Sleepy History - The Industrial Revolution

Episode Date: April 13, 2025

The Industrial Revolution—a turning point in history that transformed the world as we know it. From steam engines to spinning looms, it sparked innovation, reshaped societies, and ushered in a new era of progress and possibility. But what was life like during this time of rapid change, and how did it all begin? Tonight, journey back to the factories, railways, and inventors of the Industrial Revolution, as its story gently powers down your mind and leads you into a peaceful and restful sleep.Narrated by: Simon MattacksWritten by: Jo SteerAbout Sleepy History Delve into history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep. Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: slumberstudios.com/contactSleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit www.slumberstudios.com.

This is Sleepy History. Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To listen ad-free, get access to bonus episodes, and support the ongoing production of this show, check out our premium feed. This is the Sleepy History of the Industrial Revolution, narrated by Simon Mattox, written by Joe Steer. The Industrial Revolution was a turning point in history, one that laid the groundwork for the modern age. It saw the advent of new machines, technologies, and forms of transport, and changed the shape of societies forever after.

But what were the inventions that made a key difference? Who were the people that created them? And how did this period change the lives of everyday workers, their communities, and ultimately the world? We'll find out tonight. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of the Industrial Revolution. It's September 27, 1825, a cool sunny day in the town of Darlington, England. A middle-aged couple wait on the train platform, both well-dressed in Victorian fashions. They stand amongst a group of over 400 people, including families with children of all ages.

All share in a mood of excitement and contribute to the fanfare that surrounds the world's first steam-powered passenger locomotive. They'll travel 25 miles on the Locomotion Number 1, moving at a speed of 15 miles per hour. The journey will take them an hour and 40 minutes, significantly less time than by horse-drawn stagecoach. It might be hard for listeners in the 21st century to even comprehend what it would have felt like to see a steam train for the first time, let alone ride one, to have a world of possibilities open up before you.

of possibilities open up before you. And yet, such events became fairly common during the period that we're exploring tonight. The Industrial Revolution saw a great many firsts across transport, science, business and engineering. The advancements made in power and technology would completely alter work and home life. Each new invention might be seen as a stepping stone on humankind's journey into the 21st century. the 21st century. And it all began on the island of Great Britain around the middle of the 18th century. The country was in its Georgian era. King until 1760 before George III took the reins, ruling until 1820.

It was also the age of European imperialism when large parts of the world were colonized by foreign powers. Britain would eventually amass the largest of all empires, reaching its peak in the 1920s. Even years before, in the 1750s, it held colonies across six continents. It's in part because of its growing empire that Britain was ripe for industrialization. It controlled a global trading network through its foreign domains, putting it at the forefront of commerce and business. The colonies were the key to supply and demand. They were a source of cheap labor and raw materials, allowing the British to import exotic goods at

low cost, both to the mainland and throughout the Empire. At the same time, British goods were sold throughout the colonies, increasing demand and therefore profits. The Empire brought wealth and prosperity to the mainland, resulting in higher wages for some and creating a need for more jobs. People would move in droves from towns and villages into cities where many found employment working in factories. At the same time, the government introduced pieces of legislation, including patent laws, insurance, contract laws and more.

These aimed to regulate and support businesses, and helped to foster an environment in which entrepreneurs might thrive. Unsurprisingly, there was a rise in the number of entrepreneurs, including British businessmen and those who settled in Britain from abroad. With its pro-business laws and huge market, it was the perfect place to build a successful company. Britain also had a number of steady financial institutions, making for a solid pool of potential investors.

Inventors and manufacturers could gain the capital they required to build new machines and house them in factories. Crucially, the island was also rich in raw materials – iron, steel, copper and coal. These would be vital for industrial development, both to build the machines and to give them power. Such goods could be taken around the country on a transport network made up of canals, rivers, roads and railways that was ahead of its time. This was another factor that made change logistically possible and made Britain the perfect place for the Industrial Revolution to begin. Like the European Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries, it was a time of great talents coming together.

