tariffs on imported grain. The end of these laws opened the British
market to unfettered competition, grain prices fell, and food became more
plentiful.
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| The Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to industrialise. |
From 1815 to 1870 Britain reaped the
benefits of being the world's first modern, industrialised nation. It described
itself as 'the workshop of the world', meaning that its finished goods were
produced so efficiently and cheaply that they could often undersell comparable,
locally manufactured goods in almost any other market. If political conditions in a
particular overseas market were stable enough, Britain could dominate its
economy through free trade alone without having to resort to formal rule or
mercantilism. Britain was even supplying half the needs in manufactured goods of
such nations as Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States. By 1820, 30% of
Britain's exports went to its
Empire, rising slowly to 35%
by 1910. Apart from coal and iron, most raw materials had to be imported so
that, in the 1830s, the main imports were (in order): raw cotton (from the
American South), sugar (from the West Indies), wool, silk, tea (from China),
timber (from Canada), wine, flax, hides and tallow. By 1900, Britain's global share
soared to 22.8% of total imports. By 1922, its global share soared to 14.9% of
total exports and 28.8% of manufactured exports.
Railways - the British invented the modern railway
system and exported it to the world. They emerged from Britain's elaborate
system of canals and roadways, which both used horses to haul coal for the new
steam engines installed in textile factories. Britain furthermore had the
engineers and entrepreneurs needed to create and finance a railway system. In
1815, George Stephenson invented the modern steam
locomotive, launching a technological race bigger, more powerful locomotives
using higher and higher steam pressures. Stephenson's key innovation came when
he integrated all the components of a railways system in 1825
by opening the Stockton and Darlington line. It demonstrated it was commercially
feasible to have a system of usable length. London poured money into railway
building—a veritable bubble, but one with permanent value. Thomas
Brassey brought British
railway engineering to the world, with construction crews that in the 1840s
employed 75,000 men across Europe. Every nation copied the British model.
Brassey expanded throughout the British Empire and Latin America. His companies
invented and improved thousands of mechanical devices, and developed the
science of civil engineering to build roadways, tunnels and bridges. The
telegraph, although invented and developed separately, proved essential for the
internal communications of the railways because it allowed slower trains to
pull over as express trains raced through. Telegraphs made it possible to use a
single track for two-way traffic, and to locate where repairs were needed.
Britain had a superior financial system based in London that funded both the
railways in Britain and also in many other parts of the world, including the
United States, up until 1914. The boom years were 1836 and 1845–47, when
Parliament authorized 8,000 miles of railways with a projected future total of
£200 million; that about equalled one year of Britain's GDP. Once a charter was
obtained, there was little government regulation, as laissez faire and private
ownership had become accepted practices.
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| Euston station in London |
By 1850 Britain had a well integrated,
well engineered system that provided fast, on-time, inexpensive movement of
freight and people to every city and most rural districts. Freight rates had
plunged to a penny a ton mile for coal. The system directly or indirectly employed
tens of thousands of engineers, conductors, mechanics, repairmen, accountants,
station agents and managers, bringing a new level of business sophistication
that could be applied to many other industries, and helping many small and
large businesses to expand their role in the industrial revolution. Thus
railways had a tremendous impact on industrialization. By lowering
transportation costs, they reduced costs for all industries moving supplies and
finished goods, and they increased demand for the production of all the inputs
needed for the railway system itself. The system kept growing; by 1880, there
were 13,500 locomotives which each carried 97,800 passengers a year, or 31,500
tons of freight.
Second Industrial Revolution - during the First Industrial Revolution,
the industrialist replaced the merchant as the dominant figure in the
capitalist system. In the later decades of the 19th century, when the ultimate
control and direction of large industry came into the hands of financiers, industrial
capitalism gave way to financial capitalism and the corporation. The
establishment of behemoth industrial empires, whose assets were controlled and
managed by men divorced from production, was a dominant feature of this third
phase.
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As the Industrial Revolution developed British manufactured output surged ahead of other economies. After the Industrial Revolution, it was overtaken later by the United States.
|
Amalgamation of industrial cartels into larger corporations, mergers
and alliances of separate firms, and technological advancement (particularly
the increased use of electric power and internal combustion engines fuelled by gasoline) were mixed blessings
for British business during the late Victorian
era. The ensuing
development of more intricate and efficient machines along with mass production
techniques greatly expanded output and lowered production costs. As a result, production
often exceeded domestic demand. Among the new conditions, more markedly evident
in Britain, the forerunner of Europe's industrial states, were the long-term
effects of the severe Long
Depression of 1873-1896,
which had followed fifteen years of great economic instability. Businesses in
practically every industry suffered from lengthy periods of low — and falling —
profit rates and price deflation after 1873.
