What's covered
Key facts
Power, factories and industry
Britain led the Industrial Revolution because coal, capital, colonies, canal networks and a stable government coincided.
Society and reform
The 1848 Public Health Act was passed at the urging of Edwin Chadwick, whose sanitary campaign blamed filth and bad air (miasma) in crowded towns for disease; the link between cholera and polluted water was shown by John Snow in 1854.
Power, factories and industry
Edmund Cartwright's power loom (1785) revolutionised cloth-making by mechanising weaving.
Society and reform
19th-century industrial cities were very unhealthy because overcrowding, poor sanitation and polluted water spread diseases like cholera.
Power, factories and industry
Coal was central to the Industrial Revolution because it fuelled the steam engines used in factories and on the railways.
Society and reform
Edwin Chadwick's 1842 report on the labouring poor exposed slum overcrowding, poor sanitation and disease in industrial cities.
Power, factories and industry
Vast quantities of coal were needed for steam power.
Society and reform
Young children worked long hours in 19th-century British factories and mines.
Power, factories and industry
Factories concentrated workers and machines together in one building, replacing the dispersed domestic system.
Society and reform
The 1833 Factory Act outlawed the employment of children under 9 in textile factories and limited hours for older children.
Sample questions
A taste of the 24 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What invention by Edmund Cartwright revolutionised cloth-making?
- •The flying shuttle
- ✓The power loom
- •The spinning jenny
- •The steam locomotive
What problem did Edwin Chadwick's 1842 report on the labouring poor expose?
- •Mass illiteracy among the labouring classes
- ✓Slum overcrowding, poor sanitation and disease
- •The poor's lack of access to political pamphlets
- •Unsafe working conditions in the British army
Why was coal central to the Industrial Revolution?
- ✓It fuelled steam engines used in factories and trains
- •It was exported to fund factory construction
- •It was the main building material for factories
- •It was used as currency in industrial towns
What argument pushed Parliament to pass the 1848 Public Health Act?
- ✓Chadwick's case that filth in crowded towns caused disease
- •MPs themselves caught cholera in large numbers
- •Only wealthy London districts were affected
- •Snow had proved cholera spread through water
Which 1825 line was the world's first public steam railway?
- •Great Western Railway
- •Liverpool and Manchester Railway
- •London and Birmingham Railway
- ✓Stockton and Darlington Railway
Which 1875 act required local councils to provide clean water and sewerage?
- •Clean Water and Housing Act
- •Municipal Corporations Act
- ✓Public Health Act
- •Sanitary Reform Act
Try it for four weeks. Free.
One school. Unlimited classes. No card limit. No teacher limit. If your students aren't practising daily by the end of the trial, you owe us nothing.