When did the phrase Industrial Revolution first appear in recorded history?
The earliest recorded use of the phrase Industrial Revolution occurred in 1799 when French envoy Louis-Guillaume Otto announced that France had entered the race to industrialise. Friedrich Engels wrote about an industrial revolution in his book The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.
Who invented the spinning jenny and where was it created?
James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in 1764. It cost only £6 for a 40-spindle model in 1792 and increased output per worker by a factor of around 500.
What were the living conditions like for textile factory workers during the Industrial Revolution?
Most textile factory workers during the Industrial Revolution were unmarried women and children who worked for 12 or 14 hours with only Sundays off. They lived in overcrowded slums where clean water and sanitation were inadequate leading to endemic diseases like cholera and typhoid.
How did life expectancy change for populations in Britain and France during the Industrial Revolution?
Life expectancy reached 40 years in Britain at the same time malnutrition limited life expectancy in France to 35 years until about 1750. Average height declined during the Industrial Revolution because nutrition was decreasing and food consumption per person also declined.
When did the first inter-city railway open and which cities did it connect?
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened on the 15th of September 1830 as the first inter-city railway in the world. It linked Manchester with the port of Liverpool and was engineered by Joseph Locke and George Stephenson.