Textile Industry: An encyclopedia of the Textile Industry in Britain between 1700 and 1900. The website includes information on the different aspects of the domestic system as well as the woolen, cotton, silk and linen industries. The website also features entries on twelve important textile inventions and biographies of inventors (16) and entrepreneurs (28). There is also a series of lessons available that simulates the debate that took placed in the 19th century on the morality and the economic value of child labour in textile factories.

Industrial Revolution Sourcework: Designed to help lower ability and special educational needs pupils access sources and concepts related to the Industrial Revolution, the online lesson from School History guides pupils through a basic overview of the Industrial Revolution. Through gap filling exercises pupils go through the basics of source analysis and then analyse two sources from the Industrial Revolution. Extension exercises and quizzes are then available.

The Industrial Revolution: The Industrial revolution examined in detail. Discover what factors led to industrial growth, how this affected the lives of ordinary people and find out how working conditions were changed forever by the quick succession of inventions and pieces of legislation.

1833 Factory Act: In 1833 the Government passed a Factory Act to improve conditions for children working in factories. Young children were working very long hours in workplaces where conditions were often terrible. The basic act was as follows: No child workers under 9 years of age. Employers must have a medical or age certificate for child workers. Children between the ages of 9-13 to work no more than 9 hours a day. Children between 13-18 to work no more than 12 hours a day. Children are not to work at night. Two hours schooling each day for children. Four factory inspectors appointed to enforce the law throughout the whole of the country. However, the passing of this Act did not mean that overnight the mistreatment of children stopped. This Public Record Office website allows students to investigate how the far the Act solved the problems of child labour.

The Cotton Times: The Industrial Revolution was arguably the most significant single event in history. Almost overnight, a tide of change swept away the old order and altered the world forever. Britain abandoned her rural, agricultural economy and plunged headlong into the unknown, creating the world's first industrial society. It was a process driven forward at breakneck speed by the textile industry, masterminded by the inventors and entrepreneurs who sprang into action in the hitherto backwater county of Lancashire from the mid-18th century. This site describes how it happened. It tells of the men whose machines made it possible, those who exploited the inventions, and the politicians, reformers and medical scientists who battled to contain the worst of the inevitable social fall-out. Sadly, it also tells of those who paid the price of progress with their health and often their lives.

Railways: A comprehensive encyclopedia of railways in Britain. Each entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on Railway & Bridge Engineers, Railway Entrepreneurs, Locomotives, Railway Companies, Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Railway Art, Railway Towns and Cities, Historical Developments, Railway Experiences and Railway Stations.

Development of Railways: In this activity, produced by Learnall, students access the Spartacus Historical Encyclopedia in order to research the development of the railways. A class is put into groups, and each group researches a particular event, machine or personality, then summarises their findings and reports back to the class in the form of a word-processed document. National Curriculum key objectives are specifically targeted along with language for learning. Students and teachers wishing to make use of the Learnall site have to first get themselves registered on the site and thereby gain a username and password.

The Rainhill Trials: In October 1829 the directors of the soon to be completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway held a competition to find the most appropriate locomotive to use on their railway. The Rainhill Trials, as the competition came to be known, were held over a number of weeks, grandstands were erected and many people came to watch the events. The correspondent from the weekly Mechanics Magazine, attended these trials and sent detailed verbatim reports of the events. This website contains those articles and illustrations of the five locomotives involved: Novelty, Rocket, Sans Pareil, Cycloped and Perseverance.

UK Heritage Railways: The primary purpose of this website is to provide a guide to the entire heritage railway scene in the UK, including details of special events and operating days for all operating steam railways. However, there is also a comprehensive glossary (over 900 entries) of railway terms, names and abbreviations; pages of diagrams and explanations of the components of steam locomotives and their controls; and a Websites Database with links to over 400 railway related websites (including a category for historical material).

Canals & Waterways: Roots & Routes: Produced by Peter Hardcastle this website is a series of pages covering many of Britain's Inland Waterways. Each waterway is divided into two sections; (a) Roots: A chronological history of the waterway in question, tracing its roots from its initial promotion through to the present day; (b) Routes: A detailed description of the waterway's route, including details of interesting features along the way, descriptions on how to reach these features, street names, parking places and (some times) OS Grid References. Both man-made canals and commercial river navigations (including the Norfolk Broads) are covered on the web site. Over 100 waterways have been covered to date and, eventually, every commercial waterway in the UK, whether navigable, derelict or under restoration will be described. In fact, several canal ventures which never saw a boat or even a drop of water are also included. The author of the site as walked most of the canals that he describes, research for the history sections has been collected from many books, magazine articles, the Internet and people who have had personal involvement with canals - for instance, working boatmen, lock keepers or as part of the restoration movement.

