Industrial Revolution: Key Figures, Processes, and Social Changes

Role of Lower/Working Class women

Worked in factories, mines, domestic service; long hours, low pay; impacted family life.

Henry Bessemer

Bessemer process for mass-producing steel → cheaper, stronger, enabled railroads/buildings.

Enclosure Movement

Land privatization in England → pushed peasants to cities → labor supply for factories.

Steam Engine

Powered factories, trains, ships; key driver of Industrial Revolution.

Telegraph

Faster communication → expanded trade, business efficiency.

Steel vs. Iron

Steel stronger, lighter, more flexible; key for railroads, bridges, skyscrapers.

Division of Labor

Factories split work into small repetitive tasks → higher efficiency but monotonous.

Factory work & families

Women and children in factories → disrupted family structure; child labor common.

Adam Smith & Wealth of Nations

Advocated free markets, division of labor, economic growth.

Victorian Era / Cult of Domesticity / Separate Spheres

Middle/upper class women expected to stay home; men = public sphere.

Why GB industrialized first

Natural resources, colonies, capital, political stability, navigable rivers.

Mechanization

Machines replaced hand tools → faster, cheaper production.

City growth / urban areas

Industrialization → rural → urban migration, overcrowding, poor sanitation.

Population growth

More workers, more demand for goods → fueled Industrial Revolution.

Migrations

Rural → urban, international (Europe → Americas) due to job opportunities.

Cottage system production

Pre-industrial home-based manufacturing → replaced by factory system.

Middle Class beneficiaries

Entrepreneurs, industrialists, merchants → profited most from industrialization.