Here is a 6 sentence diary entry describing what life may have been like for a regular townsperson in the UK around 1750: Dear Diary, It has been a long day of work in the fields. Most days are spent toiling under the hot sun to grow what little food we can on our small plot of land. When work is done, I return home exhausted to my small cottage where my wife and children await. It is a struggle to provide for our family on the meager wages I earn. Illness and disease are ever-present threats, as is the possibility my children may not live to see adulthood. The future looks uncertain, but I take comfort knowing we are not alone in our hardship - most who

2. UK in 1750
Population: 11,000,000
Only 20% of people live or
work in cities.
About 80% of people work in
the countryside.
London is the only city with
more than 10,000 people.
Most people die in their mid
thirties, and many children die
in infancy.

3. UK in 1900
 Population: 40,000,000
 About 80% of people live or
work in cities.
 Only 20% of people work in
the countryside.
 London has a population on
6,500,000 and many cities
have populations of 650,000 to
1,000,000 people.
 People now live to about 45 or
50 years, but the infant death
rate is still high.

5. Thomas Gainsborough, ‘Landscape in Suffolk’; ca 1750

6. Thomas Gainsborough, ‘The Harvest Wagon’; 1767

7. Thomas Gainsborough, ‘The Cottage Door’; ca 1778

10. The Domestic System
• Britain was reliant on ‘cottage
industries’.
• Not a lot of surplus labour
available for industry – most
people are needed to work the
land.
• Small-scale production of
products like textiles.
• Families often lived and worked
in the one house.
• Industries are very small:
– Run out of peoples’ houses
– Products made by hand
– Usually just one family was
involved in manufacture of a
product
– Everything powered by hand,
animals windmills or water-
wheels.

12. Woollen fleece
delivered
Woollen cloth
collected by
merchant Fleece cleaned
and carded
How cloth
Thread woven into
cloth on loom was made in Wool spun on
the Domestic spinning wheels
System
Woollen thread Spun thread
given to weaver collected by
manufacturer
Spinner receives
payment

13. The Domestic System could only produce
goods in small quantities. As manufacture
was by hand, with items being made
individually, it was a slow process. With the
rapidly growing population of this period,
the Domestic System just would not have
been able to produce the amount of goods
required.

15. Innovation!
Date Inventor Machine Function
1733 John Kay Flying Shuttle Increased weaving speed on
hand looms
1764 James Hargreaves Spinning Spun several bobbins of thread at
Jenny once
1769 Richard Water Frame Produced thick strong thread at
Arkwright great speed
1779 Samuel Spinning Mule Increased supply of strong
Crompton thread
1787 Edmund Power Loom Increased weaving
Cartwright speed

16. Flying Shuttle
Spinning Jenny
Water Frame
Power Loom
Spinning Mule

18. Transport in 1750
• Roads were
HORRIBLE – it took
over two weeks to travel
from the top to the
bottom of the UK by
road.
• People needed to take
ships (via the ocean and,
later, canals) to move
quickly or to transport
goods.

19. Government in 1750
• The UK was a
constitutional monarchy
with a parliament.
• However, only wealthy
male landowners were
allowed to vote (about 5%
of the total population).
• The poor had no
representation in the
government and were
offered few protections
from authorities.

20. Write a diary entry of at least 6 sentences
in length where you explain what you
think life was like for a regular
townsperson during this time period.
Draw upon the information discussed in
this presentation and the relevant parts
of Topics 2.2 to 2.5 in your textbook.