Brown R. Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700-1850
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Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700–1850
For both contemporaries and later historians the ‘industrial revolution’ is viewed as a ‘turning point’ in modern British history.
There is no doubt that change occurred, but what was the nature of that change and how did it affect rural and urban society?
Beginning with an examination of the nature of History and of Britain in 1700, this volume focuses on the economic and
social aspects of the Industrial Revolution. Unlike many previous textbooks on the same period this emphasizes British
history, and deals with developments in Wales, Scotland and Ireland in their own right. It is the emphasis on the diversity not
the uniformity of experience, on continuities as well as change in this crucial period of development which makes this volume
distinctive.
In a companion title Richard Brown completes his examination of the period and looks at the changes that took place in
Britain’s political system and in its religious affiliations.
Church and State in Modern Britain completes Richard Brown’s two-part study of British history 1700–1850.
Richard Brown, co-editor of Teaching History, is currently SCIL co-ordinator at Manshead School, Bedfordshire.
Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700–
1850
Richard Brown
London and New York
First published 1991 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Transferred to Digital Printing 2002
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 1991 Richard Brown
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Brown, Richard
Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700–1850
I. Great Britain. 1714–1837
I. Title
941.07
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brown, Richard
Society and economy in modern Britain 1700–1850
Richard Brown.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Great Britain—Economic conditions—18th century.
2. Great Britain—Economic conditions—19th century.
3. Great Britain—Social conditions—18th century.
4. Great Britain—Social conditions—19th century. I. Title.
HC254.5.B92 1991 91–8163
330.942′009′034–dc20 CIP
ISBN 0-203-40252-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-71076-2 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415 01120-5 (Print Edition)
0-415 01121-3 (pbk)
To Margaret, without whose constant support I could not have written these volumes
Contents
List of Figures x
List of Tables xi
Preface xiii
1 The nature of history 1
‘A social necessity’ 1
History—a definition 1
Historians on history—differing methodologies 1
History and its concepts 2
People in history 2
History and change 3
Conclusions 5
2 Britain in the early eighteenth century 6
Geography—structure and climate 6
People and places 7
Ireland 8
Scotland 9
Wales 12
Political, social and economic structures 13
Britain—a developed country? 16
3 The revolution in numbers—demographic change 1700–1850 18
Population sources 18
Population growth 19
Births and deaths 21
Migration 26
Population growth and economic change 27
4 Change on the land 29
Agriculture—a diverse regional framework 29
British farming—markets and ‘modernity’ 29
A revolution ‘in slow motion’ 31
Changes in farming 32
Landownership 33
Enclosure 34
Towards a ‘golden age of farming’ 41
5 The revolution in technologies—industrial change 43
Elements of production 43
Britain’s industrial experience in 1700 44
Changing technology 45
Textiles 48
Iron 54
Coal 57
Power—wind, water and steam 60
Conclusions 61
6 The revolution in industrial organization 63
A stereotyped view 63
‘Proto-industrialization’ 64
Textile production 67
Metallurgical and engineering industries 70
Mining 71
Conclusions 72
7 The revolution in communications—land and water 73
Improving communications 73
Roads and waterways 74
Turnpikes 77
Canals 86
Conclusions 92
8 The revolution in overseas trade 94
Situation in the early eighteenth century 94
Changing focuses for trade 95
Scotland’s trade 101
Growth in trade after 1800 101
The nature of British foreign trade 103
‘Mercantilism’ to ‘free trade’ 105
Trade and economic growth 107
9 Capital and banking 109
Capital—some issues 109
Capital to spare? 110
Changes in national capital 111
Capital formation outside England 112
vi
Investment demands 115
Institutionalizing investment—towards a banking system 117
10 The social and institutional bases for economic change 120
Explanations of change 120
Servicing the economy 124
Towards a ‘consumer society’ 128
The state and economic growth 129
Conclusions 130
11 Railways—the great connectors 131
Two technological developments 132
A ‘railway revolution’ 134
Building railways and moving goods 136
Moving people 141
12 The economic revolutions—an overview 145
Historiography 145
The question of ‘perspective’ 147
The question of ‘time’ 149
The question of ‘causation’ 150
The problem of ‘meaning’ 150
Economic fluctuations 152
Conclusions 153
13 Rent 155
Landownership 155
The aristocracy 156
The gentry 160
Owner-occupiers to tenant farmers 161
Landlord and tenant 161
Women and the land 162
Wales, Scotland and Ireland 163
14 Capital 168
Problems of definition 168
A ‘protean’ stage of development 169
A ‘shopocracy’—the ‘middling’ occupations 171
An ideological foundation—towards the middle classes 172
The middle classes 173
Middle-class women 174
Wales, Scotland and Ireland 176
vii
The ‘professions’ 178
‘Middle classness’ 179
15 Wages 181
Wages 181
‘Standards of living’ 183
Women and work 186
The labouring population—a classification 187
Trade unionism 190
Conclusions 195
16 The impact of economic growth—a social revolution? 197
Perspectives on society 197
Elites 197
‘Class’ 201
Differentiation by other means 205
Conclusions 209
17 The impact of economic growth—change in the countryside 1700–1850 212
Introduction 212
Change in the countryside—case studies 212
Industry in the village 216
‘Open’ and ‘closed’ villages 216
Ashwell—a village in depth 218
Scotland 222
Wales 224
Ireland 225
Conclusions 225
18 The impact of economic growth—the urban explosion 1700–1850 228
Town and city—a problem of definition 228
The eighteenth-century urban setting 229
Urban growth 1700–1800 231
Urban growth after 1800 236
A diversity of urban growth 237
Urban growth in Wales, Scotland and Ireland 238
London 241
Urban conditions—a public health problem 243
Conclusions 245
19 Culture, economic and social change 1700–1850 247
‘Culture’ 247
viii
Cultural change 1700–1850 250
Cultural reform 252
Changing attitudes—three case studies 252
Cultural change outside England 255
Conclusions 257
Index 259
ix