Industrial Revolution in London in the Late 18th and 19th Century: The Transport Sector (Term Paper Sample)

Industrial Revolution in London in the late 18th and 19th century: The Transport Sector
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Industrial Revolution in London in the late 18th and 19th Century: The Transport Sector
The first place to experience industrial revolution was England. There are many factors that propelled revolution to take place in England. Historians have been trying to find the answers to the question to why industrial revolution took place first in London towards the end of the half part of the 18th century and have managed to come up with many reasons that might have led to that. In the early part of the 18th century, England was characterized by people who depended only on Agriculture for sustenance; a characteristic of previous generations – an agricultural extension that was based on seasons and controlled by a few members political and social elite group (Barker, 1989). The tremendous impact of the revolution that happened in Britain, is a characteristic of the world in which we live in today. Historian scholars believe that there are many factors that led to the industrial revolution in England. Three elements; political liberty, naval power and intellectual climate were at the core of industrial revolution in England.
Intellectual mind
The period just before industrial revolution took off, was characterized by a many scientific discoveries that found many applications. The period was marked by the freedom of expression of new intellectual ideas (Barker, 1989). The scientific discoveries among them, Sir Isaac Newton’s, Laws of gravity and Robert Boyles’s immense experiments to explain the physical properties of gas and air (Barker, 1989). There was a growing interest among scholars of the time to find applications of these discoveries in industries that resulted in the first stages of the industrial revolution. It was also a point in time that religious beliefs were being shunned for more proven scientific facts that relied on experiments to explain observations (Barker, 1989). Unlike many other European countries, scientists in England did not encounter much opposition from the church clergy (Barker, 1989). A wave of free thinkers characterized by scientists, the action of men with ideas and industrialists, would meet to discuss and share ideas (Barker, 1989). This led to a more informed and emergence of creative thinkers of the time.
Political liberalism
It was a period in history that was marked by great political power and free-market capitalism (Barker, 1989). There had been a previous revolution of 1688-9 that led to a system of parliamentary government, which placed England in an independent position of the European Union than any other country in the European Union (Barker, 1989). In the larger part of Britain, people believed with the right conditions in place, they were capable of generating immense wealth and the government stepped in to make it happen (Barker, 1989). France is one of the countries that had the finest scientific minds of the time than Britain, but due to the nature of the absolute monarchy, it was unable to explore the scientific ideas which were mostly opposed by the church (Barker, 1989).
Naval power
The favorable and enhancing political stability at the time enjoyed by Britain made it the most stable status of world power such that no other European country the invasion and the disruption it caused (Barker, 1989). Its ability to dominate the trans-Atlantic trade, made it acquire the basic natural resources that were used as inputs in industries (Barker, 1989). This was facilitated by the fact that the government used most of its revenue in building the up the Royal Navy to encourage and protect the local traders (Barker, 1989).
A lot of key sectors experienced the tremendous impact of the industrial revolution among them were;
* Textile inventions
* The iron industry
* The steam engine
* The factory
* The transport sector
There was an interdependent between the key industrial revolution sectors such that together, they impacted on each other. Of the key elements sectors was their transport sector, which facilitated the transport of resources to the industries. There were three key methods that the transport sector was composed of; canal transport, railway and ship transport. Apart from just the transport of resources to industries, it provided a means through which the finished products would be transported to the readily available market.
During the first period of the industrial revolution, transport by water was the cheapest (Barker, 1989). This was the most efficient way by which coal and iron; the heavy industry inputs could be transported to their destinations. This prompted the widening and deepening of canals to allow more passage of ships and boats (Barker, 1989). This was majorly spearheaded by Robert Fultons inventions and demonstrations of the first steam-powered engine to power a steamboat in 1807 (Barker, 1989). This led to the facilitation of the Trans-Atlantic trade towards in the early part of the 19th century. Canals facilitated much of the inland transportation of freight to the interior regions. The canals were now the preferred means of transport by landowners to enable their goods reach the market (Porter, 1999). This amid the realization a rift between the canal companies and landowners as canals introduced a number of property rights such as the rivers that preceded them (Porter, 1999). The canal companies saw it as a business opportunity in which they were likely to benefit from by charging the landowners (Porter, 1999). In so doing, it provided an opportunity for which the canal companies would overcharge the landowners. In receiving authorization for implementation of their project by the Britain parliament, the canal companies and the landowners were compelled to reach a consensus which had to be determined by the jury (Porter, 1999). The government with the intentions of reducing the transportation cost for its citizens, prompted the jury to act in the interest of the landowners, thereby reducing the transportation cost (Porter, 1999). The canal was massively funded by the mercantile and industrial sector (Porter, 1999). There was increased funding from London on the canals and an increased interest from banks also which acted as treasurers which reduced the cost between the investors and canal companies (Porter, 1999). The canal system towards the later part of the 18th century was the most reliable means of transporting coal to industries and transport of other bulky commodities. It also served to save time by reducing traffic on the road despite being slow. Other inventions to increase speed such as the fly boat were unsuccessful (Porter, 1999).
The railway transport was one of the most efficient transport systems that evolved during the period to facilitate the transport of bulky commodities as a substitute for the canals on land. The advantages of railway transport lied in the fact that it provided a direct link between the factories and the market and the fact that most companies were not located along rivers. Railway transport first developed as horse-drawn wagons on iron rails (Porter, 1999). However, toward the early parts of the 19th century, it was a George Trevithicks invention of the steam-powered wagon carriage that replaced the horse-driven Roa carriage (Porter, 1999). It provided the platform for which high quality goods could be transported over long distances apart from offering passenger comfort during travel as opposed to horse-driven carriages of which horses were subjected to fatigue. This led to the integration of railway companies that owned both the railway tracks and the vehicles (Porter, 1999). George Stephenson, together with his son Robert, made the first improvements on the steam-powered engine when they developed the high-pressure steam engine locomotive in the 1920s (Porter, 1999). This was again marked with growing concerns of the appropriate railway gauge width to use (Porter, 1999). While George Stephenson’s 4 feet 8.5 inch railway gauge at the time predominated, including the construction of the Liverpool-Manchester railway, others ranging from 3 feet 10 inches to 5 feet were tried (Porter, 1999). Towards the later half of the 19th century, engineers begun advocating for gauge widths in the range of 5 - 7 feet on the grounds that it reduces the operational costs on high volume routes (Porter, 1999). What followed was contentions between the sides that proposed the new gauges to be used in the construction of railways and those that favored George Stephenson’s gauge. During the construction of Brunell’s Great Western Railway, the broad gauge railway networks came into existence in western Britain (Porter, 1999). As the wide gauge railway was implemented, with time, it was noticed that there was an increase i...