Bradford before the Industrial Revolution Clare Anderson

Introduction This presentation will tell you about what Bradford was like before the industrial revolution and how it changed from being a very undeveloped town to an industrial city. The richer people of Bradford used to have more power than working class people. They believed that there was a big difference between them and people who had to work to survive.

Bradford before the Industrial Revolution Very poor living conditions for wool combers, these conditions included no sewage control The average death for people was fourteen years old. The population was rising and it was becoming harder to keep up with the demand for produce Wage prices were decreasing rapidly Children were unhealthy and prone to diseases

People received no education as they had to earn an income Transport is not very effective and has an limited cargo space People were having to rely on the government for necessities There was no sewage systems of any sort as people couldn’t afford to pay for them Trade was limited to the surrounding area where the produce was made, as transport couldn’t carry much in a load

Why people think the industrial revolution happened when it did… ….Because the population was growing ….Because Britain had plenty of raw materials ….Because Britain’s farmers grew more food ….Because Britain’s Empire and overseas trade was growing ….Because Britain’s transport was improved ….Because there were new ideas and new inventions

There are many reasons suggesting why the industrial revolution happened there are contradicting evidence suggesting that these were and weren’t the reasons.

Disease Disease was a common accurance among people in the in Bradford. As people were inhabited very closely to one and other disease was spread very quickly. It became very hard for a family to survive if they didn’t have income and many died

Transport Transport at the time before the industrial revolution was very limiting it many consisted of a horse and cart. The main problems with this was that this transport could only travel a very short distance and then the horse needed time to rest. They also were unable to carry a large amount or a very amount which made trade with places other than the land surrounding where the produce was made an impossibility. Which meant that the the workers couldn’t earn the maximum amount of pay in which they would earn if the transport was able to be moved further distances.

The Machines The machines were the main items which happened in the industrial revolution. They helped massively in developing Bradford and the surrounding areas. They were useful for many things such as Transport Factories Lifting heavy items which would otherwise have been impossible

Other than the many good aspects there was also many bad points. Although the machines made the employers of the factories richer because they could make twice the amount of produce the workers did in half the time it put many workers out of work because the factories no longer needed them. The workers were already poor and the sudden blow to their income made surviving almost impossible however the workers which were allowed to stay in the factories got a sudden pay increase because the factories were able to make more produce and were able to transport it further than they ever could before.