AD 1750-1900 The Industrial Age

Over this period Britain experienced enormous changes in every sphere of national life. By the mid-19th century AD it was probably the most powerful nation in the world. First signs of an industrial revolution appeared in the mid-18th century, as new technology was applied to industries like coal, steel and textiles, and continued in the 19th century with the widespread use of steam power. Industrial progress was also closely linked with imperial expansion.

Radical movements sprang up, inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution (1789-93), and social changes brought about by industrialisation led to electoral reform in England and Scotland. The failure of Parliament to grant Catholics the vote in 1886 helped to fuel a nationalist movement in Ireland, whose Protestant ruling class had accepted union with England in 1800.

With Victoria’s long reign (1837-1903) came a new social morality, which encouraged improvements in public health, education and the criminal law. The middle and working classes of the new industrial towns turned from the Church of England to Non-Conformist religions, and formed a mass reading public for popular novels and newspapers. The reign ended on a cautionary note with an imperial war (Boer War of 1899-1902) as America and Germany overtook Britain as industrial powers.