Edward Clark Industrialisation and the people 1790-1890

In 1815 the Corn laws were passed that said no foreign corn could be imported until the home price reached 80 shillings a quarter. This passed with ease as the House of Parliament were dominated by the land owning class in which land was their main source of income. The Landowners and farmers was doing well during the war as the demand was high but in 1813 there was a good harvest which caused a fall in prices then the next year in 1814 there was a poor harvest which caused there to be an import of foreign corn so people did not starve to death. The problem with this is that foreign corn is cheaper than British corn (a bit like how everything know is made in China and the rest of Asia because of cheap labour) and the landowners wanted to protect themselves from other competition. Boyd Hilton suggest that the government was not solely acting for landowner interests. According to him this was not a permanent solution was put in place to stop the worst effects of post-war slump in prices....

In Nottinghamshire in 1811 there was an outbreak of machine breaking. This was carried out by groups of men who thought that machinery used in the textile factories in the textile factories. The problem was that for stocking-frame knitters the factory owner was using a wide frame machine, this was faster and cheaper than using the traditional narrow frame but was poorer quality. The men thought that this reduced wages and put them out of work. This anger turned into violent action and a wave of machine breaking intimidation and rioting and was organised by a mysterious figure of Nedd Ludd. This caused the government alarm with also more machine breaking in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire which was linked to to the Luddites. The Yorkshire protests were against the introduction of the shearing frame which threatened the skilled croppers jobs useless. In the Lancashire cotton mills, power looms were attacked and smashed by hand-weavers. Yorkshire croppers did try and go through the dem...

In 1829 Peel as the Home Secretary founded the Metropolitan Police Force which was the first of it's kind, in his Metropolitan Police Act 1829. This was made to stop the upwards trend of the crime rates going up in London. This was also in line with his earlier Penal Code reform which was the removal of many capital offences. His theory that of there was a fully supported police force then it would create a crime deterrent but some saw it as a tool of the Tory government. The idea was not a success straight away but it improved on the system of just using parish constables and watchmen which were often corrupt and had no clear centralised maintenance of law and order. He the police started off with 1,000 constables in London. Some of the nicknames they were given were bobbies and Peelers and started off being very unpopular. This provided the foundations for the nationwide police force that would be found in all cities years later.  By 1857 all cities have to have their own police ...

 George Canning- He became Prime Minister after Lord Liverpool's resignation in April 1827. He was favoured by Lord Liverpool but he had very advance ideas for the Tories at the time which lead to people like Wellington to hate him and Peel refused to serve under him. This is because of Canning's support for Catholic Emancipation. The Tories were also critical of his liberal populist conduct of foreign policy during the Liverpool years and the aristocrats from both parties looked down on him from his background as his mother was an impoverished actress. The Whigs saw Canning as an ally when he invited four Whigs into his cabinet. Canning had the majority of support in the House of Commons from the Whigs and moderate Tories like Huskisson. George IV accepted Canning because he had the majority in the House of Commons. Canning term as Prime Minister was cut short as he died in August 1827 after a short illness. Lord Goderich- During Lord Liverpool being PM he was the Chancello...

These acts were created in 1819 in response to the Peterloo massacre to prevent anymore of these happening. Training prevention Act - A measure which made any person attending a gathering for the purpose of training or drilling liable to arrest. People that are found guilty of this offence could be transported for 7 years to Australia. Seizure of Arms Act - A measure that gave power to local magistrates to search any property or person for arms. That is partly why we still have strict gun control today. Seditious Meetings Prevention Act : This was a measure to prohibited the holding of public meetings more than 50 people without consent of a sheriff or magistrate. This was to prevent an uprising or revolution. The Misdemeanours Act : A measure that attempted to reduce the delay in the administration of justice. The Blasphemous and seditious libels Act: A measure which provided much stronger punishments including banishment for publications judged to be blasphemou...

Summary on Social change At the end of the 1700's the old social order was changing and being challenged. As industrialisation occurred the traditional bonds of society were disturbed and a new society was created which started to question the wealth and privileges of the old order.  Urban development brought prosperity for the newly emerging middle class and problems for the working population and caused deep divisions in society. In the rural areas the principal landowner remained in control and little changed. Agricultural labourers were poorly paid and had poor living conditions. There are differing views whether or not working conditions for ordinary people worsened with industrialisation.  Historians debate whether or not standard of living rose following mechanisation of industry.  The economic disruption caused by the war were led to a stagnation of average real wages and caused hardship for the labouring classes. Industrial dispute became increasingl...