Notes/Possible Ideas

Topic: SCIENCE AND PROGRESS

Industrial Revolution:

• From largely rural population almost entirely dependent on agriculture to town-centered society engaged increasingly in factory manufacture.
• Women went from spinning wheels to factories
• accelerated migration from the country to the city
  • as a result of this movement, there was the development of horrifying slums and cramped row housing in the overcrowded cities

Industrialization and Engineering:

• Steam-powered cotton factories enabled Victorian Britain to produce more than half the world's supply of cotton.
• Coal-mining around Newcastle expanded rapidly to meet demand.
• Upsurge in railway construction
• Ship-building went forward at a rapid pace
  • Bristol: home to "The Great Britain", which was a massive steam ship built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• Lead by Brunel, engineering wonders were beginning to be common place during the Victorian period.
  • Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge (still stands)
• Victorian Britain became known as the "workshop of the world"?

Wonderful New Inventions (Christmas 1902)

• Macintosh, Charles Macintosh. Something to keep warm?
• The Tube
• Penny Post, Sir Rowland Hill
• Christmas Cards, John Calcott Horsely
• Christmas Crackers, Tom Smith
• Kaleidoscope, Sir David Brewster
• Pedal Bicycle, Kirkpatrick MacMillan
• Brunel's Railway Bridge
• Calculating Machine, Charles Babbage
• Shorthand, Isaac Pitman
• Safety Lamp for Coalminers, Sir Humphry Davy
• Continental Tour, Thomas Cook
• Vacuum Cleaner, Hubert Booth
• China Toilet, Thomas Twyford
• The railways opened up an entirely new world for commerce, fun, and relaxation. (These items could now be shipped)
  • Fresh produce
  • Newspapers, magazines, other periodicals (still current upon arrival)
• More leisure time was now allowed thanks to time-saving machines like the vacuum cleaner.
• At first the train rides weren't very comfortable, but that changed with time.
• Railway Act of 1844 required that third class carriages be enclosed, etc.

Victorian Railway Accidents

• Christmas Eve 1841 near Reading, a train loaded with produce and passengers ran into a land slip. Carriages were thrown everywhere, with goods and passengers thrown out of the train
• Shortly after Christmas 1879: the Tay Railway Bridge collapsed. 75 people died.

Last Page

• ***Everything is important here. It's summarizing the Victorian era. It's defining and describing what it means/meant to be "Victorian" in all aspects of life.