The Birth of Industrial Britain

The Industrial Revolution had a profound and lasting effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain. The Birth of Industrial Britain examines the impact of early industrialisation on the lives of ordinary people in the century before 1850.

Extensive population growth, the rise of large industrial urban centres, significant changes in working practices and fluctuations in employment placed strains on society. Some aspects of social change stemmed from the adjustment to a capitalist economy in the process of industrialisation. But Kenneth Morgan here also argues that many aspects of social change, especially in leisure, education and criminal justice, occurred as a result of the changing attitudes of the educated middle class towards the working class.

Written in a clear and accessible manner, the book

- documents the harsh existence of many workers during the Industrial Revolution

- explains how and why popular protest occurred

- describes the provision of poor relief for those out of work

-  considers why fundamental social change in this period was not accompanied by major political change.

This fully updated second edition, revised to take account of significant recent research, provides a comprehensive range of pedagogical material to support the text, including a Glossary of terms, people and parliamentary acts, and a new Chronology and Whos Who section. The Birth of Industrial Britain provides an essential up-to-date synthesis of the impact of the Industrial Revolution on British society for students at all levels.

Kenneth Morgan is Professor of History at Brunel University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His books include Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century (1993) and Slavery and the British Empire (2007).