Industrial Britain 1745–1901, Year 8: more practice

The spinning jenny

HintIt multiplied what a single spinner could do.

The whyIt was invented in the mid-1760s and sped up spinning. It was small enough to use at home at first.

Manchester

HintIt lies in Lancashire, close to the Pennines.

The whyBy the mid-1800s Manchester was the centre of the world's cotton trade and had grown rapidly.

The Bridgewater Canal

HintIt was named after its owner.

The whyThe price of coal in Manchester fell sharply. Canals were soon built across Britain to move heavy goods more cheaply than by road.

Markets in which to sell them

HintThink about who bought what the factories made.

The whyBritain could sell cloth and metal goods across its empire, which encouraged more factories and more investment.

Pumping water out

HintFlooded mines were a huge problem.

The whyWatt later improved the engine's efficiency. Deeper mines meant more coal could be dug up.

John Snow

HintHe mapped where victims lived.

The whySnow showed that cholera spread through dirty water, not 'bad air'. The pump handle was removed and the outbreak slowed.

Joseph Bazalgette

HintHe designed sewers that carried waste away from the Thames.

The whyHis system, parts of which are still used today, greatly reduced cholera in London.

Trappers

HintThe word comes from the doors, called traps.

The whySome were as young as five or six. They worked long hours in the dark, sometimes for 12 hours at a time.

10

HintThe age is a round number.

The whyThe Act followed a report by a commission that shocked the public with accounts and drawings of children working underground.

Rocket

HintThink of something that shoots upwards fast.

The whyRocket pulled a carriage at around 30 miles an hour and proved steam locomotives could run a railway.

Greenwich Mean Time

HintThink of the place the prime meridian runs through.

The whyTimetables could not work if every station used a different time. Greenwich Mean Time spread across Britain and became law in 1880.

Manufactured goods such as cloth, guns and metal goods

HintBritain sent these to Africa in return for enslaved people.

The whyThe ships then carried enslaved Africans to the Americas, and returned to Britain with sugar, cotton and tobacco.

Liverpool

HintIt is on the River Mersey in the north-west.

The whyLiverpool's merchants grew rich. Profits from the trade helped pay for docks, banks and industries.

The slave owners

HintThink about who the government treated as the 'losers'.

The whyThe enslaved received nothing, and many were forced to work for their former owners as 'apprentices' for several more years.

Sugar

HintIt was grown on Caribbean plantations and sweetened tea.

The whyHundreds of thousands boycotted sugar. It was one of the first mass consumer campaigns.