Chapter 3- Economic Developments

Who dominated the world economy in the mid 19th century?

Britain

What figure is it estimated that Britain produced of the total traded manufactured goods in the world?

40%

How much of world trade passed through British ports?

25%

What was Britain acknowledged as?

'The workshop of the world'

What did other countries (many belonging to the British empire or dependent on British capital) do furnish Britain with?

Raw materials and foodstuffs for its growing population

What was the Great Exhibition of 1851 a symbol of?

International economic cooperation

Dynamic

A driving force instrumental in growth or change

What did Peter Mathias say about Britain in the 1851 Great Exhibition?

They were 'taking most of the prizes'

When did the Great Exhibition take place?

1851

Where did the Great Exhibition take place?

London's Hyde Park

Where were the exhibits of the Great Exhibition housed?

The Crystal Palace

What did the Crystal Palace showcase?

The variety, inventiveness and skill of Britain's manufacturing industries

What were exhibits from competitor countries included to do?

Underline Britain's commitment to free trade and to emphasise by comparison the excellence and superiority of British-made goods

What was the Exhibition?

An all-round success

How many visitors did the Great Exhibition attract in the 5 months it was open?

6 million

How did many travel to the Great Exhibition?

On a cheap day ticket via Britain's burgeoning railway network

What was one of the spin-offs from the Great Exhibition?

A rapid increase in export orders and growth in overseas markets

How much of British goods were exported to the empire?

1/3

Where was British coal exported?

Europe

why did many British goods go to the USA?

As its own industries were not sufficiently developed to cope with the demands of a rapidly increasing population

How long did the growth in export trade continue unchallenged for?

20 years

What was this period for British goods?

A period of unprecedented demand for British goods abroad, and manufacturers were working flat out in every town and city in Britain to meet demands

What was Britain at the height of?

Its industrial and economic power

When was Britain's unparalleled spurt of economic and industrial growth evident?

From around the middle of the century and lasted into the early years of the 1870s

What key British industries experienced technological developments?

- Coal mining
- Iron and steel
- Engineering in the textile industries

What was there a rapid increase in?

Production across the board in British industry

What boosted British agriculture in this period?

New technology and an increase in scientific knowledge

What was the British agricultural period generally referred to as during this period?

The period of high farming

High Farming

An expression used in the nineteenth century to describe new farming practices adopted to get the best out of both land and livestock.

How were British exports, exported around the globe?

In British ships

What did no other nation offer to Britain's supremacy in their economy and industry?

Any challenge

What economic principle did the British government allow for?

Laissez-faire

Laissez-faire

The principle of limited interference in the workings of the market economy; taxation was low and free trade encouraged

What were these years for those in Britain?

- Peace
- Prosperity, yet not all Victorians shared in the wealth of the economic boom

What happened to the economy after 1873?

There were signs of it slowing down in the rate of growth of the economy

What were imports increasing against?

Exports

Where was Britain beginning to face competition from?

Newly industrializing nations such as Germany and the USA

What did Britain need to do to meet the challenge of the USA and Germany?

Adapt

When had Britain entered the 'golden days' of agriculture?

By the 1850s

What happened during the 'golden years' of agriculture?

- Harvests produced successive high yields
- Prices were steady
- Farmer's incomes increased
- Scientific and technological innovation and improvement

What did High Farming methods increase?

Productivity

What did many farmers move from?

Purely arable to mixed farming

What did the moving of farmers to mixed farmers mean?

That they hedged their bets by growing wheat and root crop as well as stocking cattle, sheep and pigs

What did the moving to mixed farming allow for?

A cushion against a sudden downturn in the price of either crops or livestock

What was a benefit of mixed farming in regards to feeding crops and livestock?

Surplus crops fed the animals and animals' manure fed the crops

What was there increasing interest in?

Stock farming

What did stock farming lead to?

Some farmers specialising in specific breeds such as Herefords and Aberdeen Angus, which produced excellent beef

What did much of the profit from farming in this period come from?

Livestock rearing

With an increase in scientific knowledge, what happened to artificial fertilisers?

- Superphosphates were marketed
- Guano was imported in large quantities from Peru

Guano

the dropping of seabirds, one of the richest natural sources of fertiliser; it was imported from Peru in huge quantities in the mid 19th century, before it was replaced with chemical fertilisers

What was the artificial fertiliser industry worth by 1870?

£8 million a year

What was there a growing market in?

Animal feedstuffs, made from linseed and cotton seed

What was animal feedstuffs industry worth by 1870?

