The First Industrial Society: Social History of Lancashire, 1750-1850

Lancashire truly was the first industrial society. Chris Aspin's hugely influential book tells the human side of the story - what effects did the Industrial Revolution have on an essentially rural society? What were conditions really like? What was life like in Lancashire during the tumultuous years of the Industrial Revolution? Using a great deal of previously unpublished material, the author describes the technological and social changes which followed the great eighteenth-century inventions in the cotton trade and portrays a society coping with problems that no other had ever known. The century saw the triumph of steam power and the transformation of a little-known corner of England into the manufacturing centre of the world. It saw, too, the introduction of the factory system, which brought some men un-dreamed of fortunes and degraded thousands more into abject wretchedness. But though life for the great army of industrial workers seemed at times little more than `eating, drinking, sleeping and dying', hope never died and a resolute determination to sweep away harsh and often barbarous living and working conditions gave birth to a whole range of reforming forces. The Cooperative and teetotal movements began in Lancashire; church life powerfully influenced the masses; and Chartism, besides drawing attention to a disjointed society, provided a training for scores of future trade unionists and working-class politicians. No less interesting is the story of middle-class reformers who built model mills, founded the Anti-Corn-Law League, promoted mechanics' institutes and campaigned for a better social system. The sports and pastimes of the age provide an entertaining section of the book. There are chapters on such varied topics as ballooning, wagering, music, cheap trips, seaside holidays, pleasure gardens and games.