19th Century Cities and
Town in the UK
What Were Cities and Towns like during the Industrial
Revolution?
Objective
To understand the conditions of cities and towns in
the 19th century.
Starter
In 1847, 40 people were found to be sharing a room in a house in Liverpool.
True
Night soil workers collected rubbish from the streets.
False
Most houses had inside toilets.
False
In Darlington people drank rainwater from a barrel containing a dead baby.
True
The average age that people lived to in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution was 17.
True
Introduction
As enclosure and technical developments in farming had reduced the need
for people to work on farmland, many people moved to the cities to get
accommodation and a job.
Furthermore, the advancement in the factory system had also displaced
many people out of their traditional livelihood and lifestyle.
As a result, the Industrial Revolution witnessed a huge growth in the size of
British cities. In 1695, the population of Britain was estimated to be 5.5
million. By 1801, the year of the first census, it was 9.3 million and by 1841,
15.9 million. This represents a 60% growth rate in just 40 years.
These cities, however, were not prepared for such an influx in such a short
period of time!
As a result, cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester etc. (all vital
to the Industrial Revolution) suffered problems not witnessed anywhere else
in the world at this time.
So what were these
problems???
Use the next few slides of
sources to fill in the
following table in your
exercise book:
Life in 19th Century Towns
TOILETS
HOUSING
REFUSE COLLECTION
WATER & POLLUTION
There was no rubbish collection so most towns had a dung
heap that would grow and grow until it was eventually taken
away. Children would play in it.
Perhaps the worst type of
accommodation for factory workers
was a cellar. About 15,000 very poor
people lived in cellars in Manchester in
the 1840s. They were damp, cheerless
and dark. Very little fresh air came
into these cellars.
People had flocked into these towns
from the countryside. Towns seemed
to offer guaranteed work and good
wages; there was housing; there was
work for the children. What more
could a family want?
It was difficult to keep the damp
floors clean, especially since all their
rubbish had to be carried upstairs to
the street.
Night soil workers were paid to carry away human
sewage from the houses. They worked clearing
dung from the worst parts of the towns but,
because they were kept so busy, they would miss
out many places. Here the manure collected was
untouched.
There were no indoor toilets in most of the houses
and there was no running water inside either. The
toilets and water tap were in a courtyard, which was
shared by everyone around it. Children played here
and people threw their rubbish in here, as well.
In 1832 JP Kay, a local doctor, wrote a
book about living conditions. Kay found
that very many streets had piles of
rubbish and human refuse in them.
Many families shared a lavatory. In one town there were 33
lavatories for about 7000 people. Some houses had no lavatory at
all. In another town, 500 families were without a toilet. Most of the
sewage from these houses was either left in the street or thrown
onto a dung heap in the courtyard or into a nearby river.
A description of Jacob’s Island in
London in 1874.
We saw drains and sewers
emptying their filthy contents into
the river. We saw a whole row of
privies (toilets without doors),
used by men and women, built over
it. We heard bucket after bucket
of filth splash into it. Yet, as we
stood gazing in horror, we saw a
child lower a bucket into it to
collect water from the river.
The courtyard of a house
often contained a large dung
heap that might go on growing
until a merchant bought it and
carted it off. Sometimes, it
was in an empty room in one
of the houses instead.
There were heaps of rags,
bones, fish, rotten potatoes
and other things lying in the
street and in peoples’ houses.
The stench was sickening.
There was hardly any public
transport so; houses were
built close to the factories,
often by the factory owners
themselves.
Most houses in the 19th
century did not have an
inside toilet. They used an
earth closets instead. These
earth-closets were supposed
to be emptied regularly by
‘night-soil’ workers.
Unfortunately, earth closets
were not emptied regularly
so the contents often
overflowed.
Land and houses cost money
so the houses were built as
cheaply as possible.
Rows of terraces were built
back to back. It saved space
and materials. Houses were
built as cheaply as possible.
But after 1800 there just
weren’t enough houses to
cope with the increasing
population.
Presentation Task
Prepare a script and radio broadcast 3-5 MINUTES highlighting the problems facing 19th
century workers in Britain’s cities.
TOILET
HOUSING
THE LIFE OF CHILDREN
EDUCATION
REFUSE COLLECTION
WATER & POLLUTION
VIOLENCE AND OTHER SOCIAL PROBLEMS
ANYTHING ELSE YOU CONSIDER RELEVANT
http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/lifeduringindustrialrevolution.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/indrevo.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/health-and-housing-in-the-19thcentury/11058.html
Mark Scheme
Level
Description
A*
The student has presented the sources in excellent detail(s) and fully discussed the problems a 19th century
city in Britain faced.
A well structured presentation that uses a range of evidence from external sources (primary and secondary,
including diagrams and pictures) displaying the conditions of a 19th century city in Britain.
A
The student has made a very good attempt to explain the sources and how it shows the problems a 19th
century city in Britain faced.
A structured presentation that uses key evidences from the sources to support most of the points made.
B
The student have begun to discuss the importance of the sources by providing a description of the
problems a 19th century city in Britain faced.
The student has provided some structure in the presentation and is able to use evidences from the sources
to support the points they make; but they still need to develop their points more using explanation.
C
The students presentation lacks structure but does use limited evidence from the sources to support some
points made.
The student attributes limited references to the sources and does not fully address the problems a 19th
century city in Britain faced.