£5 million a year

What to the two developments of artificial fertiliser and animal feedstuffs do for farmers?

Eased the pressure on farmers to pursue mixed farming and made it easier for them to specialise in either arable or livestock

How were the problems of poor drainage met?

The manufacture of clay pipes

What did the government introduce for farmers to invest in drainage pipe systems?

A loan scheme

What did improved drainage and the use of fertiliser do for crop yield?

It made significant improvements to crop yield

Why were agricultural labourers poorly paid?

As there was a ready supply of cheap labour

What was the introduction of farm machinery?

Slow

What developments were there in farm machiney?

Some developments such as the widespread use of the horse-drawn reaper

What developed to enable better crop production?

- Better ploughs
- Seed drills
- Steam driven threshing machines

What increased the demand for food and other produce of the land?

- Steady growth of the population
- Rising prosperity
- General rise in wages
- Prices increased

How was the demand for food and other produce met?

By agricultural improvements

What industrial development was beneficial to farming?

Railways as food could be transported quickly to growing towns

By the early 1870s what percentage of of the home consumption of wheat were British farmers producing?

50%

By the early 1870s what percentage of meat were British farmers producing?

90%

What did dairy farmers supply the home market with?

Butter, milk and cheese

What did farmers benefit from?

The rising prices of their products

What did farmers do with their huge profits?

Built themselves solid spacious farmhouses and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle

What did the accessibility of plenty of good, cheap, home-produced food help to improve?

General health and raise the standard of living in Britain

What was there an element of in the 'golden age'?

Goodluck

What was the element of good luck in the 'golden age'?

An exceptional run of high yielding harvests between 1850 and 1873, which were attributed to a long cycle of fine dry summers

What happened upon the end of the dry summers?

Foreign competition led to a fall in the prices

When was the farming industry entering a long period of economic downturn?

1873

What was Britain able to build up?

The staple industries of coal, iron and steel, engineering, shipbuilding and textiles

Staple industries

The industries upon which Britain built its industrial supremacy during this period; these were coal, iron and steel, engineering, shipbuilding and textiles.

What did the staple industries produce an economic growth rate of?

About 2-3% per year

What was the output of the staple industries far beyond?

The requirements of home consumption

What did the staple industries do for British exports?

They created a boom in Britain's export market and accounted for almost all of Britain's exports

What did the profits raised from the staple industries enable?

Provided capital for further investment at home and overseas e.g. railway building overseas

What was the value of British export trade in the years 1850-59?

Approximately £130 million

What was the value of British export trade in the years 1880-89?

Approximately £230 million

What did Britain's international trade cement?

- Relationships with foreign nations
- Increasing its influence abroad
- Dependence of nation upon nation promoted peace

What did Britain's cementation of international trade also chime with?

Gladstone's policy of maintaining peace

What did Gladstone's policy of maintaining peace also encourage?

Economic stability

Who were Britain's economic rivals?

USA and Prussia

What were Britain's economic rivals sidetracked by?

War

How was Britain's economic prosperity undoubtably sustained?

By its free trade policy

What allowed for Gladstone's reduction in taxes?

The vibrant economy

What did Gladstone's policy of a reduction in taxes allow for?

Individual entrepreneurs and businessmen to build up their private fortunes as well as the wealth of the nations by investing the large sums of available capital in industrial enterprises at home and abroad.

What was wealth creation?

Not universal

What was wealth created not distributed?

Evenly

What did those in work create?

A demand in the economy, because their wages had risen and their newly acquired spending power and desire for consumer goods helped to create further prosperity

What were the reasons for Britain's exceptional industrial progress?

- First industrial nation
- Greatest colonial power
- Plentiful supply of natural resources
- Rising population
- Railway aided workforce and transportation of goods

How did Britain being the first industrial nation enable them to develop exceptional industrial progress?

It had far outstripped other countries in establishing markets at home and abroad for its vast range of quality goods

How did Britain's colonial power aid its industrial progress?

As Britain controlled the vital sea routes to and from its colonies and other overseas markets

How did Britain's plentiful supply of natural resources aid its industrial progress?

Its plentiful resources of coal and iron ore, which it had the technology to exploit and it had been able to forge ahead in design, engineering processes and production

How did Britain's rising population aid its industrial development?

As it provided a large workforce and an expanding home market

By how much did Britain's population rise?

From 27 million in 1851 to 35 million in 1881

What had Britain's extensive railway lines achieved by 1875?

Linked every major town and sea port and facilitated industrial development