levo

Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Working conditions in factories, mines and foundries

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Recall questions on hours and factory discipline, the dangers of machinery, child and female labour, back-to-back housing, and the life expectancy figures.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What dangers did factory work involve?

Key term

What were living conditions like in the industrial towns?

Numbers

What were the health consequences of urban conditions?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What were working hours like in early factories?

    Model answer

    Commonly twelve to sixteen hours a day, six days a week, governed by the clock and the machine rather than by daylight or the pace of the task.

  2. 2

    Why was factory discipline resented?

    Model answer

    Fines for lateness, talking or opening a window, constant supervision and the loss of control over the pace of work were new to people used to domestic or craft production.

  3. 3

    What dangers did factory work involve?

    Model answer

    Unguarded machinery causing crushed hands and scalpings, cotton dust causing lung disease, deafening noise, and heat and damp in the mills.

  4. 4

    Why were children employed in factories?

    Model answer

    They were cheap, small enough to crawl under machinery, and thought more docile; pauper apprentices were supplied in numbers by parishes in the early years.

  5. 5

    What conditions did children face in the mines?

    Model answer

    Trapping doors alone in the dark for twelve hours, or hauling corves through low seams; the 1842 Commission's illustrations of this caused public outrage.

  6. 6

    What did the Mines Act of 1842 prohibit?

    Model answer

    Underground work by women and girls and by boys under ten, following the Children's Employment Commission report, though its single inspector was not allowed to go underground.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.