And just as the Renaissance wasn't the result of one single piece of art, the Industrial Revolution wasn't the result of one single piece of art, the Industrial Revolution wasn't the result of one invention. Rather, many advances were made in a relatively short period of time, from the development of gas-lit street lamps to the internal combustion engine, from the invention of the power loom to the steamship. Of course, some advancements stood out above others due to the size and scope of the impact they made, like the development of the steam-powered pump or pistonless steam engine, first patented in 1698 by English engineer and inventor Thomas

Savory. The pump, called the miner's friend, is noteworthy for being the first practically useful application of steam power. Savory constructed a low lift pump to draw water out of mines, combining use of a vacuum alongside steam power. Water was boiled in the engine producing steam pressure which drew water upwards through the pipes. The water then cooled, creating a condensation vacuum, resulting in more water being pulled upwards. The pump generated about one horsepower. That's equivalent to the power that it might take today to shift a lift or elevator by 30 centimeters a second. The miner's friend was used in mines and waterways and was still being

manufactured into the late 1800s. It laid the groundwork for other inventions like the piston steam engine, invented in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. An English ironmonger and Baptist preacher, Newcomen made a living selling tools to the mines. He sought to improve upon Savory's invention with what sometimes called an atmospheric engine. Hot steam was let into a cylindrical chamber followed by cold water creating a vacuum.

The steam and the vacuum powered a piston above, which moved a rocking beam up and down in a seesawing motion. This was attached to a long pump rod which hung down into the mine. It drew water upwards from deep in the mineshaft, allowing miners to dig much deeper than they could before. Newcomen's machine had a number of disadvantages, but by the standards of the time it was another leap forward. It widened the scope of industries like coal mining, leading to a veritable abundance of coal supplies in Britain.

The next key advancement came courtesy of a Scotsman, an engineer and chemist named James Watt. He made a series of adjustments to Newcomen's design, a steam jacket around the cylinder to keep it warm and prevent condensation, and a separate condensing chamber, allowing the steam to stay hot. Newcomen's patent had expired decades earlier, so Watt was able to gain the rights for his steam engine. the rights for his steam engine. It was first patented in 1769, with additional improvements made across the next few decades. One such improvement came in 1782 when Watt introduced a double acting piston. Steam would be carried through two pipes at once, making the engine more powerful and helping it run smoothly. Additionally, it utilized rotational power, the engine being connected to a driveshaft with gears.

These were aptly named the Sun and Planet gears, as the outer Planet gears rotated around the Sun gear. What this meant for manufacturers was that unlike the machine's predecessor, predecessor, Watt's steam engine could drive machinery directly. And by 1800 it was doing just that, with nearly 500 engines having been manufactured and sold and powering the machinery of many factories and mills. Steam-powered machines changed the shape of British industry, allowing workers to produce greater quantities far more quickly than before. Soon after, it made waves in the area of transport with a new type of engine that would eventually move on wheels.

English engineer Richard Trevithick invented an engine that was non-condensing. Sometimes referred to as a back pressure turbine, steam was released via an exhaust. Steam was released via an exhaust. This kind of engine ran on high-pressure steam, operating at temperatures well above boiling. They were smaller, movable, and a great deal more powerful, which made them well suited to powering vehicles. Though it was only after a lot of trial and error, alongside the addition of many safety features, that Travithic would build the world's first locomotive, making its inaugural journey in 1804. The locomotive hauled a load from an ironworks in Penadarren, Wales, to the Merthyr Cardiff Canal.

The contraption had promise but wasn't an outright success. However, it would pave the way for like-minded inventors, who improved upon the design over subsequent years. There was the Salamanca in 1812, a twin-cylinder rack locomotive, which is often considered to be the first commercially successful steam locomotive. With cogs at the base, it ran on a toothed or rack railway and had enough traction to traverse steep mountains. The puffing billy came two years later, specifically to haul coal around northeast England.

Then, it was the locomotion number one that we heard about earlier, the first to transport passengers in 1825. The latter was built by George Stevenson, an English engineer known as the Father of Railways. His son Robert went on to build the Rocket, which was showcased in 1829 at the Rainhill Trials. The competition between locomotives attracted crowds of more than 10,000 spectators. It was intended to determine which company would gain the contract for the Liverpool-Manchester Railway, the first intercity train. Locomotives had to demonstrate that they could operate safely and carry a load three times

their own weight. The rocket won and was the only train to finish, bringing prize money and acclaim to all involved. Robert Stevenson and company became early leaders in the industry. Their locomotives ran between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as elsewhere across the UK. They went on to provide railways in France and America, helping them on their way towards modernization. It's impossible to overstate the impact of steam power, particularly when it came to steam locomotives.

