British Response to the Industrial RevolutionPages 255-259

The Poor Laws• Britain tried to address poverty• Made charity the responsibility

of local authorities• stated that no able-bodied

person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse.

• Conditions in workhouses were to be made harsh to discourage people from claiming.

• They did not effectively help end poverty and unemployment

Social Reformers 18th 19th Centuries• People worried by

conditions in factories, mines, slums, and plantations

• Reformers tried to improve life for the working class

• Main concern was helping children

- Addressed child labour, education, and housing

Ragged Schools•Supported by donors•Offered free lessons and food to needy children•Name reflected children’s clothing

Barnardo Homes•Irish Teacher who worked in ragged schools went on to found the Barnardo Homes•These homes sent thousands of children to work as servants or farm helpers in Canada and Australia•The idea behind this program was that poor children would have a better chance at life in another country

Workers Associations• Workers formed

associations to look after the interests of its members and influence employers decisions

• Declared illegal by the pro-business government

• Upset over- new technology replacing

workers- Unsafe working conditions- Abuse by employers

Abolition Movement• Slaves, former slaves,

social reformers, workers, politicians, and religious leaders worked together to end slavery

• Asked people to boycott products made by slaves

• 1807 British parliament passed the Slave Trade Act which made the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire

- Did not free existing slaves

Irish Potato Famine• By the 1840s, most Irish

peasants grew and ate potatoes as their main source of food

- Many were very poor• In 1845 the entire Irish

potato crop rotted in the fields due to disease

• Millions of people starved and 1000s were forced to leave their homes

• Many moved overseas but 4out of 10 died during the journey

Potato Famine Memorial, Dublin.

Clearances in ScotlandPart of the policy of enclosure• Landlords evicted poor

tenant farmers so that they could enclose the land and raise sheep

- Homes destroyed to prevent return

• 1000s of people displaced by the Clearances

- Had to find new homes and work

- Travelled to large industrial cities and overseas

Factory Acts•New laws created to help end some of the

extreme negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution

•First to benefit were children- 1802 illegal to work children more than 12

hours straight in cotton mills- 1819 illegal to hire children under 9 to work

in the textile industry.- 1824 workers associations made legal