Volume 1: Economy, Population and Transport

The first volume looks at the diversity of economic, social and cultural experiences in Britain during the climactic changes after 1780 and how that experience impacted on individuals, communities and social groups. The book then examines how and why population increased considering fertility, mortality and migration providing case studies of infanticide, how women were represented, sexuality and migration to Britain and the question of racism. The third chapter explores how and why Britain became a heavily industrialised and urbanised society as a result of revolutions in the economy that began early in the eighteenth century and the nature of those changes.  The challenges facing agriculture and industry in the decades after the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the impact of growing foreign competition forms an important feature of the volume. The concluding chapter on moving about looks at the importance of road, water and rail as means of economic and social communication in a society in which horse-drawn transport, personified by the ‘man on the Clapham omnibus’, the ubiquitous commuter retained an important place and how the emergence of the combustion engine and powered flight saw the beginnings of a second revolution in communications.