Population and politics
In 1851,an official population survey was carried out for the first time,showing that only 60 percent of the population went to church.
In 1846 ,Peel ,a Tory did not wish but he was forced to let Catholics in Parliament.
In 1823 Lord Canning,used the navy to prevent Spain sending troops to her rebellious colonies in South America.
The British were glad to see the liberation movement led by Simon Bolivar.This was partly for an economic reason.
Canning had also been responsible for helping the Greeks achieve.He did this partly in order to satisfy romantic liberalism in Britain.
Canning knew that Russia like Greece an orthodox country,might take control of Greece itself.
Until 1865 the most important political figure was Lord Palmerston.He was a liberal but like Peel he went against his own ideas.
In 1859-60,Palmerston successfully supported the Italian independence movement against Austrian and French.
— After Palmerston’s death in1865 a much stricter “two party “system developed Tory and Liberal.After the Reform of 1832 a much larger number of people vote.In 1860 Jews were for the first time given equal rights with other citizens.
— In 1872 voting was carried out in secret for the first time .People can vote freely and without fear.Democracy grew quickly.In 1884 a ,,Co-operative Movement” was started.It self-help was a powerful way in which the working class gained self-confidence in spite of its weak position.
— In 1868 the first congress of trade unions met in Manchester, representing 118,000 members.The trade unions mixture of worker struggle and desire to work democratically within Parliament led eventually to the foundation of the Labour Party.
— The machinery of modern government was set up.The army was reorganised.Local government in towns and counties was reorganised to make sure of good government and proper services for the people.In 1867 the first move was made to introduce free and compulsory education for children.
There had been a "middle class" in Britain for hundreds of years. During the eighteen and nineteenth century the middle class had increase, including greater differences of wealth, social position, kind of work and also including the commercial classes. Alongside the businessmen associated with the growth of manufacturing, the period saw the increased numbers of small entrepreneurs.
The increased scale of industry and oversees trade, together with the expansion of empire fuelled the proliferation of commerce and finance such as banks, insurance companies, shipping and railways.
Many members of the middle-class used their wealth to buy land and stately homes, becoming as rich, if not richer than the aristocracy.
The railway
• Was the greatest example of Britain’s industrial power in the mid-19th century
• In order to bring down the cost of transport, industrialists had built the railways to transport goods, not people,
• By 1870 the speed of the railway made even possible the delivery of fresh fish from Scotland to London in one night
• In 1851 the government made the railway companies provide passengers with trains which stopped at all stations for a fare of one penny per mile
Queen and empire
During the 18th and 19th century, Britain fought several wars in order to protect
its trade routes and occupy new territories. It fought wars all over the world,
managing to form colonies in Africa, America and the Sudan.
From the 1830s there had been growing concern at the rapidly increasing
population of Britain. As a result, there was marked increase in settlement in
Canada, Australia and New Zealand from the 1840s onwards.
By the end of the 19th century, Britain controlled the oceans and much of the land
areas of the world. But in the end of 20th century the empire had started to become
a heavy load ,when the colonies had begun to demand their freedom.
Queen and monarchy
Queen Victoria came to the throne as a young woman in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901.
Victoria married a German ,Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg,but he died at the age of forty-two in 1861
She could not get over her sorrow at his death, and for a long time refused to be seen in public.
Newspapers began to criticise her. Many radicals actually believed the end of monarchy was bound to
happen as a result of democracy.
The Queen advisers persuaded her to take a more public interest in the business of the kingdom. She did so, and she soon became extraordinarily popular.
One important step back to popularity was de publication in 1868 of the Queen’s book “Our life in the Highlands” which was the queen’s own diary, with drawings ,of her life with Prince Albert at Balmoral , her castle in the Scottish Highlands.
It delighted the public because they had never before known anything of the private
life of the monarch.
She refered to the Prince Consort simply as “Albert”, to the Prince of Wales as
“Bertie” ,and to the Princess Royal as “Vicky”.She also wrote about her servants
as if they were members of her family.
The increasingly democratic British respected the example of family life which the
queen had given them,and shared its moral and religious values.But si also touched
people’s hearts.
In spite of the efforts of earlier monarchs to stop the spread of democracy,the
monarchy was now out of danger.
Wales, Scotland and Ireland
As industrialisation continued, the areas at the edge of British economic power became weaker. Areas in Wales, Scotland and Ireland were particularly affected.
Wales had fewer problems than either Scotland or Ireland. Its population grew from half a million in 1800 to over two million by 1900.In south Wales there were rich coal mines. A huge number of people, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the total Welsh population, moved into the southeast corner of the country.
By 1870 Wales was mainly an industrial society.
The parliamentary reforms of the nineteenth century gave Wales a new voice. As soon as they were allowed to vote, the Welsh workers got rid of the Tories and the landowning families who had represented them for 300 years.
Scotland was also divided between a new industrialised area, around Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the Highland and Lowland areas. The clearances in the Highlands continued. Many old clan lands were sold to new landowners who had no previous connection with the Highlands.
The Highlands have never recovered from the collapse of the clan system, either socially or economically. The Irish experience was worse than that of Scotland. In the nineteenth century, an increasing number of Protestant Irish turned to England as a protection against the Catholic inhabitants.
The first great victory for Irish freedom was when Catholics were allowed to become MPs in 1829. The fact that a Catholic could enter Parliament increased Irish national feeling. But while this feeling was growing, Ireland suffered the worst disaster in its entire history. For three years, 1845, 1846 and 1847, the potato crop, which was the main food of the poor, failed. In these three years 1.5 million died from hunger. The government in London failed to realise the seriousness of the problem. Many Irish people had little choice but to leave. At least a million left during these years, but many more followed during the rest of the century because of the great poverty in Ireland. The Irish population has still not yet grown to the same level. Today it is less than five million, only a little more than half what it was in 1840.
By 1880 many Irish Americans were rich and powerful and were able to support the Irish freedom movement.
Charles Parnell, a Protestant Irish Mp, demanded fuller rights for the Irish people. When most Irish were able to vote fro the first time in 1885, eighty-six members of Parnell’s Irish party were elected to Parliament.
Britain’s war with Germany delayed it taking place, and by the time the war ended Irish nationalists had decided they could only win their freedom by fighting for it.
