Social and Economic Reform in Britain

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Social and Economic Reform in Britain
Mr. Divett
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Important Reforms

• In the early and mid 1800s Parliament passed
  important new laws
• Free trade- end to tariffs on trade between
  countries. Based off of the idea of laissez
  faire.
• Some British tariffs were repealed in the 1820s.
• The Corn Laws remained, these were heavy tariffs
  on imported grain.
• Free traders called on Parliament to repeal the
  Corn Laws.

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Free Trade
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End of Corn Laws

• Parliament repealed the Corn Laws in 1846.
• In the late 1800s, economic hardship led Britain
  and other European countries to reinstate tariffs.

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Corn Laws
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Campaign Against Slavery

• In 1807 Britain became the first European power
  to abolish slave trading.
• This was due to Enlightened ideas about the evils
  of slavery, as well as pressure from the
  abolition movement.
• This did not actually ban slavery.
• In 1833, Parliament passed a law banning slavery.

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British Abolition Movement
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Crime and Punishment

• In the early 1800s more than 200 crimes were
  punishable by death.
• The following were capital offenses
• Murder
• Shoplifting
• Sheep stealing
• Impersonating an army veteran
• Some juries would not convict criminals because
  the punishment was so harsh.

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The Death Sentence Being Pronounced
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Executions

• Executions occurred in public.
• A hanging would often draw a crowd of thousands
  of spectators.
• Criminals did not receive a proper burial, their
  bodies were often given to medical colleges for
  dissection.

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Public Execution in Manchester
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Changes to Punishment

• Capital offenses were reduced.
• By 1850 the only crimes punishable by death were
• Murder
• Piracy
• Treason
• Arson
• Parliament ended public hangings in 1868.
• Imprisonment due to debt was also outlawed.

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Penal Colonies

• Petty criminals were transported to penal
  colonies, or settlements for convicts.
• These colonies were set up in the new British
  territory of Australia.

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Australian Penal Colonies
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Victories for the Working Class

• Working conditions were dangerous during the
  early industrial age.
• Parliament started to pass laws to regulate
  conditions in factories and mines.
• 1842- mine owners were forbidden to employ women
  or children under the age of 10.
• 1847- women and children were limited to a
  10-hour work day.

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British Industrial Revolution
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Victories for the Working Class

• Other laws that were passed in the late 1800s
• Regulation of safety conditions
• Enforcement by safety inspectors
• Minimum wage
• Maximum work hours

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The Growth of Labor Unions

• Labor unions used to be outlawed during the early
  Industrial Revolution.
• Unions became legal in 1825, but going on strike
  remained illegal until later.
• Union membership exploded between 1890 and 1914.
• Unions improved the lives of the working class
  by
• Demanding higher wages
• Demanding shorter hours

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Labour Unions
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Later Reforms

• Both parties enacted reform to benefit the
  working class between the late 1800s and the
  early 1900s.
• Disraeli sponsored laws to
• Improve public health
• Improve worker housing
• Gladstone pushed
• Free elementary education for all children
• To open government jobs based on merit, not birth
  or wealth

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Fabian Society

• Socialist society
• Founded in 1883
• Promoted gradual change through legal means, not
  violence.

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Labour Party

• Formed in 1900
• Grew in power
• Became one of Britain's two main parties by the
  1920s

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Social Welfare Laws

• Britain began passing them in the early 1900s.
• They protected the poor and disadvantaged.
• These laws were modeled after those of Bismark in
  Germany.
• They provided accident, health, and unemployment
  insurance
• This was an argument against socialism.

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Women's Suffrage

• Emmeline Pankhurst was a suffragist.
• She promoted suffrage through radical means
  including
• Interupting speakers in Parliament with Votes
  for women!
• Organized massive public demonstrations.
• Violence Breaking windows, burning buildings.
• Hunger strikes.
• In 1918 Parliament granted the right to vote to
  women over 30.

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Womens Suffrage
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Instability in Ireland

• Britain had been conquering Ireland in the 1100.
• Ireland was colonized in the 1600s.
• Absentee landlords owned large estates but did
  not live in them.
• Irish peasants paid rent to landlords in England.
• They also (even though they were Catholic) had to
  pay tithes to the Church of England.

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Irish Nationalism

• The Irish resented British influence and rejected
  British rule.
• In the 1800s Irish nationalist campaigned for
  freedom and justice.
• Daniel The Liberator O'Connell organized the
  Irish Catholic League to demand fairness.
• In 1829 Parliament passed the Catholic
  Emancipation.
• This let Irish vote and hold political office,
  but not enjoy freedoms like speaking their
  language.

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Daniel OConnell
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Irish Potato Famine

• Under British rule, three quarters of Irish
  farmland was used to grow crops to export.
• In 1845, a disease destroyed the potato crop.
• Tenants were evicted because the had no money.
• Britain continued to ship what was left away, and
  about one million men, women, and children died
  of starvation or disease.
• Many immigrated to the U.S. or Canada.

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Irish Potato Famine
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Struggle for Home Rule

• The Irish famine left the Irish with distrust for
  the British.
• In 1850 they created the Fenian Brotherhood to
  liberate Ireland from British rule by force.
• In 1870 a leader was chosen, Charles Stewart
  Parnell.
• He pressed Parliament for home rule, or local
  self government.

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Home Rule at Last

• In 1914 passed a home rule bill.
• It delayed the law until 1921 when southern
  Ireland became independent.

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