Britain: Power and the people, c1170 to the present day
What's covered
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Key facts
Challenging authority and feudalism
Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 under baronial pressure.
Challenging royal authority
The Bill of Rights (1689) established that the monarch could not suspend laws, levy taxes, or keep a standing army in peacetime without Parliament's consent — confirming Parliamentary supremacy.
Equality and rights
The 1968 Ford sewing machinists' strike at Dagenham — women machinists striking for equal pay — pressured Employment Secretary Barbara Castle to broker a settlement and helped trigger the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
Reform and reformers
Labour won the 1945 general election by a landslide because voters wanted the welfare state promised by the 1942 Beveridge Report, despite Churchill's personal wartime popularity.
Chartism
Chartism failed in the short term because Parliament rejected all three petitions, the movement split between moral-force and physical-force wings, and economic recovery after 1848 sapped its membership.
Causes of Industrialisation
Coal was central to the Industrial Revolution because it fuelled the steam engines that drove factories, pumped mines and powered railways — the energy source for large-scale production.
Corn Laws and Free Trade
The Corn Laws taxed imported grain to keep prices high; their repeal in 1846 let cheap foreign grain into Britain, lowering bread prices for the urban poor.
Factory Acts and Social Reform
The Factory Act of 1833 banned factory work for children under nine, limited 9–13-year-olds to eight hours a day, and created the first factory inspectors to enforce it.
Factory Conditions and Urbanisation
Early Victorian factories were dangerous: unguarded machinery caused frequent injury, shifts ran 12–16 hours, and very young children worked alongside adults for low wages.
Railways and Transport
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, was the first inter-city steam passenger railway and the model for Britain's railway boom.
Sample questions
A taste of the 52 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What were the key factors that made Britain the first country to industrialise?
- ✓Abundant coal and iron, access to capital from the slave trade, colonial markets, a stable government, and inventors such as James Watt (steam engine) and Arkwright (spinning frame)
- •Britain industrialised first because of superior geography: island status protected industry from foreign invasion that disrupted continental rivals
- •Royal patronage was decisive: George III personally funded Arkwright, Watt and Newcomen through the Royal Academy of Arts
- •The key factor was population size — Britain had the largest population in Europe by 1750, providing both workers and consumers
In what year was Magna Carta sealed at Runnymede?
- •1066
- ✓1215
- •1216
- •1295
What were the main causes of the English Civil War (1642–1651)?
- •A foreign invasion — France and Spain backed Parliament against the king
- •A land dispute — Parliament wanted to redistribute noble estates
- •Charles I's attempt to abolish the Church of England and impose Catholicism
- ✓Disputes over taxation, religion, and royal power between Charles and Parliament
What did the Chartists demand in the People's Charter of 1838?
- •Chartists called for the complete abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic on the French model
- •Chartists demanded a shorter working day, a national minimum wage, and the abolition of child labour in factories
- •The Charter demanded the repeal of the Corn Laws, lower bread prices, and the end of the Poor Law workhouse system
- ✓The vote for all adult men, secret ballot, equal electoral districts, no property qualification for MPs, payment for MPs, and annual Parliaments
Why did the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 matter to industrial workers?
- •Repeal was important mainly to farmers — it had almost no effect on urban workers, whose wages were far above the bread-price threshold
- •The Corn Laws had banned all factory production of grain-based foods; their repeal allowed factory-baked bread for the first time
- ✓The Corn Laws kept bread prices artificially high by taxing imported grain; repeal allowed cheap foreign grain into Britain, reducing the price of bread for the urban poor
- •The Corn Laws taxed factory goods rather than corn — 'corn' was an 18th-century term for manufactured products; their repeal freed trade entirely
What did the 1965 Race Relations Act make unlawful in Britain?
- •All immigration from Commonwealth countries unless migrants could prove direct ancestry to a person born in mainland Britain.
- •Racial discrimination in housing and employment, the two areas where 1950s and 1960s Caribbean migrants had reported most discrimination.
- ✓Racial discrimination in public places such as pubs, hotels and theatres, and the use of openly racist material that incited hatred.
- •Trade union membership for non-white workers in nationalised industries, a measure repealed only after the 1968 Act extended the law.
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