How Did England Respond To The Industrial Revolution?

967 Words2 Pages

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 18th century, but before then there was an agricultural revolution that led up to this era. At this time, the country was covered with mostly small farms that were run by village farmers. Be that as it may, wealthy landowners (considered “scientific farmers”) bought almost all of the land these farmers had worked on forcing them to become tenant farmers or move to the cities to find jobs, but with the land they acquired, huge discoveries were made concerning the industry of farming. The landowners had enclosed each of their own piece of land using hedges or fences. They developed new seeding and harvesting methods while also being able to cultivate more crops since they had more “room” to grow …show more content…

Apparatuses, like the seed drill, boosted productivity and diminished the waste of crops and possibly livestock. This tremendous increase in agriculture supported the industrial boom with a surplus of additional resources and benefitted the natural resources England already had. As a result of the many improvements in farming, food supplies increased and living conditions improved vastly. England’s population grew rapidly and the demand for supplies was high. Many farmers had to withdraw their land to large enclosed farms and most became factory workers. England serves as the “birthplace” of the Industrial Revolution. This is because the small island country had a considerable amount of natural resources and a large population of workers. Industrialization also adds to England’s advantages. This process required the country’s abundance of resources in order to operate, construct, and/or provide transportation for machines and ships. Some of these resources included: water power, coal, iron ore, rivers, and …show more content…

The first of England’s major trades to be completely reformed was its textile industry. Several inventions such as the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny sped up how spinners and weavers made cloth. The flying shuttle doubled the work a weaver could do in a day while the spinning jenny allowed a worker to spin up to eight threads at a time. Originally these machines were operated by hand, but when water frame was invented and incorporated with the spinning jenny the spinning mule was created. A spinning mule made thread stronger, finer, and more consistent while human work was erratic and unpredictable. Textile merchants began to build factories with these machines within since the practice of spinning and weaving had been basically removed from the home. A later invention called the power loom, which was operated by water-power, was also included in most of these

Open Document