Why did the Mining Village Eldon change?

From 1857 to 1897 Eldon changed. This is clear and easy to see. What is harder to see is why. Why did Eldon change? Why did more people move there? Did more people move there? How can we tell? All these questions can be answered, if we start with one thing: Coal.

Many say the industrial revolution could not have continued if not for coal. In 1857 in Eldon there was a coal deport, this is unsurprising as coal was Britain's main raw material. In the 1760 James Watt invented the steam engine; this was able to run factory machines and was powered by coal.

During the Industrial revolution a lot of people lost their jobs, a lot of family trades were worthless with the advanced technology people now had; say if you made clothes, they had machines for that now. Cotton mills sprang up and cotton spinning was mechanised (more people wanted cotton in the 1800 as it was softer and easier to wash).

In fact, three quarters of Britain's population lived in the countryside, and farming was the most popular occupation. When industrialization came in, however, everything changed. The new enclosure laws-which required that all grazing grounds be fenced in at the owner's expense-had left many poor farmers bankrupt and unemployed, and machines making huge outputs made small hand weavers insignificant. As a result, there were many people who were forced to work at the new factories. This meant they had to move to towns and cities so that they could be close to their new jobs.

This is where Eldon comes in- Eldon had coal, an important raw material. In 1878 we see just a few cottages around Eldon, but in 1897 we see so many houses, why? Coal, of course now Britain needed more coal we would need to mine it. So mining became a big industry. People moved into big cities for jobs, mining is a job and Eldon was quickly becoming a mining village; (Even now Eldon has a retired miners home) thus more people moved there, meaning more houses had to be made.

Now, with all these people moving to Eldon, surly there would be families with them? And families had children, more so as the population had started increasing and life expectancy went up. The percentage of the children born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 75% in 1730-1749 to 32% in 1810-1829

(The main reasons for the population increase were Edward Jenner creating a vaccination for smallpox, soap becoming cheaper and people marrying at a younger age. More people got married at a younger age after 1750; therefore they had more time to raise children. Next in 1796 Edward Jenner discovered how to vaccinate smallpox, the most deadly disease in 1750, once the vaccination, was discovered all children had to take it so they lived longer. So all the children the younger married people had more time to raise were living longer and having their own children. [Of course there were other deadly diseases that killed children and adults apart from small pox.])

These children needed education; as a result a school was built. In fact schooling was surprisingly high in 1897; Ninety-four percent of Lansing children age 10-14 attended school. And Hatherlow British School was built in 1706 as a chapel and changed into a school in 1862 for 490 children. Why weren't all these children in factories and mining? (Children were sent to work in mines, they were sent because small enough to get more coal and ore from the deep and very often unsafe pits) Because through 1802 - 1878 new laws were made:

1802

Health and Morals of Apprentices Act (Edited):

Hours of work were limited to 12 per day, with no night work allowed. Employers had to provide education, decent clothing and housing. Inspectors were to enforce the Act and appoint visitors. For all textile factories employing over 20 people, suitable ventilation must be provided and mills were to be whitewashed twice a year.

1833

Factory Act:

No children under 9 were to work in factories (silk mills were let off this rule). Children under 13 years were not allowed to work more than 9 hours per day and 48 hours per week. Children under 18 were not to work nights.

1844

Factory Act:

Women and young people (13-18) were not allowed to work more than 12 hours per day. Children under 13 were to work not allowed to work more than 6 1/2 hours per day. No child under 8 was allowed to be employed.

1847

Factory Act:

Women and young people were to work no more than 10 hours per day.

1850

Factory Act:

Women and young people were to work in factories only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., or 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

1853

Factory Act:

Children were only to work during the same hours as women and young people.

1860

Bleach and Dye Works Act:

This extended the already in effect provisions to bleach and dye machines.

1864

Factory Acts Extension Act:

This extended the previous acts to cover more industry types.

1878

Factory Act:

This extended the Factory Acts to all industries.

No child anywhere under the age of 10 was to be employed. 10-14 year olds could be employed for half days. Women were to work no more than 56 hours per week (Factory Legislation 1802-1878).

OTHER EFFECTS AND CONCLUTION:

Two Methodist chapels were also added to Eldon, along with a pub (Mining was probably more of a man's job so the men would need a place to "Chill" after work), Hotel, cycle track, post office (a lot of the people in Eldon moved from somewhere else- they'd probably want to keep in touch with friends and family), a rail road and train station (The coal had to be transported) I believe coal was the main reason Eldon changed, but not the only one. Eldon was transformed from a small, very small village to a much bigger mining city/village. It was even later described as: "…Eldon… Once a thriving mining village…"

Eldon changed for many reasons- mostly because of industrialization and the loss of jobs in the country and elsewhere from that, causing people to move to get jobs, and the fact that Eldon had coal.

Eldon village may not mine anymore, but it is the perfect example of the knock on effect of industrialization and the factors that had the most impact on the whole empire during the revolution.

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I handed this isn for History H/W so please do not copy and paste the whole thing.