Coal was needed to help make steam to power the machines. Many Victorian factories were built near coalmines to make it easier to get the coal to the factory. The coal mining industry grew.
Many workers were needed to keep the new machines running in the factories and more workers were needed to work in the coalmines.
Huge industrial towns grew around the factories as people moved to factory areas to look for work. In 1800, 75000 people lived in Manchester. By 1850, more than 300 000 people lived there. This made more goods for sale at home and abroad.
The revolution had many impacts on Victorian life and many people benefited from industrialization but many people did not.
For most people the Industrial Revolution was a good thing. Farm workers now had machines to help them and owners of the new factories and mills were making lots of money from the goods, made in their factories, being exported and sold. New inventions such as the telegraph and the typewriter created different kinds of jobs.
However, for many people, life was made much more difficult. Factory workers had no rights and had to work long hours in dreadful conditions for a very low pay. The new machines were often not very safe and the workers’ lives were at risk when they were running them. Factory owners exploited their workers, especially women and children. But people were desperate for work and those without jobs were not well looked after and many were forced into dreadful workhouses.
The rapid rise in the population of the towns created dangers to health. The poorest arrivals flocked into the already overcrowded slums where the rents were lowest. The new housing was very badly built, often on poorly drained and cheap land.
The bad impacts were only short-term affects because in the long term new laws and trade unions were helping to improve the bad conditions of the factories and people generally had a bit more money to spend
Unfortunately, it was only after the outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhus that action was taken. In many areas local boards of health were elected and medical officers of health appointed. Improvements came, but they were gradual and drainage and sewage schemes were expensive. Towns were quick to take advantage of the Artisans’ Dwelling Act of 1875, which allowed local authorities to compulsory purchase slum areas and build new houses.
The world of work was very different as people headed towards the new century.