Long-term economic trends led Britain, and
to a lesser extent, other industrialising nations such as the United States and
Germany, to be more receptive to the desires of prospective overseas
investment. Through their investments in industry, banks were able to exert a
great deal of control over the British economy and politics. Cut-throat
competition in the mid-19th century caused the creation of super corporations
and conglomerates.
By the 1870s, financial houses in London
had achieved an unprecedented level of control over industry. This contributed
to increasing concerns among policymakers over the protection of British
investments overseas — particularly those in the securities of foreign
governments and in foreign-government-backed development activities, such as
railways. Although it had been official British policy to support such
investments, with the large expansion of these investments in the 1860s, and
the economic and political instability of many areas of investment (such
as Egypt), calls upon the government for
methodical protection became increasingly pronounced in the years leading up to
the Crystal Palace Speech. At the end of the Victorian
era, the service
sector (banking,
insurance and shipping, for example) began to gain prominence at the expense of
manufacturing.
Foreign trade - foreign trade tripled in
volume between 1870 and 1914; most of the activity occurred with other
industrialised countries. Britain ranked as the world's largest trading nation
in 1860, but by 1913 it had lost ground to both the United States and Germany:
British and German exports in that year each totaled $2.3 billion, and those of
the United States exceeded $2.4 billion. As foreign trade increased, so in
proportion did the amount of it going outside the Continent. In 1840, £7.7
million of its export and £9.2 million of its import trade was done outside
Europe; in 1880 the figures were £38.4 million and £73 million. Europe's
economic contacts with the wider world were multiplying, much as Britain's had
been doing for years. In many cases, colonial control followed private
investment, particularly in raw materials and agriculture. Intercontinental
trade between North and South constituted a higher proportion of global trade
in this era than in the late 20th century period of globalisation.
Export of capital - London strengthened its
position as the world's financial capital, the export of capital was a major
base of the British economy 1880 to 1913, the "golden era" of
international finance.
Investment was especially heavy in the
independent nations of Latin America, which were eager for infrastructure
improvements such as railways built by the British, ports, and telegraph and
telephone systems. British merchants dominated trade in the region. Not all the
investments paid off; the mines in the Sudan, for example, lost money. By 1913 Britain's
overseas assets totaled about four billion pounds.
Business practices - Britain persisted in its
free trade policy even as its major rivals, the U.S. and Germany, turned to
high tariffs (as did Canada). American heavy industry grew faster than Britain,
and by the 1890s was crowding British machinery and other products out of the
world market.
New business practices in the areas of
management and accounting made possible the more efficient operation of large
companies. For example, in steel, coal, and iron companies 19th-century
accountants utilized sophisticated, fully integrated accounting systems to
calculate output, yields, and costs to satisfy management information
requirements. South Durham Steel and Iron, was a large horizontally
integrated company that operated mines, mills, and shipyards. Its management
used traditional accounting methods with the goal of minimizing production
costs, and thus raising its profitability. By contrast one of its competitors,
Cargo Fleet Iron introduced mass production milling techniques through the
construction of modern plants. Cargo Fleet set high production goals and
developed an innovative but complicated accounting system to measure and report
all costs throughout the production process. However, problems in obtaining
coal supplies and the failure to meet the firm's production goals forced Cargo
Fleet to drop its aggressive system and return to the sort of approach South
Durham Steel was using.
The American "invasion" of the
British home market demanded a response. Tariffs, although increasingly under
consideration, were not imposed until the 1930s. Therefore, British businessmen
were obliged to lose their market or else rethink and modernize their
operations. The boot and shoe industry faced increasing imports of American
footwear; Americans took over the market for shoe machinery. British companies
realized they had to meet the competition so they reexamine their traditional
methods of work, labor utilization, and industrial relations, and to rethink
how to market footwear in terms of the demand for fashion.
Standards
of living - the effects on living conditions
the industrial revolution have been very controversial, and were hotly debated
by economic and social historians from the 1950s to the 1980s. A series of 1950s essays by Henry
Phelps Brown and Sheila V. Hopkins later set the academic
consensus that the bulk of the population, that was at the bottom of the social
ladder, suffered severe reductions in their living standards. During 1813–1913, there was a significant
increase in worker wages.
Food
and nutrition - chronic hunger
and malnutrition were the norm for the majority of the population of the world
including Britain and France, until the late 19th century. Until about 1750, in
large part due to malnutrition, life expectancy in France was about 35 years,
and only slightly higher in Britain. The US population of the time was
adequately fed, much taller on average and had life expectancy of 45–50 years.
In Britain and
the Netherlands, food supply had been increasing and prices falling before the
Industrial Revolution due to better agricultural practices; however, population
grew too, as noted by Thomas
Malthus. Before
the Industrial Revolution, advances in agriculture or technology soon led to an
increase in population, which again strained food and other resources, limiting
increases in per capita income. This condition is called the Malthusian trap, and it was
finally overcome by industrialisation.
