Empire and Industry 1750-1850

Find out about the impact of the Industrial Revolution and how living and working conditions changed for many in Britain. Political protest and crime and punishment are key themes in our resources for this period.

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1833 Factory Act

Did it solve the problems of children in factories?
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1834 Poor Law

What did people think of the new Poor Law?
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19th century prison ships

What do these documents reveal about attitudes to crime and punishment?
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A ‘right’ to relief?

In what ways did paupers hold the Poor Law to account?

All Work and No Play

What does this document reveal about work in the past?
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Bussa’s rebellion

How and why did the enslaved Africans of Barbados rebel in 1816?
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Coping with Cholera

How did the authorities react in 19th century?
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Coronations: Ceremony and Change

How can we find out about Coronations in the past? How far have Coronations changed over time?
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Crime and Punishment: Robert Peel

How was law enforcement changed by Sir Robert Peel’s new Metropolitan Police Force?
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Criminal petitions

What do they reveal about the justice system?
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Dr James Barry

Why was he significant in 19th century medicine?
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Empire Windrush: Early Black Presence

What do the sources reveal about an early Black presence in Britain?
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Foundling Hospital

What were conditions like for children in the care of the Foundling Hospital?
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French Revolution

How did the British react to July 1789?
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From Outbreak to Archive: Tales of Public Health

What do the documents reveal about how government and society dealt with public health in the past?
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Have we underestimated the Victorian Poor?

To what extent did the Victorian Poor accept their fate in the workhouse?
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Health and the Poor Law

To what degree did the Poor Law make an important contribution to Public Health?
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Hong Kong and the Opium Wars

How did Hong Kong become part of the British Empire?
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LGBTQ+ Rights in Britain

How have changes in laws and attitudes affected LGBTQ+ people in Britain?
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Mapping London

How and why does an area change over time?
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Mental Health on Record

What do the documents reveal about the understanding of mental health in the past?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson One

What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about punishments for workhouse children?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson Two

What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about attitudes towards punishments in the workhouse?
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Rebels in the records

What can we learn from documents that show how people ‘rebelled’ in the past?
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Selling the Victorians

Victorians for sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times?
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Slavery

How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect the slave trade?
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The Search for ‘Terra Australis’

What did Captain Cook’s secret mission involve?
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Travel smart through time (SEND)

How and why have people travelled around in the past and how have they done it safely?
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Uncovering LGBTQ+ lives in the archive

What types of sources might be useful to find out about the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the past?
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Victorian Health Reform

How did the Victorians view compulsory vaccination?
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What caused the 1832 Great Reform Act?

Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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What was Chartism?

Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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Workhouse Women

How were women treated in the Victorian workhouse?