Pitt to Peel
During the 18th century, Britain acquired sufficient financial wealth. At the same time, the British
population was undergoing rapid growth. In 1711, the population of England and Wales was
estimated at 6 million, and by 1791 it had risen to 8.3 million, and by 1821 to 13.9 million.
As industry grew, young children were able to earn valuable wages, so they became a valuable
economic asset and the average family grew in size due to a rising birth rate.
Population:
• Increased very rapidly
• Increase in food and clothes produce led to a decrease in infant mortality
• The agricultural revolution brought people into Britain, but this increased pressure on the land
to feed this growing population
• The death rate was falling as advances were being made in medicine and hygiene
Agriculture:
• Society was predominantly rural, agrarian and based on 18 th century values
• The massive scaled and pace of agrarian and industrial change brought painful consequences
• Enclosure of arable land led to better use of the land
• Selective breeding increased quality and quantity of meat and dairy produce
• Turnips and crops like clover ended the need for fallow land
• Cheaper iron-making led to major developments in ploughs, though it was not until after 1850
that agricultural machines were widely used
• Increased area of land for cultivation due to reclamation
Industrial:
• Coal and miners brought new fuels
• In the textile industry, cotton was more hygienic, easier to wash and housed fewer bugs than
wool
• Cheaper iron-making, more machinery and technological advances
• Huge pool of labour to encourage sharing of ideas but there were poor wages and working
conditions
• Massive growth of industrial towns especially in the Midlands and the North
• Steam power
• Factories
What are the implications of the economic changes on society?
• New middle classes
• Growing working class including class consciousness
• Loss of patriarchal community
• Wage dependence – problem in times of unemployment as prices high
• New urban centers – slum conditions and disease, problems of representation in Parliament
The Working Population:
• Earned wages through manual work either through:
• Agriculture:
Laborers
North/South divide
Social hierarchy
Based on skill
• Industrial:
, Hierarchy based on skill
Artisans
Skilled factory workers
Women inferior
Handloom weavers and framework knitters
Creation of new skills and jobs
Economic fluctuations
The Middle Class:
• Needed to earn a living but did so using their brain
• City bankers and large industrialists
• Lower middle class composed of:
Smaller manufacturers
Shopkeepers
Tailors
Local brewers
A growing number of clerks
Schoolteachers
Managers
Accountants
Pharmacists
Engineers
The Landed Classes:
• Landowners
• Gentry
• Owner-occupiers/freeholders
How did Britain’s political system work?
• British constitution seen as a model – House of Commons, House of Lords, Government and
Monarchy
• The King could choose who was in the government
• The Government consist of the Cabinet, Chancellor, Ministers of Trade etc. and was made up of
people from the Houses of Lords and Commons (Lords had a greater role in politics)
• Until the American War of Independence and the French Revolution which called for change in
the political system
Monarch and Lords in 1780s:
• Monarch could call parliament and elect a Prime Minister
• He could influence the general election and who would become an MP
• He could make someone a Lord, it was good to stay on the favorable side of the King
• Different types of people in the House of Lords = Earls, Dukes, Bishops – good representation of
the landing class, backward looking, liked tradition and resistant to change and innovation,
conservative
House of Commons:
• Sons of peers compromised around 1/5 of seats
• Industrialists bought themselves into Parliament with profits from their trade
• About 100 MPs came from the professions (c. 30 barristers, 55 army officers, 25 navy officers)
• About 200 substantial land owners
• Often owed their seats to patrons in the Lords
,• MPs worked for status and power instead of money (only people with private income i.e. very
well off were MPs)
Types of Members:
1. Counties:
o 40 counties represented by 80 MPs
o Expensive to fight the elections
o By-elections for MPs accepting ministerial positions
o Need income of 600+ pounds for land to qualify
2. Boroughs:
o 203 boroughs returning 405 MPs
o Roughly half could be bought
o Need income of 300+ pounds
3. Universities:
o Oxford and Cambridge both returned 2 MPs
Elections:
• Septennial Act 1715
• Elections at least every 7 years
• And on the death of the Monarch
• And at the monarch’s choosing – advised by the government
The Electorate (1780s):
• England and Wales – 435K people out of 7.5m could vote
• Scotland and Ireland - <1% of population of 6m could vote
• All women, men under 21, Roman Catholics or Dissenters were universally excluded from voting
Who could vote?:
Counties:
• 2 MPs to parliament
• All 40 shilling freeholders vote
• Larger electorates than boroughs
• More democratic than boroughs
Boroughs:
• 2 MPs to parliament
• Situation confused as to who had franchise
• More than 40% of English boroughs had electorates of less than 100
• 2/3rds of boroughs had electorates below 500 people
• “Rotten Boroughs” - a borough that has scarcely any electorate at all. In Old Sarum, 7
people voted for two seats. Was a route in for young and talented MPs but meant that new
cities like Manchester were poorly represented.
• “Pocket Boroughs” were wealthy landowners that secured their support of candidates in
elections. In 1800 about half of all MPs owed their seats to such patronage
• Only 1/3 of seats were contested – not many people had the money or land, and there was
no point putting yourself forward against someone who was sure to win
Impact of economic changes:
New centers of production/population
, • Lancaster from small population to center of textile production – In 1831 population of 1.3m
but only 14 MPs
• Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Bradford had no MPs of their own (represented by
county MPs)
• Contrast to Cornwall which had 340,000 people and 42MPs
What was the political situation in 1783?
Parties:
• Complicated: working out election results, vagueness of party lines, uncontested elections,
independent candidates
• Loose and shifting
• Personal politics
• Continual dilemma of having ministers who
1) supported the party
2) had the confidence of the King
• But support for Whigs or Tories increased
WHIGS TORIES
Origin of name Whigamore Toraidhe (in Irish)
Origin of grouping/party The Whigs, under Lord The party traces its origins
Shaftesbury's leadership, back to faction "Tory" political
wished to exclude the Duke of party members, who were
York from the throne due to supporters of James Stuart,
his Catholicism, his favouring Duke of York, later King James
of monarchical absolutism and II & VII in succession to the
his connections to France. British throne during
They believed the heir the exclusion crisis of 1678 to
presumptive, if allowed to 1681. The name was originally
inherit the throne, would meant as an insult by some, as
endanger the Protestant the word Tory meant a type of
religion, liberty, and property. bandit, or outlaw.
Underlying beliefs (role of The Whigs were defenders of The term Tory was applied to
monarch; religion; parliamentary government those who upheld the rights of
parliamentary reform etc.) and accountability of ministers the crown, resisted the
to parliament. They were in removal of disabilities from
favour of religious toleration Roman Catholics and
and became supporters of Dissenters, and opposed
moderate parliamentary parliamentary reform. Under
reform in the 1820s. Sir Robert Peel, the term
Conservative replaced Tory.
Position in 1783 Large Have lost the argument and
lacks in young and new
politicians, as they were seen
as being backward thinking.
They mislead the war with
America for independence.
Role of the King:
What was the relationship between the Monarchy and Parliament?
MONARCHY PARLIAMENT
• The King chose his own ministers • The King could not rule without Parliament.