Transportation
improvements, such as canals and improved roads, also lowered food costs.
Railroads were introduced near the end of the Industrial Revolution.
The Billingsgate Fish Market in
the early 19th century
3. Social conflict and its resolution in the Victorian Age
A. Housing - living
conditions during the Industrial Revolution varied from splendour for factory
owners to squalor for workers. In The
Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 Friedrich
Engels described backstreet sections of Manchester and other
mill towns, where people lived in crude shanties and shacks, some not
completely enclosed, some with dirt floors. These shantytowns had narrow
walkways between irregularly shaped lots and dwellings. There were no sanitary
facilities. Population density was extremely high. Eight to ten unrelated mill
workers often shared a room, often with no furniture, and slept on a pile of
straw or sawdust. Toilet
facilities were shared if they existed. Disease spread through a contaminated
water supply. Also, people were at risk of developing pathologies due to
persistent dampness.
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| Over London by Rail Gustave Doré c. 1870. Shows the densely populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities. |
The famines
that troubled rural areas did not happen in industrial areas. But urban
people—especially small children—died due to diseases spreading through the
cramped living conditions. Tuberculosis (spread
in congested dwellings), lung diseases from the mines, cholera from
polluted water and typhoid were also common.
Not everyone
lived in such poor conditions. The Industrial Revolution also created a middle
class of professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, who lived in much better conditions.
Conditions
improved over the course of the 19th century due to new public health acts
regulating things such as sewage, hygiene and home construction. In the
introduction of his 1892 edition, Engels notes that most of the conditions he
wrote about in 1844 had been greatly improved.
B. Clothing
and consumer goods - consumers
benefited from falling prices for clothing and household articles such as cast
iron cooking utensils, and in the following decades, stoves for cooking and
space heating.
C. Population
increase - according to Robert Hughes
in The Fatal Shore, the population of England and
Wales, which had remained steady at 6 million from 1700 to 1740, rose dramatically
after 1740. The population of England had more than doubled from 8.3 million in
1801 to 16.8 million in 1850 and, by 1901, had nearly doubled again to 30.5
million. Improved
conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10 million to 40 million
in the 1800s. Europe's
population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million by 1900.
The Industrial
Revolution was the first period in history during which there was a
simultaneous increase in population and in per capita income.
D. Social
structure and working conditions - in terms of social structure, the Industrial Revolution witnessed the
triumph of a middle class of industrialists and businessmen over a landed
class of nobility and gentry. Ordinary working people found increased
opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, but these were
often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour dominated by a
pace set by machines. As late as the year 1900, most industrial workers in the
United States still worked a 10-hour day (12 hours in the steel industry), yet
earned from 20% to 40% less than the minimum deemed necessary for a decent life. However, harsh working conditions were prevalent long
before the Industrial Revolution took place. Pre-industrial society was very
static and often cruel—child labour, dirty living conditions, and long working hours were
just as prevalent before the Industrial Revolution.
E. Industrialisation - led to the
creation of the factory. Arguably the first highly mechanised was John
Lombe's water-powered
silk mill at Derby, operational by 1721. Lombe learned silk thread
manufacturing by taking a job in Italy and acting as an industrial spy;
however, since the silk industry there was a closely guarded secret, the state
of the industry there is unknown. Because Lombe's factory was not successful
and there was no follow through, the rise of the modern factory dates to
somewhat later when cotton spinning was mechanised.
The factory
system contributed to the growth of urban areas, as large numbers of workers
migrated into the cities in search of work in the factories. Nowhere was this
better illustrated than the mills and associated industries of Manchester,
nicknamed "Cottonopolis", and the world's first industrial city. Manchester experienced a six-times increase in
its population between 1771 and 1831. Bradford grew by 50% every ten years
between 1811 and 1851 and by 1851 only 50% of the population of Bradford was
actually born there.
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| Manchester ("Cottonopolis"), pictured in 1840, showing the mass of factory chimneys |
For much of
the 19th century, production was done in small mills, which were
typically water-powered and
built to serve local needs. Later, each factory would have its own steam engine
and a chimney to give an efficient draft through its boiler.
The transition
to industrialisation was not without difficulty. For example, a group of
English workers known as Luddites formed
to protest against industrialisation and sometimes sabotaged factories.
In other
industries the transition to factory production was not so divisive. Some
industrialists themselves tried to improve factory and living conditions for
their workers. One of the earliest such reformers was Robert
Owen, known for his pioneering efforts in improving conditions for workers at
the New Lanark mills, and often regarded as one of
the key thinkers of the early
socialist movement.
