Industrial Revolution Dates

Coke smelting by Abraham Darby – revolutionised iron production

1709

Selective breeding – increased meat and wool production

1725

Flying Shuttle invented by John Kay – sped up weaving

1733

Bridgewater Canal built by Francis Egerton – first modern canal

1759–1761

Spinning Jenny invented by James Hargreaves – multiple threads spun at once

1764

James Watt improves steam engine – made it more efficient for industry

1765

Water Frame by Richard Arkwright – used water power for spinning

1769

Cromford Mill – first factory system for cotton spinning

1771

Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ – promoted free market economics

1776

Turnpike roads and canal building – boosted goods and worker movement

1780s–1830s

Puddling and rolling by Henry Cort – improved iron quality

1784

Combination Acts ban trade unions – restricted worker rights

1799–1800

Luddite peak – workers destroyed machines threatening their jobs

1812

Corn Laws introduced – protected landowners, raised food prices

1815

Tory repression under Lord Liverpool – anti-reform policies

1815–1822

Suspension of habeas corpus & Blanketeers March – protest and crackdown

1817

Peterloo Massacre – peaceful protest crushed by cavalry

1819

Six Acts passed – restricted protests and free speech

1819

Early Factory Act – banned work for under-9s (poor enforcement)

1819

Combination Acts repealed and restricted again – trade union rights limited

1824–1825

Stockton & Darlington Railway – first public steam railway

1825

Liverpool–Manchester Railway – modern railway begins

1830

Swing Riots – rural protest against mechanisation and poverty

1830

Cholera epidemic – revealed poor urban sanitation

1831–1832

Reform Act – gave middle class vote, excluded working class

1832

Factory Act – banned child labour under 9 in textiles

1833

Poor Law Amendment Act – introduced harsh workhouses

1834

Grand National Consolidated Trade Union (GNCTU) founded – early union effort

1834

Chartist Movement begins – campaign for universal male suffrage

1838

Mines Act – banned women and boys under 10 from mines

1842

Factory Act – limited women and teens to 12-hour days (2)

1844

Corn Laws repealed – lowered food prices for poor

1846

Second cholera epidemic – killed 60,000, pushed for health reform

1848–1849

Napoleonic Wars – war between Britain and Napoleonic France

1793–1815

Tory government under Lord Liverpool – repressive post-war rule

1812–1830

Whig government under Earl Grey – passed 1832 Reform Act

1830–1834