CIVI E32Y
Cours / chapitre 5

The progress of the British working class: towards visibility and representation

The county of Lancashire had been the area where the first Industrial Revolution had taken place in the second half of the 18th century. In the 1820s, Lancashire had become the most highly industrialized area in the world, the centre of the new cotton industry, providing half the total of British exports. It boasted two of the largest cities of the UK: Liverpool, which was a major harbour, and Manchester, which rapidly became a trade centre with links to the whole world. These two flourishing local capitals, which were famous for trade and industry, developed a strong pride. This pride became visible as these cities grew into cultural centres, with the opening of art galleries, public parks, and universities. Manchester was often called “the Florence of the 19th century”. However, despite these signs of cultural achievement, people in Britain were still prejudiced against the industrial magnets of Northern England. Compared with the agricultural south they were associated with the emergence of the working class and squalid working and living conditions.

This image was true to a certain extent. Indeed, in the 1830s, many workers had suffered tremendously as handlooms were being replaced by power looms. With the introduction of new machines, the number of jobs available had been reduced and the wages had been drastically cut. Handloom weavers sometimes revolted (Luddite revolt and machine-breaking in the 1810s, big demonstrations in 1817-1819, Cato Street Conspiracy against members of the Cabinet in 1820, strong Chartist agitation, strikes and riots in the 1840s). This gave rise to revolutionary agitation. In Manchester 64% of the population belonged to the working class and in the neighbouring cotton towns (= towns built around cotton mills) the proportion was even higher (80% to 95%). Moreover, in the new system families could not work