However, other historians have noted a more optimistic outlook towards the make-up of real wages within this period. Deane and Cole, two prolific historians within the study of Industrial Revolution, noted that there had been a great rise in wages over these years and that there had been a subsequent rise in living standards, which substantiated this fact. However, there is a real depletion concerning the amount of sources available to discern exactly how the wages had increased or decreased by over this time period. There are also inaccuracies in that certain wage patterns developed in particular areas, and regional variations are a large factor in determining the overall, more rounded figures for the nation as a whole. There was no nation-wide wage programme; each area’s economy was shaped by its success within industry.
Taking both hypothesis’s into account then, it is generally more acceptable to account that ‘wages grew slowly; for long periods they either did not grow at all or actually fell back, while severe recessions could also real wages substantially’ (Feinstein, 1992).
Another variable in interpreting standards of living within this time period is that of ‘adult height’ as a physiological explanation for the interaction between diet, health and other environmental factors that might affect growth. The general study focused upon collecting information from the height of army personnel within this time, as these had only been recorded. However, the only notable results display that height had been decreasing over the years 1790-1850. This would suggest then, that nutritionally speaking, standards of living had not been increasing over this time although from 1790 to 1820, other results demonstrated a gradual rise in heights. Moreover, in the 1970’s when these results were been argued, many historians noted the methodological problems about the use of height as an indicator of nutritional status. Nevertheless, the study of height and the evidence of real wage decrease displays a very depressing and unenviable image of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England.
The working class evidently suffered much throughout these years and much of this suffering owed to the working conditions within factories and mines. As the coal industry expanded within the early 18th century, there was a need for miners to go further and further underground to extract this coal. An independent commission was started in 1842 to ascertain exactly how bad these working conditions were for the people in general. The results proved that the majority were made to work in conditions that were simply appalling and very dangerous too. Moreover, one of the major concerns was that children as young as five were being used to work within these mines and that they were working for many hours in each day. In general, many workers died from either falling, becoming trapped, or for health reasons. Many injuries also were evident within these times, and this often left the working class people facing death in the near future from damage to their bodies etc.
In the year of 1833, another commission was initiated to look into the state of factories within this time period. This was proved to be equally awful and similarities such as children working for as long as 18 hours a day and many deaths/disabilities being suffered were also evident as much as they were in the mines. Altogether this proved that the very lifestyle of the working class people was very difficult and in many cases dehumanising. The higher classes, factory owners etc, simply recognised the working class people as a group that could be exploited for their own needs and ends. Some contemporary historians actually believed that the industry had a positive effect upon its workers. Richard Guest believed that industry ‘Had their faculties sharpened and improved by constant communication’ (in S.King, 2001). This demonstrated that fact that they were generally more concerned with the commerce and development of the nation, as opposed to the working classes, who actually made the country what it became.
Population also was an important variable concerning the influence it had upon the every day life of the working-class. By 1850, over half of the population of England were ‘urban dwellers’. The relocation of industry within the Midland, the North, London etc, made population growth within urban areas very desirable, because people needed jobs and had to simultaneously change with the movement of industry. There were also great regional disparities in population throughout the country.
It is very important to note that working was absolutely crucial to the ordinary people of England and the central factor in their lives. People were desperate for jobs and were entirely dependent upon their employers in an age when losing their jobs would mean disaster for the whole family. Work generated income, which in turn provided them with the resources to live.
There was however, as aforementioned, a parity of low wages, which often propelled the people to endure even longer working hours in their desperate attempts to make a living for themselves and their family. Infact, these harsh working conditions and desperate times led to a resistance from the working classes and revolts. In 1848 for example, after years of enduring repeatedly awful working conditions, violent social unrest and marches took form in the ‘Year of Revolution’. The workers demanded greater social equality, fairer wages, better living conditions and a voice in the overall machine of government. Also, a movement arrived within the 19th century, known as Chartism, which demanded a series of changes within Britain. Many rallies took place and often violent confrontations occurred, although this simply demonstrated the working-class fervour for a change in the system. The Chartist movement even went as far as introducing a ‘model village’ to demonstrate the way in which the working-class could live and hence be treated. This charter proved very importantly that, in relation to the everyday life of the working-class, conditions were awful enough for the public to take a stand. Infact, this type of protest and demonstration had not been seen for many years before this time period, presenting exactly the great decline in working conditions and general standard of living since the largely agriculturally dominated culture.
The ‘Old Poor Law’ offered very little, if not no relief whatsoever to those who had dropped into the ‘absolute poverty’ category. There was absolutely no guarantee of support and the people had no rights, a theme intrinsic to Industrial England. It wasn’t until 1834 that the ‘New Poor Law’ was introduced, however this was still incredibly harsh and maintained a very stringent and unfair grasp on the lives of the working-class.
Actual living conditions seemed to be relative to change in working conditions, in that when the state of workers within the industry began to improve, it meant that living conditions might generally improve also. For instance, within this period of harsh working conditions was the prevalence of families living in equally terrible conditions. There might sometimes be 10 or 11 people all living within one single room, where they cooked, ate and slept. In addition to this, families often had large numbers of children, whom they had problems feeding and clothing within this difficult industrial climate. Pauper letters were representative of the sheer desperation of these people. They showed the extremities of the times and often capitalised on the fact that if the poor did not work, they did not get any money and so hence would not be able to feed their family. The fact that there was no working unions or representations for the working-class meant that the family unit was indeed in a very precarious position within society. Steve King infact noted in his book ‘Making Sense of the Industrial Revolution’, that ‘a wider reading of vestry minutes, and pauper letters might on the face of it suggest that families living through the Industrial Revolution lost much of the residual welfare functionality with which they may have entered the eighteenth century’ (S.King, 2001).
People wanted large families and so many children, because it meant that more money could be earned within the family unit. However, this meant that children often were forced into work as soon as they were physically able to do so. This is why the awful case of children working within the mines and factories at ages of at least 7/8 years was indeed so common within these troubled times.
The life expectancy of industrial workers was also very low and this was largely due to the poor sanitation within and around people’s homes. The conditions within the factories and mines also contributed to the ill health of the working-class. For example, ‘one study of 22,094 factory workers within factories in Manchester and also in Stockport showed that only 143 were actually older than 45 years’ (C. Moore, 2000).
In conclusion, it is clear that the working classes suffered immensely within this time of Industrialisation. People clearly were oppressed to satiate the needs and aims of the country and it’s government.
Furthermore, it was the needs of the Industrial Revolution, which aided the working classes eventually. The dramatic increase in production and efficiency led to the accumulation of wealth within society and increased learning. Indeed, the whole process of revolution itself aims towards a more efficient, more developed and affluent society and once this materialised, the working classes once again began to benefit. It was however at great expense to the thousands who had been maltreated in the process over the years preceding the 1850’s and beyond. Various concepts of increased consumption, emulative expenditure, greater educative involvements, and even the thought of leisure within the working classes in post 1850, demonstrated this new rise in everyday living and general way of life.
Sources Cited:
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D. Hay and N. Rogers, ‘Eighteenth-Century English Society’, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997
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S.King and G. Timmins, ‘Making Sense of the Industrial Revolution’, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001
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P. O’Brien and R. Quinault, ‘The Industrial Revolution and British Society’, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993
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C. More, ‘Understanding The Industrial Revolution’, Routledge, London, 2000