Can you succeed as a Victorian entrepreneur? A new decision making game in which you have to make a series of tough decisions as you learn about the era of the Industrial Revolution. At the end of the game you are told what your profits, based on your decisions, was likely to have been (worksheet included). This provides an original way for students to learn about the era of the Industrial Revolution.

Child Labour Simulation A historical simulation on child labour. Each student is given the name of a person involved in the debate over the issue of children working in textile factories in the early part of the 19th century. The characters are divided into eight different categories: Factory Owners: Supporting Child Labour, Factory Owners Opposing Child Labour, Campaigners Against Child Labour, Supporters of Child Labour, Doctors Opposing Child Labour, Doctors Supporting Child Labour, Child Workers: Girls and Child Workers: Boys. Each student then used the Internet to discover details of their character and their views on child labour. Each student writes a brief biography of their character and prepares a speech for a debate entitled: "Parliament should pass legislation making it illegal for children under the age of twelve to work in textile factories."

1833 Factory Act: As the Industrial Revolution in Britain gathered pace thousands of factories sprang up all over the country. There were no laws relating to the running of factories as there had been no need for them before. As a result, dangerous machinery was used that could, and frequently did, cause serious injuries to workers. Perhaps one of the worst features of this new industrial age was the use of child labour. People began to realize how bad these conditions were in many factories and started to campaign for improvements. There was a lot of resistance from factory owners who felt it would slow down the running of their factories and make their products more expensive. Many people also did not like the government interfering in their lives. In 1833 the Government passed a Factory Act to improve conditions for children working in factories. In 1833 This excellent website provides information and student activities on the first of many Acts passed by Parliament that dealt with working conditions and hours.

Inventions of the Industrial Revolution: This excellent BBC website enables the visitor to discover the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution through animated models. Inventions covered include The Rocket, the Beam Engine, the Blast Furnace, a Paddle Steamship, a Spinning Mill and Winding Gear.

Durham Mining Museum: This website contains a collection of teaching materials on the mining industry in Durham. This includes extensive materials from The Victoria History of the Counties of England - Durham (1907) and The History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham (1894). There are also colliery maps and several articles including those on Safety Lamps, Sinking Machines, Coal - Its Origin, Mining Occupations and the 1838 Huskar Disaster.

The Workhouse: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the parish workhouse in Britain was a place where - often in return for board and lodging - employment was provided for the destitute. Parish workhouses were often just ordinary local houses, rented for the purpose. This website is devoted to the history of the workhouse and includes sections on the Poor Laws, 1601 Act, 1834 Act, Poor Law Unions, Workhouse Life, Workhouse Memories and a Workhouse Tour.

Power, Politics and Protest: Produced by the Public Record Office this website explores the political changes that took place in Britain during the 19th century. It contains nine different investigations that tell the story of the political history of Britain between 1800 and 1914 (Radicals, Luddites, Captain Swing, Peterloo, Great Reform Act, the Chartists, Reform After 1850, White Slavery and the Suffragettes). The sources in these investigations have been chosen to highlight the role of important individuals, the broad pattern of changes and the different causes of those changes.

The Peterloo Massacre: In this activity, produced by Learnall, students use the Spartacus Historical Encyclopaedia to investigate the tragic events surrounding the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. After investigating the causes, course and consequence of the conflict, students are put into groups representing the different types of people involved (Ordinary people of Manchester, Radicals politicians, Magistrates, Soldiers of the Yeomanry, National Politicians).They then use the site to produce a newspaper report from the point of view of their characters, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of biased reporting. Homework and extension tasks are provided, and the entire lesson is closely targeted at fulfilling key National Curriculum Objectives. Students and teachers wishing to make use of the LearnAll site have to first get themselves registered on the site and thereby gain a username and password.

Coalmining in Castlecomer: This website is the culmination of two years work by a small Primary School in researching and presenting an area of Local History that has captured the imagination and interest of people for decades. An integral part of the project was the use of Information Technology and to demonstrate how such technology, can not just be used in the classroom, but can enhance the delivery of the curriculum and in particular make it more interesting for the children. The project resulted in the production of a Website, a Compact Disc and a 320 page Book on Coalmining in the locality. Coalmining, of course, was a way of life for so many for so long in this area. A large model of one of the mines was also constructed.