Child
labour - the Industrial Revolution led to a population increase but the chances of
surviving childhood did not improve throughout the Industrial Revolution,
although infant mortality rates were reduced markedly. There was still limited opportunity for education and
children were expected to work. Employers could pay a child less than an adult
even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength
to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was
completely new, there were no experienced adult labourers. This made child
labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the
Industrial Revolution between the 18th and 19th centuries. In England and
Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton
mills were described as children.
Child
labour existed before the Industrial Revolution but with the increase in
population and education it became more visible. Many children were forced to
work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders, 10–20% of an adult male's wage. Children as young as four were employed. Beatings and long hours were common, with some
child coal miners and hurriers working
from 4 am until 5 pm. Conditions
were dangerous, with some children killed when they dozed off and fell into the
path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions. Many children developed lung
cancer and other diseases and died before the age of 25. Workhouses would
sell orphans and abandoned children as "pauper apprentices", working
without wages for board and lodging. Those who ran
away would be whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shackling them to
prevent escape. Children
employed as mule scavengers by cotton
mills would crawl under machinery to pick up cotton, working 14 hours a
day, six days a week. Some lost hands or limbs, others were crushed under the
machines, and some were decapitated. Young girls
worked at match factories, where phosphorus fumes would cause many to
develop phossy jaw. Children employed at glassworks were
regularly burned and blinded, and those working at potteries were
vulnerable to poisonous clay dust.
Reports were
written detailing some of the abuses, particularly in the coal mines and textile factories, and these helped to popularise the children's plight. The public
outcry, especially among the upper and middle classes, helped stir change in
the young workers' welfare.
Politicians
and the government tried to limit child labour by law but factory owners
resisted; some felt that they were aiding the poor by giving their children
money to buy food to avoid starvation, and others
simply welcomed the cheap labour. In 1833 and 1844, the first general laws
against child labour, the Factory
Acts, were passed in Britain: Children younger than nine were not allowed to
work, children were not permitted to work at night, and the work day of youth
under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. Factory inspectors supervised
the execution of the law, however, their scarcity made enforcement difficult. About ten years later, the employment of
children and women in mining was forbidden. These laws decreased the number of
child labourers, however child labour remained in Europe and the United States
up to the 20th century.
Luddites - the rapid industrialisation of the English economy cost
many craft workers their jobs. The movement started first with lace and hosiery workers near Nottingham and spread to other areas of the textile
industry owing to early industrialisation. Many weavers also found themselves
suddenly unemployed since they could no longer compete with machines which only
required relatively limited (and unskilled) labour to produce more cloth than a
single weaver. Many such unemployed workers, weavers and others, turned their animosity
towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories
and machinery. These attackers became known as Luddites, supposedly followers
of Ned
Ludd, a folklore figure. The first attacks of the Luddite movement began in
1811. The Luddites rapidly gained popularity, and the British government took
drastic measures, using the militia or army to
protect industry. Those rioters who were caught were tried and hanged, or transported for
life.
Unrest
continued in other sectors as they industrialised, such as with agricultural
labourers in the 1830s when large parts of southern Britain were affected by
the Captain Swing disturbances. Threshing machines were a
particular target, and hayrick burning was a popular activity. However, the
riots led to the first formation of trade
unions, and further pressure for reform.
Organisation
of labour - the Industrial Revolution
concentrated labour into mills, factories and mines, thus facilitating the
organisation ofcombinations or trade
unions to help advance the interests of working people. The power of a union
could demand better terms by withdrawing all labour and causing a consequent
cessation of production. Employers had to decide between giving in to the union
demands at a cost to themselves or suffering the cost of the lost production.
Skilled workers were hard to replace, and these were the first groups to
successfully advance their conditions through this kind of bargaining.
The main
method the unions used to effect change was strike
action. Many strikes were painful events for both sides, the unions and the
management. In Britain, the Combination Act 1799 forbade
workers to form any kind of trade union until its repeal in 1824. Even after
this, unions were still severely restricted.
In 1832,
the Reform Act extended
the vote in Britain but did not grant universal suffrage. That year six men
from Tolpuddle in
Dorset founded the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers to protest
against the gradual lowering of wages in the 1830s. They refused to work for
less than ten shillings a week, although by this time wages had been reduced to
seven shillings a week and were due to be further reduced to six. In 1834 James
Frampton, a local landowner, wrote to the Prime Minister, Lord
Melbourne, to complain about the union, invoking an obscure law from 1797 prohibiting
people from swearing oaths to each other, which the members of the Friendly
Society had done. James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, George's brother
James Loveless, George's brother in-law Thomas Standfield, and Thomas's son
John Standfield were arrested, found guilty, and transported to Australia. They
became known as the Tolpuddle
Martyrs. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Chartist movement was the first large-scale organised working class political
movement which campaigned for political equality and social justice. Its Charter of
reforms received over three million signatures but was rejected by Parliament
without consideration.
