Social Changes before 1815
During the war prior to 1815, Britain had become the most
powerful country in the world. New dangers and difficulties emerged as both the
agricultural and industrial revolutions had destroyed the balance of society.
New classes had appeared for whom there was no place in the existing structure.
All this disharmony was aggravated even further by the French revolution and new
ideas. The long drawn out Napoleonic wars added to the turmoil producing new
problems in European relationships.
The agricultural revolution had meant increased quantities of better
food. The industrial revolution meant new towns and new growing populations. The
social results of the two combined were disastrous. The new rich landowners took
years before they accepted responsibility for the mass of poor people.
Large numbers of peasants were unable to prove they had title
to any land and so were ignored. To eke out a living the peasants became
labourers living on meagre wages paid by the new ruling classes. Womenfolk and
children provided indoor labour for the same owner rulers. So whole families
were tied to ambitious successful industrial owners. If one family member fell
out with owners it was likely the whole family would need to move on to another
area. This distress was also increased because there was a huge loss of common
land and so people could not raise pigs or fowl or grow foods.
New inventions such as
the Spinning Jenny invented by James Hargreaves in 1764 and shown above in the
header eventually wiped
out the domestic industry of spinning yarns. This was devastating socially,
because 'spinsters' often older female members of a family silently earned their
living this way. Also new methods of working meant that fewer hands were
required in many trades and so a surplus of manpower with too many workers
chasing too few jobs arose. Inevitably the hard working English peasantry was
ruined as they moved closer to industrial towns seeking work. You are
reading an original 'Industrial Revolution & Effects on Society', fashion
history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
Conditions of hardship, uncertainty and starvation led to the
government introducing the Poor Law. The practice of making up wages through the
Poor Law was worse than the initial cause and created a new pauper class who
were thriftless, servile and often drunk. Because children were worth one
shilling and sixpence a week through the Poor Law, the pauper class actively
embraced huge families increasing the problems.
The new owning classes also had their problems when in 1812 there
was bad harvest after a disastrous year of rains. Uncertainty over the price of
grain coupled with the ever increasing cost of the war piled up rates and taxes
to an unheard of figure. With time a gulf began to separate the working classes
from the owning classes. The wage earning labourer was helpless to improve his situation
and this continued for over twenty years. In the south of England distress was
much worse because farms were small. Despite all these hardships the rural
population still had a freer happier life than the factory hands.
James Watt's steam engine brought untiring mechanical power.
Then Abraham Darby's discovery that iron could be smelted in a blast furnace
using coke placed the most superior material, strong cast iron at industry's
disposal. The results were immediate and consumer goods were produced on a new
scale. All of this took place very rapidly in the space of fifty years. It was
the catalyst for change and growth and also produced a huge increase in
population. You are reading an original 'Industrial Revolution & Effects
on Society', fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
The new conditions demanded new towns solely devoted to
factory production. Because steam power needed to be near fuel supplies,
industrialisation often took place in coal towns. The houses in these towns were
thrown up and were built with a sharp eye towards profit. In effect they built
back to back housing that could only be slums, packed so closely with minimal
sanitation of one or two lavatories in courtyards supposed to supply the
residents of a whole street. Squalid
conditions soon developed.
The worst suffering took place in
factories where there were no regulations, no restrictions for over or under age
or suitable and unsuitable workers. Early buildings were poorly illuminated and
without sanitation or regulations on guards for machines and operatives. Wages
were always below subsistence level so that child labour was used by parents
needing to supplement family income.
Five or six year olds could tend machines
and earn a little money. They were also appreciated by masters because they
could clamber into awkward places and manipulate techniques difficult for older
larger hands and bodies. Children became so tired, that they lived and worked on
the job in the factory, falling asleep where they fell. By the time a child was
ten he worked the same hours as an adult.
The situations existed where change and growth created a new
middle class and they wanted to display their wealth in fine homes, furnishings,
and of course in their dress. Only a few examples of working clothes exist in
museums because so often they were threadbare and in rags and discarded. Even
working clothes have their fashions. Sometimes they are in step with fashion,
but they often lag behind and occasionally they influence fashions.
One of the most enduring working costumes from the era include
smocks and smock frocks. The significance of the smock is
interesting from an occupational aspect and what it says to the onlooker about
recognising a uniform.
In the book 'Far From The Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy, one of the main
characters seeking work as a shepherd cum farmhand is deemed unsuitable until he
presents himself again to employers. On the second occasion he wears a smock and
is instantly selected for the work.
Smocking was usually a technique worked in the same colour
thread as the fabric. White on white and cream on cream linen were usual.
In continental European countries it was often more colourful and over the
decades in Britain as men stopped wearing it the technique was used to decorate
ladies yoked blouses and also children's clothing.
Smocking can be very attractive. If you would like to see some
worked examples click below to go to the smocking illustration page.
You have been reading an original 'Industrial Revolution & Effects on
Society', fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
Page added 2001.
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