Coal Mining History Resource: Ian Winstanley's excellent website includes the National Database of Mining Deaths and Injuries in Great Britain. At present it contains over 90,000 names from 1850 to 1914. It also includes the complete transcript of the 1842 Royal Comission Report, on the working conditions of children and young persons in the coalfields of Great Britain. The website also has details of over 1,000 indidual mining disasters in which five or more lives have been lost (1640 to 1978).

Women and the Pits: "I go down between three and four in the morning and sometimes I have done by five o'clock in the afternoon, and sometimes sooner." These are the words of Rosa Lucas, a coalminer at Lamberhead Green in 1841. Before the passing of the Coal Mining Act of 1842 women could work down the mines in Great Britain. This website includes sections on 'Women Working Underground and On the Surface', 'The Coal Mining Act of 1842: Effects on Women' and 'Female Mining Deaths and Injuries'. A copy of T. M. Eddy's 1854 article 'Women in the British Mines' can also be found on this website.

Durham Miner Project: Funded by the Durham County Council, the New Opportunities Fund, the Learning and Skills Council, European Social Fund, and the North East Museums Libraries & Archives Council, this project involves groups of local people researching their local mining history. As the project progresses, research collected will be added to the website. The Durham Miner Project is in the process of setting up research groups all over the county. If you would like to develop a group in your area, or just want to find out where your local groups are, please contact the Durham Miner Project website.

Trindon Grange Disaster: For three days between 19 and 21 February 1882, the people of Trimdon Grange and Kelloe buried 74 people. Some were buried in mass graves. Others were laid to rest in a cemetery a few miles away. Most people in Trimdon Grange buried someone in their family. Many of the dead left behind young families. What caused so many people to die? Was it disease, famine, illness or murder? This website provides access to a collection of primary sources that enables students to discover what happened at Trindon Grange in February 1882.

Cotton Times: A broad-based site covering the Industrial Revolution from several angles - the inventors and the entrepreneurs, the radicals, reformers and health pioneers, and most importantly, the workers. All the major developments are covered, but the accent is on the leading role played by the Lancashire cotton industry in driving the revolution forward.

British Trade Unions: An encyclopedia of the British Trade Union movement in Britain between 1700 and 1945. The website includes entries on important events and issues (8), labour journals and newspapers (16), major trade unions (8), trade union legislation (12) and biographies of trade union leaders (42). The text within each entry is linked to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hyper-linked so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper and organization that produced the material.

Chartism Encyclopaedia : The People's Charter was drawn up by William Lovett and Francis Place in 1838 and included a political programme of six points: universal male suffrage, no property qualifications for Members of Parliament; annual parliaments; constituencies of equal size, payment of MPs; and vote by secret ballot. This website is an account of the most important working-class political movement in Britain in the nineteenth century and includes sections on Chartist Biographies, Chartist Tactics, Chartist Newspapers and Parliamentary Reform Acts.

Chartism: The People's Charter, drafted in 1838 by William Lovett, was at the heart of a radical campaign for reform in Britain. This website produced by Glenn Everett, Associate Professor of English at the University of Tennessee, and part of the Victorian Web Project, provides an overview of the Chartist movement and a list of links to other useful websites on the subject.

Peterloo Massacre: After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, the government introduced legislation - the 'Corn Laws' - to limit the amount of cheap wheat that could be imported, so that the price of cereals and bread would be kept artificially high and so protect farmers' profits. In 1816, a bad harvest pushed prices so high that there were strikes and food riots all over the country. The Corn Laws fuelled the clamour for parliamentary reform. Again, rather than make any concessions, the authorities tried to suppress the anger of those who had no legitimate way of making their demands. The Corn Laws and electoral reform were the main issues to be discussed at a meeting organised at St Peter's Field in Manchester on 16 August 1819. This website supports Channel 4's documentary on what became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

Oral History Archive: The East Midlands Oral History Archive is a lottery funded project dedicated to encouraging the use of oral history by community groups and schools. The East Midlands group has recently opened an online exhibition on the hosiery industry in Leicestershire. There are sections on Yarn Preparation, Knitting, Making Up, Finishing, Homeworking and Industrial Relations.

James Prescott Joule: In a series of experiments in the middle of the 19th century, James Prescott Joule helped to show the relations between electricity, mechanical, and chemical effects. This research led to the discovery of the first law of thermodynamics. This website, developed by the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester, explores aspects of the work of James Joule. This is a pilot for a much larger site which will look at science in the Manchester area, past and present, focussing on the people involved. It will feature the work of John Dee, John Dalton, James Joule and Ernest Rutherford, as well as looking at other locally important areas of scientific activity, putting them into a wider social and economic context.

