Living in 1900 or 1750?

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Would I rather live in 1750 or 1900?

Between the years 1750 and 1900, there were many important changes to agriculture, transport and education. These were generally for the better yet perhaps didn’t affect everyone to the same degree. Looking at each we will see if everyone’s life was changed for the better.

Looking firstly at transport, it can be seen that by 1900 transport had improved greatly, instead of everyone walking and riding bikes people could go on a steam boat or train. The railways were excellent as it meant that fresh food like fish could be delivered and people could go to the seaside whereas before people who didn’t live near the sea couldn’t get food such as fish as there was no way for fish to travel. Also people from the country could never go to the seaside or go out on day trips as the only transport that they had was themselves or bikes , but in 1900 they could go nearly anywhere on the steam train. Most people’s lives were changed for the better but it wasn’t cheap to ride the train so it didn’t help poor people at all.

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Secondly, when we look at education in 1900, it has also improved. In 1750 very few children went to school and those children who did were from very rich families. Hardly any children could read or write except those who were rich enough to go to school, whereas in 1900 nearly everyone could read and write because school was compulsory for all five to twelve year old children, both boys and girls. By 1900 there were ten universities in England, five in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Ireland. Nearly everyone’s lives changed for the better, as most ...

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