Eventually,
effective political organisation for working people was achieved through the
trades unions who, after the extensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1885,
began to support socialist political parties that later merged to became the
British Labour Party.
Other
effects - during the
Industrial Revolution, the life
expectancy of children increased dramatically. The percentage of the children
born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 74.5% in 1730–1749
to 31.8% in 1810–1829. The growth of
modern industry since the late 18th century led to massive urbanisation and the
rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new
opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban
areas.
In 1800, only 3% of the world's population lived in cities, compared to nearly 50% today (the beginning of
the 21st century). Manchester
had a population of 10,000 in 1717, but by 1911 it had burgeoned to 2.3
million.
Chester, c. 1880
4. Imperial expansion in the Victorian Age
A. Pax Britannica (Latin
for "British Peace", modelled after Pax
Romana) was the period
of relative peace in Europe and the world (1815–1914) during
which the British
Empire became the global hegemonic power
and adopted the role of a global police force.
Between 1815
and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial
century," around 10,000,000 square miles (26,000,000 km2) of territory and roughly 400 million people were
added to the British Empire. Victory
over Napoleonic
France left the British without any serious international rival, other than
perhaps Russia
in central Asia. When
Russia acted aggressively in the 1850s, the British and French defeated it in
the Crimean War (1854–56),
thereby protecting the by-then feeble Ottoman Empire.
Britain's
Royal Navy controlled most of the key maritime trade routes and enjoyed unchallenged sea power. Alongside
the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant
position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled access to many
regions, such as Asia and Latin
America. British merchants, shippers and bankers had such an overwhelming
advantage over everyone else that in addition to its colonies it had an "informal empire".
B. History - after losing the American colonies in the American Revolution, Britain turned
towards Asia, the Pacific and later Africa with subsequent exploration leading
to the rise of the Second British Empire (1783–1815).
The industrial revolution began in
Great Britain in the late 1700s and new ideas emerged about free markets, such
as Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776).
Free trade became a central principle that Britain practiced by the 1840s. It
played a key role in Britain's economic
growth and financial dominance.
From the end
of the Napoleonic
Wars in 1815 until World
War I in 1914, the United Kingdom played the role of global hegemon (most
powerful actor). Imposition of a "British Peace" on key maritime
trade routes began in 1815 with the annexation of British Ceylon (now Sri
Lanka). Under
the British Residency of the Persian Gulf, local Arab
rulers agreed to a number of treaties that formalised Britain’s protection of
the region. Britain imposed an anti-piracy treaty, known as the General Treaty
of 1820, on all Arab rulers in the region. By signing the Perpetual Maritime
Truce of 1853, Arab rulers gave up their right to wage war at sea in return for
British protection against external threats. The global superiority of British military and
commerce was aided by a divided and relatively weak continental Europe, and the
presence of the Royal Navy on all of the world's oceans and seas. Even
outside its formal empire, Britain controlled trade with many countries such as
China, Siam, and Argentina. Following the Congress of Vienna the
British Empire's economic strength continued to develop through naval dominance and diplomatic efforts to maintain a balance of power in
continental Europe.
In this era,
the Royal Navy provided services around the world that benefited other nations,
such as the suppression
of piracy and blocking the slave trade. The Slave Trade Act 1807 had
banned the trade across the British Empire, after which the Royal Navy
established the West Africa Squadron and the
government negotiated international treaties under
which they could enforce the ban. Sea
power, however, did not project on land. Land wars fought between the major
powers include the Crimean War, the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Prussian War and
the Franco-Prussian War, as well as
numerous conflicts between lesser powers. The Royal Navy prosecuted the First
Opium War (1839–1842) and Second Opium War (1856–1860)
against Imperial China. The Royal Navy was superior to
any other two navies in the world, combined. Only Germany was a potential naval
threat.
Britain traded goods and capital extensively
with countries around the world, adopting a free trade policy after 1840. The
growth of British imperial strength was further underpinned by the steamship and
the telegraph, new technologies invented in the second half of the
19th century, allowing it to control and defend the empire. By 1902, the
British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables, the
so-called All Red Line.
The Pax
Britannica was weakened by the breakdown of the continental order
which had been established by the Congress of Vienna. Relations between the Great Powers of Europe were strained to
breaking point by issues such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which led to
the Crimean War, and later the emergence of new nation states in the
form of Italy and Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. Both of
these wars involved Europe's largest states and armies. The industrialisation
of Germany, the Empire of Japan, and
the United States contributed to the relative decline of British
industrial supremacy in the early 20th century.