They were faster and more reliable than horse-drawn vehicles, and they were able to shift far heavier loads. Goods could be taken around the country, including the raw materials used to make machine parts and products, and the coal needed to fuel the machines. Manufactured goods could be taken to ports and exported to countries around the globe. Equally, they were transported to towns and cities where the locals could buy things that hadn't been available before. It was largely because of trains that urban areas could grow. They enabled the transportation of building materials to cities where they were used to construct factories and homes for workers.

Trains also made it easier for workers to commute, and for families to relocate to places where there were jobs. The country's wealth was distributed a little more widely, which ultimately resulted in the emergence of the middle class. Although we shouldn't paint too rosy a picture of what city life was like in the 19th century. Anyone familiar with the writing of Charles Dickens will know about the problems that came with urbanization. Living conditions were poor for a great many people.

There was poor sanitation, overcrowding and poverty. Pollution increased due to the number of factories and diseases like cholera spread due to unsafe drinking water. On top of this, wages were low for many and workers were sometimes treated very badly. Men, women and children as young as four would work six days a week up to 16 hours a day. or would work six days a week up to 16 hours a day. Women received wages that were lower than men, and orphaned children worked for only board and lodgings. Many worked with dangerous machinery. Accidents happened often and were sometimes fatal. Some viewed the technology as a threat to their jobs and so broke into factories and destroyed machines. as Luddites after Ned Ludd, who had broken two stocking frames, or mechanical knitting machines,

used for making textiles in 1779. There were widespread riots in the early 1830s as laborers set fires and destroyed threshing machines. fires and destroyed threshing machines. The government responded severely, at times with executions, and the movement fizzled out soon after. It's perhaps unfair that the word Luddite is used today to refer to a person who is anti-technology. The original Luddites had legitimate complaints, echoed by much of the workforce across many industries at the time. They would eventually find a voice in the form of trade unions, which began

to form across the country from the mid-1800s. Both trade unions and collective bargaining were made illegal in Britain by the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800. Collective action was considered threatening to business by both the government and employers, who sought greater control over their workers. But those laws were eventually repealed in 1824, thanks to growing sympathy for the plight of workers and the public action of people like social reformer Francis Place.

Trade unions fought for the rights of workers, for better pay and working conditions, and help for the sick and injured. They could instruct the workforce to go on strike, to put down their tools and refuse to produce until their demands were met. And with production halted and companies losing money by the day, employers were spurred to meet those demands.

Gradually, the government began to introduce laws offering a little more protection for the most vulnerable workers. offering a little more protection for the most vulnerable workers. One of the most impactful came in 1833 with the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. It's a dark truth, but a truth nonetheless that slavery had played a part in the Industrial Revolution. The wealth of the British Empire was in part generated through profits from the Atlantic slave trade. The rich had grown richer by using unpaid labour, slavery, in the colonies to produce high-price goods like sugar and tobacco.

The cotton that made its way to spinning machines in cities like Manchester had been picked by enslaved people and then imported. Thankfully, by the early 19th century, public opinion had begun to shift. America had gained independence in 1776, and slavery was less practical and less profitable to the British. People also began to question the morality of slavery, with both secular and religious thinkers calling for its abolition. Thinking also began to change around the same time about child labor and general working conditions. There had been widespread public outcry after a report in 1832 exposed the misery of children working in textile factories.

The government would respond, albeit very slowly, with laws that gradually chipped away at the problem. Age limits were put in place, and working hours were restricted. Though it wouldn't be until 1933 that school was made compulsory to the age of 16 and children under 14 were banned from working. Obviously we see things very differently today when it comes to what's considered right and wrong. To us, it's not only just, but also sensible and practical for an employer to look after

workers that they rely on for profits. After all, the employers of the Industrial Revolution required a skilled workforce to operate new machines. Many sectors had been completely transformed by the introduction of new technology. In textiles, for instance, there was the roller spinning machine, which mechanized spinning threads from 1738. Then came the spinning jenny in 1764, an adaptation of the spinning wheel that spun many threads at once. After that came the water frame in the 1770s, which harnessed the power of water to spin threads automatically.

Cotton mills were built beside rivers and canals and fitted with huge wheels that rotated through the water. These water wheels converted the force of flowing water into energy that could power a large mill. The energy was carried across different floors of the building through a series of gears and shafts known as transmissions. There it powered a number of machines, which spun good quality yarn in great quantities. Other notable inventions included the spinning mule, which combined the water-frame's design with the spinning jenny.