Women in the Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution in part was fueled by the economic necessity of many women, single and married, to find waged work outside their home. Women mostly found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece work shops. They also worked in the coal mines. For some, the Industrial Revolution provided independent wages, mobility and a better standard of living. For the majority, however, factory work in the early years of the 19th century resulted in a life of hardship. This lesson, produced by Lyn Reese, concentrates on the testimonies collected by Parliamentary commissions who began to investigate the industrial employment of women and children in the early 1840s.

Robert Owen Museum: Robert Owen, the son of a saddler and ironmonger, became one of the most successful mill owners of the Industrial Revolution with a reputation as the producer of fine cotton. However, it was not as a successful and respected businessman that he left his mark on history, but as one of the most prominent social reformers of the period, a pioneer of modern British socialism and a source of inspiration to the co-operative and trade union movements. The Robert Owen Museum includes a detailed biography of this remarkable man.

Red Clydeside: During the period between 1910 and 1932 the city of Glasgow was witness to an unparalleled wave of working class protest and political agitation which challenged the forces of capitalism and also, on occasion, directly challenged the state itself. The events and people who shaped this period forged an enduring legacy which still remains part of the political and social fabric of the city to the present day, and which is known quite simply as Red Clydeside. This turbulent period of industrial, social and political upheaval reinforced Glasgow's reputation as the centre of working class struggle in Britain in the early years of the twentieth century. This website provides access to digital copies of original source materials from the Red Clydeside period, as one of the digital collections of the Glasgow Digital Library.

Welsh Political Archive: This website presents social and political campaigning in Wales during the twentieth century through the use of digitised images of original documents, photographs and sound and video files. The campaigns voice the rights of various groups, for example the right of women to vote, or the right of miners and quarrymen to fair wages and decent working conditions. The material has been selected from various collections in the National Library of Wales. The material can be accessed directly from the site map, the search facility, or the time-line. It is also possible to access the material thematically. The site is divided into six themes - The Ballot Box, Labour Struggles, War and Peace, The Welsh Language, Devolution and The Water Industry.

Economic History Services: This website includes a collection of essays on twentieth-century economic history. The purpose of these essays has been to survey the works that have had the most influence on the field of economic history and to highlight the intellectual accomplishments of twentieth-century economic historians. Each review essay outlines the work's argument and findings, discusses the author's methods and sources, and examines the impact that the work has had since its publication. Other features on this website includes "What Was the Interest Rate Then?" that looks at the short and long-term annual interest rate series for the United Kingdom and the United States from as far back as the 18th century. Here is a place where you can ask questions of comparative values covering purchasing power, interest rate, and other variables between the past and today.

19th Century City: Phillip Mallett is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of St Andrews. He is also the creator of an impressive website on the 19th Century City. The material is organized under the headings: Population, Railways & Transport, the Great Exhibition, Housing & Health, Work, Education, Law & Order, Fashion, Architecture, Women, Wives and Widows.

The Industrial Revolution: From boiling a kettle to working in an office, much of the modern world is shaped by the achievements of the Industrial Revolution. This six-part Open University/BBC series presented by Dan Cruickshank uncovers the scientific, technological and political changes of the 19th century that continue to impact on our lives today. From the world's first jigsaw portraying the infant Empire, to Stephenson's Rocket, to the making of modern medicine, urban living and the innovations of war, the series shows how - from 1760 to 1840 - the key ideas, principles and technologies which drive the modern world were developed. Through the stories of men and women who made it happen, the programmes uncover the inventive power, the sweeping vision and the astonishing ingenuity of this heroic and pioneering age. You can explore how the Industrial Revolution changed the landscape of Britain with the website's interactive Changing Landscape.

Tribute to the Rhondda: This website provides a short socio-economic history of the Rhondda Valleys during the period 1800 to 1950 when Coal was King. The material is organized under the following headings: Facts & Figures, General Items, Living Conditions, Miners' Diseases, Photographs, Pit Ponies, Tonypandy Riots, Transport, Visitors and Working Conditions.

Revolutionary Players: This project, supported by the New Opportunities Fund focusing on the history of the Industrial Revolution in the West Midlands in Britain between the years 1700 and 1830. The region became internationally significant for achievements in science, industry, art and culture. The website contains images of many resources from museums, archives end libraries representing the history of the period. There are four main ways of accessing this material: Time, Place, People and Theme. You can also read Articles on historical subjects, enter the Digital Library of primary sources, explore a Gallery of images and create your own Album of items from the site.

 

 

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