An
elaborate map of the British Empire in 1886, marked in the traditional colour
for
imperial
British dominions on maps
C. Empire
expands - in 1867, Britain united most of
its North
American colonies as the Dominion of Canada, giving it
self-government and responsibility for its own defence, but Canada did not have
an independent foreign policy until 1931. Several of the colonies temporarily
refused to join the Dominion despite pressure from both Canada and Britain; the
last one, Newfoundland, held out
until 1949. The second half of the 19th century saw a huge
expansion of Britain's colonial empire, mostly in Africa. A talk of the Union Jack flying "from Cairo to
Cape Town" only became a reality at the end of the Great War. Having
possessions on six continents, Britain had to defend all of its empire and did
so with a volunteer army, the only great power in
Europe to have no conscription. Some questioned whether the country was
overstretched.
The rise of
the German Empire since
its creation in 1871 posed a new challenge, for it (along with the United
States), threatened to usurp Britain's place as the world's foremost industrial
power. Germany acquired a number of colonies in Africa and the Pacific, but
Chancellor Otto
von Bismarck succeeded in achieving general peace through his
balance of power strategy. When William
II became emperor in 1888, he discarded Bismarck, began using bellicose
language, and planned to build a navy to rival Britain's.
Ever since
Britain had wrested control of the Cape Colony from the
Netherlands during the Napoleonic Wars, it had
co-existed with Dutch settlers who had migrated further away from the Cape and created
two republics of their own. The British imperial vision called for control over
these new countries, and the Dutch-speaking "Boers" (or
"Afrikaners") fought back in the War in 1899–1902. Outgunned by
a mighty empire, the Boers waged a guerrilla war (which certain other British
territories would later employ to attain independence). This gave the British
regulars a difficult fight, but their weight of numbers, superior equipment,
and often brutal tactics, eventually brought about a British victory. The war
had been costly in human rights and was widely criticised by Liberals in
Britain and worldwide. However, the United States gave its support. The Boer
republics were merged into the Union
of South Africa in 1910; this had internal self-government, but
its foreign policy was controlled by London and it was an integral part of the
British Empire.
Imperialism - after the loss of the
American colonies in 1776, Britain built a "Second British Empire",
based in colonies in India, Asia, Australia, Canada. The crown jewel was India,
where in the 1750s a private British company, with its own army, the East
India Company (or "John Company"), took control of parts of India. The
19th century saw Company rule extended across India after expelling the Dutch, French
and Portuguese. By the 1830s the Company was a government and had given up most
of its business in India, but it was still privately owned. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the government closed down the
Company and took control of British
India and the Company's Presidency
Armies.
Free trade (with no tariffs and few trade
barriers) was introduced in the 1840s. Protected by the overwhelming power of
the Royal Navy, the economic empire included very close economic ties with
independent nations in Latin America. The informal economic empire has been
called "The Imperialism of Free Trade."
 |
| Singapore docks in the 1890s. |
Numerous independent entrepreneurs
expanded the Empire, such as Stamford
Raffles of the East India
Company who founded the port of Singapore in 1819. Businessmen eager to sell
Indian opium in the vast China market led to the Opium War (1839–1842) and the
establishment of British colonies at Hong Kong. One adventurer, James
Brooke, set himself up as the
Rajah of the Kingdom
of Sarawak in North Borneo in
1842; his realm joined the Empire in 1888. Cecil
Rhodes set up an economic
empire of diamonds in South Africa that proved highly profitable. There were
great riches in gold as well but this venture led to expensive wars with
the Dutch settlers known as Boers.
The possessions of the East India Company in
India, under the direct rule of the Crown from 1857 —known as British India—
was the centerpiece of the Empire, and because of an efficient taxation system
it paid its own administrative expenses as well as the cost of the large British Indian Army. In terms of trade, however, India turned
only a small profit for British business.
There was pride and glory in the Empire,
as the most talented young Britons vied for positions in the Indian Civil Service and for similar oversees career
opportunities. The opening of the Suez
Canal in 1869 was a
vital economic and military link. To protect the canal, Britain expanded
further, taking control of Egypt, the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Cyprus, Palestine,
Aden, and British Somaliland. None were especially profitable until the
discovery of oil in the Middle East after 1920. Some military action was
involved, and from time to time there was a risk of conflict with other
imperial powers seeking the same territory, as in the Fashoda
Incident of 1898. All the
incidents were resolved peacefully.
Cain and Hopkins argue that the phases of
expansion abroad were closely linked with the development of the domestic
economy. Therefore, the shifting balance of social and political forces under
imperialism and the varying intensity of Britain's economic and political
rivalry with other powers need to be understood with reference to domestic
policies. Gentlemen capitalists, representing Britain's landed gentry and
London's service sectors and financial institutions, largely shaped and
controlled Britain's imperial enterprises in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Industrial leaders played a lesser role and found themselves dependent on the
gentlemen capitalists.