It allowed a single operator to spin hundreds of threads at once, producing finer yarn than had been made before. Then there was the power loop, patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785, a machine that was enhanced over the next five decades. Using cogs, springs, pulleys, and levers, it automated the process of weaving, resulting in far greater output. While the earliest looms had been horse-driven, most had come to rely on water power. Cartwright's power loom, however, was steam powered. It ran on the energy from its own steam engine. This demonstrates a theme that was common across the era, of growth in one sector leading to growth in another. Machines like the power loom that relied on steam power required coal as their

source of fuel. This added to the amount of coal that was already needed to power locomotives and then steamboats, and the steam-powered machines that lifted water from mines. Also, vast amounts were necessary to keep steel foundries running, where steam-powered machines were used to forge metal. The coal industry boomed due to this increased demand. More mines were constructed and deeper than before. About 3 million tons of coal were being mined annually in the 1700s. By the 1830s, that was closer to 30 million tons.

to 30 million tons. Similarly, the advancements made in the production of metals played a key part in the success of other industries, particularly as they coincided with the development of new machine tools which allowed operators to cut and shape the metals. By the late 1700s, iron in particular was being produced on a large scale. It was used to make parts for machines and engines, as well as bridges, steam trains and railways around the country. Technologies and industries relied on one another, leading to increased demand across sectors.

In turn, this increased the need for better machinery, inspiring some inventors to double their efforts. Engineers and inventors joined forces with businessmen who had money and vision to make things happen. They based their designs on the developments of the time, including the work of their peers and predecessors. We should also note the significance of the Scientific Revolution, which had swept across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. This dramatically altered ways of thinking about science resulting in new discoveries and fields of study. It transformed disciplines like chemistry

and physics and led to key developments in mathematics and mechanics. It gave us important theories like Newton's laws of motion and major discoveries including electricity. The progress made during this earlier period had laid the foundations of the Industrial Revolution. Much of what we've learned about wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the work of early scientists. This only adds to the feeling of synergy that seems to encapsulate the Industrial Revolution. Looking back over the era, one might imagine a jigsaw with many pieces fitted together to form an overall picture.

As a whole, these pieces created enormous change over a relatively short period of time, especially when we compare it to the years before, in which so much had remained the same over millennia. Since the Neolithic Revolution, which ended around 2000 BCE, much of human society had moved away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They opted instead to settle and form communities, farming the land and making goods by hand. Now consider the life of a British person living around the late 1600s. That's over three and a half millennia after the end of the Stone Age and a couple of centuries before the Industrial Revolution. In many key ways little had changed. The majority of people worked in agriculture and looked to the Sun to tell the time. They still cooked over an open fire and made goods by hand

by the light of those flames. Some were fortunate enough to own their own horse or have animals to pull a wagon and take produce to market. But the majority couldn't travel any further than they could walk and would likely never leave the place they'd grown up in. Compare this to the life of a person in Britain 200 years later in the late 1800s. Their work and home lives were now dramatically different, and the country itself had been radically changed. Most people were employed in industry, not agriculture.

They worked in coal mines, metalworks, shops and factories. Some worked in transport, which had bloomed exponentially. There were trains, steamboats, canal boats, and more. Many had swapped a life in the countryside for the hustle and bustle of city living. They no longer worked at home, but performed shifts at their workplace, measuring the time in the hours and minutes. As to people's home life, you've already heard about the problems caused by rapid urbanization. Despite this, many argue that this was the first time in history when the standard of living rose across the Western world. People heated their homes with coal fires. They warmed drinks on coal stoves and used porcelain teapots.

Some went on holiday to the British seaside wearing fancy outfits purchased from a tailor. The British diet expanded to include a broader range of nutrients as calorie-dense vegetables were introduced from abroad. Foreign imports like tea, coffee and hot chocolate became steady mainstays of the average person's diet. Society and culture shifted as a whole, with clearer divisions between classes. People came to identify with a certain class of people, based on where they lived, their job and income. This informed their attitudes, their choices and behavior across mostly every facet of culture and lifestyle. From the clothes people dressed in to how they behaved at home, how they spent their leisure time, and which social groups they joined. Some joined singing groups alongside

their colleagues. Others formed football clubs like the Royal Engineers AFC. Many frequented the Working Men's Clubs that were opened in industrial areas from 1857. These were essentially a working-class alternative to the Gentleman's Clubs of the elite. They were places to socialize and engage in discussions around politics, similar to the coffee shops and tea rooms that peppered the cities. Such groups would be key to lasting social change, allowing working-class people to share viewpoints and be heard.

