19th Century Cities and Town in the UK

What Were Cities and Towns like during the Industrial Revolution?

ObjectiveTo understand the conditions of cities and towns in the 19th century.

StarterIn 1847, 40 people were found to be sharing a room in a house in Liverpool.

True 

Night soil workers collected rubbish from the streets.

False

Most houses had inside toilets.

False

In Darlington people drank rainwater from a barrel containing a dead baby.

True

The average age that people lived to in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution was 17.

True

IntroductionAs enclosure and technical developments in farming had reduced the need for people to work on farmland, many people moved to the cities to get accommodation and a job.Furthermore, the advancement in the factory system had also displaced many people out of their traditional livelihood and lifestyle.As a result, the Industrial Revolution witnessed a huge growth in the size of British cities. In 1695, the population of Britain was estimated to be 5.5 million. By 1801, the year of the first census, it was 9.3 million and by 1841, 15.9 million. This represents a 60% growth rate in just 40 years.These cities, however, were not prepared for such an influx in such a short period of time!As a result, cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester etc. (all vital to the Industrial Revolution) suffered problems not witnessed anywhere else in the world at this time.

So what were these problems???

Use the next few slides of sources to fill in the following table in your exercise book:

Life in 19th Century TownsTOILETS HOUSING

REFUSE COLLECTION WATER & POLLUTION

There was no rubbish collection so most towns had a dung heap that would grow and grow until it was eventually taken away. Children would play in it.

People had flocked into these towns from the countryside. Towns

seemed to offer guaranteed work and good wages; there was

housing; there was work for the children. What more could a family

want?

Perhaps the worst type of accommodation for factory workers

was a cellar. About 15,000 very poor people lived in cellars in

Manchester in the 1840s. They were damp, cheerless and dark.

Very little fresh air came into these cellars.

It was difficult to keep the damp floors clean, especially since all their rubbish had to be carried

upstairs to the street.

In 1832 JP Kay, a local doctor, wrote a book about living conditions. Kay found that very many streets had piles of rubbish and human refuse

in them.

Night soil workers were paid to carry away human sewage from the houses. They worked

clearing dung from the worst parts of the towns but, because they were kept so busy, they would miss out many places. Here the

manure collected was untouched.

There were no indoor toilets in most of the houses and there was no running water inside

either. The toilets and water tap were in a courtyard, which was shared by everyone around it. Children played here and people

threw their rubbish in here, as well.

Many families shared a lavatory. In one town there were 33 lavatories for about 7000 people. Some houses had no

lavatory at all. In another town, 500 families were without a toilet. Most of the sewage from these houses was either left in the street or thrown onto a dung heap in the courtyard or into

a nearby river.

The courtyard of a house often contained a large

dung heap that might go on growing until a merchant bought it and carted it off. Sometimes, it was in an

empty room in one of the houses instead.

A description of Jacob’s Island in London in 1874.

We saw drains and sewers emptying their filthy contents into the river. We saw a whole row of privies (toilets without

doors), used by men and women, built over it. We heard

bucket after bucket of filth splash into it. Yet, as we stood

gazing in horror, we saw a child lower a bucket into it to collect

water from the river.

There was hardly any public transport so; houses

were built close to the factories, often by the

factory owners themselves.

Land and houses cost money so the houses were

built as cheaply as possible.

Rows of terraces were built back to back. It saved space and materials. Houses were built as

cheaply as possible. But after 1800 there just

weren’t enough houses to cope with the increasing

population.

There were heaps of rags, bones, fish, rotten potatoes

and other things lying in the street and in peoples’ houses. The stench was

sickening.

Most houses in the 19th century did not have an

inside toilet. They used an earth closets instead.

These earth-closets were supposed to be emptied regularly by ‘night-soil’ workers. Unfortunately, earth closets were not

emptied regularly so the contents often overflowed.

Presentation TaskPrepare a script and radio broadcast 3-5 MINUTES highlighting the problems facing 19th century workers in Britain’s cities.

TOILETHOUSING REFUSE COLLECTION WATER & POLLUTION

THE LIFE OF CHILDREN VIOLENCE AND OTHER SOCIAL PROBLEMS

EDUCATION ANYTHING ELSE YOU CONSIDER RELEVANT

http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/lifeduringindustrialrevolution.htm

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/indrevo.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/health-and-housing-in-the-19th-century/11058.

html

Mark SchemeLevel DescriptionA* The student has presented the sources in excellent detail(s) and fully discussed

the problems a 19th century city in Britain faced.

A well structured presentation that uses a range of evidence from external sources (primary and secondary, including diagrams and pictures) displaying the conditions of a 19th century city in Britain.

A The student has made a very good attempt to explain the sources and how it shows the problems a 19th century city in Britain faced.

A structured presentation that uses key evidences from the sources to support most of the points made.

B The student have begun to discuss the importance of the sources by providing a description of the problems a 19th century city in Britain faced.

The student has provided some structure in the presentation and is able to use evidences from the sources to support the points they make; but they still need to develop their points more using explanation.

C The students presentation lacks structure but does use limited evidence from the sources to support some points made.

The student attributes limited references to the sources and does not fully address the problems a 19th century city in Britain faced.