CHRONOLOGY OF VICTORIAN ERA
1837 - Death of King William IV at Windsor. He is succeeded by his niece, Victoria. Births, deaths and marriages must be registered by law. Charles Dickens publishes 'Oliver Twist,' drawing attention to Britain's poor.
1838 - The Anti-Corn Law League is established. Publication of the People's Charter. The start of Chartism
1839
- Chartist Riots take place
1840 - Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The penny post is instituted
1841 - The first British Census recording the names of the populace is undertaken. The Tories come to power. Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister
1840 - Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The penny post is instituted
1841 - The first British Census recording the names of the populace is undertaken. The Tories come to power. Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister
1844
- Parliament passes the Bank Charter Act. Foundation of the Rochdale
Co-Operative Society and the Royal Commission on the Health of Towns
1844-45 - Railways mania explodes across Britain. Massive investment and speculation leads to the laying of 5,000 miles of track
1845-49 - Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people
1846 - End of Sir Robert Peel's Ministry. Whigs come to Power. Repeal of the Corn Laws
1848 - Major Chartist demonstration in London. Revolutions in Europe. Parliament passes the Public Health Act
1844-45 - Railways mania explodes across Britain. Massive investment and speculation leads to the laying of 5,000 miles of track
1845-49 - Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people
1846 - End of Sir Robert Peel's Ministry. Whigs come to Power. Repeal of the Corn Laws
1848 - Major Chartist demonstration in London. Revolutions in Europe. Parliament passes the Public Health Act
1851
- The Great Exhibition is staged in Hyde Park. Thanks to Prince Albert, it is a
great success
1852 - Death of the Duke of Wellington. Derby's first minority Conservative government. Aberdeen's coalition government is established
1853 - Vaccination against smallpox is made compulsory. Queen Victoria uses chloroform during birth of Prince Leopold. Gladstone presents his first budget
1854 - The Northcote-Trevelyan civil service report is published The Crimean War begins, as Britain and France attempt to defend European interests in the Middle East against Russia
1855 - End of Aberdeen's coalition government. Palmerston's first government comes to power
1856 - Crimean War comes to an end. The Victoria Cross is instituted for military bravery
1857-58 - The Second Opium War opens China to European trade. The Indian Mutiny erupts against British Rule on the sub-continent
1852 - Death of the Duke of Wellington. Derby's first minority Conservative government. Aberdeen's coalition government is established
1853 - Vaccination against smallpox is made compulsory. Queen Victoria uses chloroform during birth of Prince Leopold. Gladstone presents his first budget
1854 - The Northcote-Trevelyan civil service report is published The Crimean War begins, as Britain and France attempt to defend European interests in the Middle East against Russia
1855 - End of Aberdeen's coalition government. Palmerston's first government comes to power
1856 - Crimean War comes to an end. The Victoria Cross is instituted for military bravery
1857-58 - The Second Opium War opens China to European trade. The Indian Mutiny erupts against British Rule on the sub-continent
1858
- Derby establishes his second minority government. Parliament passes the India
Act
1859
- End of Derby's second minority government. Palmerston brings his second
Liberal government to power. Charles Darwin publishes his 'The Origin of the
Species'
1860 - Gladstone's budget and the Anglo-French Cobden Treaty codifies and extends the principles of free trade
1861 - Death of Prince Albert, Prince Consort
1862 - Parliament passes the Limited Liability Act in order to provide vital stimulus to accumulation of capital in shares
1860 - Gladstone's budget and the Anglo-French Cobden Treaty codifies and extends the principles of free trade
1861 - Death of Prince Albert, Prince Consort
1862 - Parliament passes the Limited Liability Act in order to provide vital stimulus to accumulation of capital in shares
1863
- Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The Salvation
Army is founded
1865 - Death of Palmerston. Russell establishes his second Liberal government
1866 - Russell and Gladstone fail to have their moderate Reform Bill passed in parliament. Derby takes power in his third minority Conservative government
1867 - Derby and Disraeli's Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise to two million. Canada becomes the first independent dominion in the British Empire under the Dominion of Canada Act
1868 - Disraeli succeeds Derby as Prime Minister. Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time
1869 - The Irish Church is disestablished. The Suez Canal is opened
1870 - Primary education becomes compulsory in Britain through the Forster-Ripon English Elementary Education Act. Parliament also passes the Women's Property Act, extending the rights of married women, and the Irish Land Act
1865 - Death of Palmerston. Russell establishes his second Liberal government
1866 - Russell and Gladstone fail to have their moderate Reform Bill passed in parliament. Derby takes power in his third minority Conservative government
1867 - Derby and Disraeli's Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise to two million. Canada becomes the first independent dominion in the British Empire under the Dominion of Canada Act
1868 - Disraeli succeeds Derby as Prime Minister. Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time
