Victorianism

Reform Act – 1832

Abolished rotten boroughs. The Act granted seats in the House of Commons to large cities that sprang up during the Industrial Revolution, and took away seats from the “rotten boroughs”-those with very small populations.

Factory Act- 1833

Prevented children from being employed more than forty-eight hours a week and no person under 18 could work more than sixty-nine hours a week.

Ten HoursAct -1847

Limited the working hours to ten a day for all workers

Poor Law Amendment Act – 1834

It refused outdoor relief to those people who could not support themselves by admitting them to a workhouse

Free trade

Abolition of tariffs on imports and exports. Repeal of Corn Laws

Chartism

Movement which sprang from popular discontent both with the conditions of workers and with the 1832 Reform Act, which had given the right to vote to so few.

6 points: universal adult male suffrage – equal electorate districts – the right for a man without property to ba an MP – secret ballot – annual gneral election and payment of members of parliament.

All these demnads were rejected and the movement slowly died.

1839 – 1842

Opium War”

In order to protect its trade routes against other nations Britain started the so called Opium War” . Eventually Britain obtained access to five Chinese ports and the control of Hong King

1850

Britain began to face the threat of Russian Expansion. The British support of Turkey led to the outbreak of war in the Crimea (1853 – 1856). Russia lost

1857

India crisis. The native soldiers threatened British rule in India.

Cause of the discontent: British had revolutioned local life by redistributing the territory into new administrative units and by imposing their style of life. As a consequence the Government of India was transferred to the Crown directly and Queen Victoria became Empress of India”

1882

When the Egyptian nationalists brought down the British ruler, Britain invaded Egypt. Egypt got independence only in 1956 when the Suez Canal was nationalised by Egypt.

1884

Invasion and take-over of Sudan. With the pretext of bringing civilisation to the Africans the British succeded in seizing large areas of the African Continent.

1899 -1902

In this period Britain was at war in South Africa against the Dutch settlers and the Boers; the stakes were high: gold in Transvaal and diamonds at Kimberly. Eventually Britain won.

1832

Vote to almost all male members of middle classes

1867

Vote to all settled male tenants

1884

Vote to males in rural and mining areas

1918

Universal male suffrage and vote to women over 30

1928

Vote to all adult women

1969

Minimum voting age from 21 to 18