This opened the doors for movements like Chartism, in which mostly working class men advocated for the vote. The rights and protections enjoyed by many of us today have their roots in industrialization, or, more precisely, the reaction to it. Equal pay for women and safe working conditions for all, a minimum living wage and limit to working hours. And this is true not only in Great Britain, but in many of the places that industrialization spread to.

In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, that was Western Europe and America. But, by the 20th century, it included much of the world. Nations industrialized at very different rates, being that for change to happen, many conditions had to be met. Some were held back by a lack of coal or iron. Others didn't have the funding or political stability. Some were landlocked with no access to waterways and therefore couldn't trade goods via steamship. Countries who were earliest adopters had the same things in place that Britain had at the beginning.

America in particular was in a good position, having seen an influx of migrants in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Migration helped the spread of technology and ideas, with some British manufacturers moving to the States. While unskilled migrants from Europe and beyond became a source of cheap labour for businesses around the country. Ideas were also spread via less savoury means, namely through industrial espionage. Governments across the world sent spies to Britain to uncover trade secrets of its industrial success. to Britain to uncover trade secrets of its industrial success. By the late 1800s, the world seemed split into countries that had industrialized and those that hadn't.

Competition increased between governments across continents as global power appeared to be shifting. Nations across Asia and the Middle East began to see their profits decline. They had a smaller share of the global market. Whilst they continued to manufacture quality goods, they couldn't compete with industrialized nations, who could mass produce goods and sell them far more cheaply. Not wanting to be left behind, leaders of different states began to take action. But the rate of progress and the consequences of industrialization could be dramatically

different from one country to another. In Russia, it began with steam trains and railways, resulting in the Trans-Siberian Railway, completed in 1904. What still, to this day, the world's longest railway, greatly improved trade with the Far East and the far reaches of the country itself. On the other hand, industrialization was also a key factor in the Russian Revolution just a year later.

Economic hardship and poor working conditions led to widespread rebellion and a change of government. Meanwhile in Japan change would happen under the banner of the Meiji Restoration. New railways and better roads improved transport and trade. Laws were introduced to support business and commerce. The Japanese borrowed heavily from Western ideas, inviting thousands of foreign experts to work across different industries. Western educators were employed to teach in Japanese schools, where the curriculum had been adapted to prepare students to work in factories, initially within the textile industry, which was the first to modernize. The idea had been to modernize as a form of self-protection from other nations,

but the result was that the country transformed in mere decades. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it went from being a feudal society to a modern powerhouse. This period is sometimes referred to as the Second Industrial Revolution, the first having wound down around the mid-1800s. Also known as the Technological Revolution, it was marked by rapid change and innovation. Inventions from this time included the telephone and radio and Thomas Edison's light bulb by 1880. The first large-scale power grid came soon after, providing many homes with electricity.

The internal combustion engine, which could run on gas, completely transformed the world of transport. Not only did it lead to better ships and trains, but allowed for the creation of the first automobile and aeroplane. Soon, people were driving their own cars and flying abroad on foreign holidays. The possibilities must have seemed endless. There was no stopping the invention of nuclear power. This marked the beginning of industrialization's third chapter, sometimes called the Digital Revolution. The digital revolution. This period saw the invention of integrated circuit chips and

microprocessors which could store and process data. The scope of computers was dramatically widened in a way that would alter both work and home life. in a way that would alter both work and home life. By the 1970s, many homes had computers, as well as televisions, telephones, stereos and more. And by the late 2000s, most people would have the Internet, enabling them to communicate with others around the globe. This brings us to where we are now, in the 21 industrial revolution, due to the rapid growth of technological advancements. Our lives today have been modified and digitized in a way that our ancestors wouldn't have

thought possible. From artificial intelligence and cutting-edge robotics to 3D printers in the home, alongside a range of smart devices. The Industrial Revolution is unlike any other, mostly in that it isn't technically a revolution. While it is a period of enormous transformation, it has a beginning, but doesn't have an end. The Industrial Revolution is still ongoing. We're just in one of its later chapters. Change is still happening all around us, opening up a world of possibilities in the near and distant future. You You You You You You You You You You You you