The Industrial Revolution: Britain, 1770–1810

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a profound change swept across Britain. The rapid advance of technology increased industrial productivity to a level previously unimaginable. To support this new technology, people flocked from the countryside into the cities to take jobs in the factories. The movement caused a great deal of social unrest as technology replaced many of the old ways, and the populations of cities swelled far beyond the ability of the government to provide adequate housing and services. Discover more about the lives of those who lived in one of the greatest periods of social change in the history of Britain.