1869 - The Irish Church is disestablished. The Suez Canal is opened
1870 - Primary education becomes compulsory in Britain through the Forster-Ripon English Elementary Education Act. Parliament also passes the Women's Property Act, extending the rights of married women, and the Irish Land Act
1871
- Trade Unions are legalized
1872 - Secret voting is introduced for elections. Parliament passes the Scottish Education Act
1873 - Gladstone's government resigns after the defeat of their Irish Universities Bill. Disraeli declines to take up office instead
1874 - Disraeli becomes Conservative Prime Minister for the second time
1875 - Disraeli purchases a controlling interest for Britain in the Suez Canal. Agricultural depression increases
1875-76 - Parliament passes R.A. Cross's Conservative social reforms
1876 - Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India. The massacre of Christians in Turkish Bulgaria leads to anti-Turkish campaigns in Britain, led by Gladstone
1877 - Confederation of British and Boer states established in South Africa
1878 - The Congress of Berlin is held. Disraeli announces 'peace with honour'
1879 - A trade depression emerges in Britain. The Zulu War is fought in South Africa. The British are defeated at Isandhlwana, but are victorious at Ulundi
1879-80 - Gladstone's Midlothian campaign denounces imperialism in South Africa and Afghanistan
1872 - Secret voting is introduced for elections. Parliament passes the Scottish Education Act
1873 - Gladstone's government resigns after the defeat of their Irish Universities Bill. Disraeli declines to take up office instead
1874 - Disraeli becomes Conservative Prime Minister for the second time
1875 - Disraeli purchases a controlling interest for Britain in the Suez Canal. Agricultural depression increases
1875-76 - Parliament passes R.A. Cross's Conservative social reforms
1876 - Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India. The massacre of Christians in Turkish Bulgaria leads to anti-Turkish campaigns in Britain, led by Gladstone
1877 - Confederation of British and Boer states established in South Africa
1878 - The Congress of Berlin is held. Disraeli announces 'peace with honour'
1879 - A trade depression emerges in Britain. The Zulu War is fought in South Africa. The British are defeated at Isandhlwana, but are victorious at Ulundi
1879-80 - Gladstone's Midlothian campaign denounces imperialism in South Africa and Afghanistan
1880
- Gladstone establishes his second Liberal government
1880-81
- The first Anglo-Boer War is fought
1881 - Parliament passes the Irish Land and Coercion Acts
1882 - Britain occupies Egypt. A triple alliance is established between Germany, Austria and Italy
1884 - Parliament passes the third Reform Act which further extends the franchise
1885 - Death of General Gordon at Khartoum. Burma is annexed. Salisbury succeeds Gladstone with his first minority Conservative government. Parliament passes the Redistribution Act
1886 - Gladstone's third Liberal government fails to pass its first Irish Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. Split in the Liberal Party. Salisbury establishes his second Conservative-Liberal-Unionist government. The Royal Niger Company is chartered. Gold is discovered in the Transvaal
1887 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee. The Independent Labour Party is founded. The British East Africa Company is chartered
1881 - Parliament passes the Irish Land and Coercion Acts
1882 - Britain occupies Egypt. A triple alliance is established between Germany, Austria and Italy
1884 - Parliament passes the third Reform Act which further extends the franchise
1885 - Death of General Gordon at Khartoum. Burma is annexed. Salisbury succeeds Gladstone with his first minority Conservative government. Parliament passes the Redistribution Act
1886 - Gladstone's third Liberal government fails to pass its first Irish Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. Split in the Liberal Party. Salisbury establishes his second Conservative-Liberal-Unionist government. The Royal Niger Company is chartered. Gold is discovered in the Transvaal
1887 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee. The Independent Labour Party is founded. The British East Africa Company is chartered
1888 - The County Councils' Act establishes representative county based authorities
1889 - London Dockers' Strike. The British South Africa Company is chartered
1892 - Gladstone forms his fourth Liberal government
1893 - Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords
1894 - Rosebery takes power with his minority Liberal government
1895 - Salisbury forms his third Unionist ministry
1896
- The British conquest of the Sudan begins
1897 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee
1898 - British rule over Sudan fully established. German Naval expansion begins
1899 - British disasters in South Africa
1899-1902 - Boer War in South Africa
1900 - Salisbury wins the Khaki election. The Labour Representation Committee is formed. Parliament passes the Commonwealth of Australia Act
1901 - Death of Queen Victoria. She is succeeded by her son, Prince Albert, as King Edward VI
1897 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee
1898 - British rule over Sudan fully established. German Naval expansion begins
1899 - British disasters in South Africa
1899-1902 - Boer War in South Africa
1900 - Salisbury wins the Khaki election. The Labour Representation Committee is formed. Parliament passes the Commonwealth of Australia Act
1901 - Death of Queen Victoria. She is succeeded by her son, Prince Albert, as King Edward VI
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