Technological innovations in the 19th century fueled a revolution in communications which, in turn, helped to advance the technology.
The cheap carriage of both domestic and foreign goods increased competition and the standard of living. Foreign competition led to a decline of domestic agriculture in the face of cheap imports of corn (see: The Corn Laws), meat and dairy produce. Declining and increasingly mechanised agriculture and centralised industrialisation caused incresing migration from the country-side into the towns.
More rapid contact with the colonies had a considerable impact on Britain's attitude to its empire as information from its furthest outposts arrived in the capital of the Empire faster and thus became more reliable.
Turnpike roads were introduced in 1663 but were notoriously bad until the beginning of the 19th century.
Ruts in the roads were sometimes 1.2 metres (4 feet) deep and the journey from Edinburgh to London took sixteen days in 1760.
Highwaymen were a constant source of danger to travellers, particularly on the Great North and Bath Roads (especially so on Hounslow Heath).
see also: BRIDGES
Telford built the Menai Bridge between 181 and 1825 - the first suspension bridge in England.
Between 1846 and 1850, Robert Stephenson's Britannia Tubular Bridge was built over the Menai Staits.
Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge opened in 1831.
The Forth Bridge was built on the cantilever principal between 1883 and 1889.
Tower Bridge was built across the river Thames in London between 1886 and 1894. It was built with a steam-powered draw-bridge or bascule to allow ships access to the Thames upstream.
see also: ROADS
The construction of canals by Brindley and others made the transport of goods cheaper and more reliable than road transport and greatly facilitated the development of the Industrial Revolution.
Thomas Telford constructed the Ellesmere Canal between 1793 and 1805, also the Caledonian Canal.
The delivery of letters was not only costly but also slow and very uncertain. Until the introduction of the pre-paid "Penny Post", the addresee frequently refused to accept mail.
The introduction of mail coaches (the first of which ran between London and Bath in 1784) iproved the postal service greatly.
see also: POST OFFICE
The postal system of the UK before the reform of 1839 was costly andinconvenient.
Postage was payable on delivery and was expensive; the postage of a letter from London to Brighton cost eight pence. The payment was frequently evaded causing a considerable loss of revenue.
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| | | "Franking", whereby Members of Parliament wrote their own names on the covers of their own letters or those of their friends, ensuring free delivery, was much abused and a great drain on the revenue of the postal service.
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see also: POSTAGE
Reform of the Post Office, 1839
despite great opposition, the Bill for the reform of the postal service on the lines suggested by Rowland Hill in his pamphlet on Post Office Reform (1837) was carried through Parliament in 1939.
It rpovided that letters should be carried at a uniform rate of four pence per half ounce (reduced to one penny, the "Penny Post", on January 10, 1840). The right of "Franking" was abolished and adhesive postage stamps were introduced.
The reduction in postage costs led to a huge increase in the number communications and a corresponding increase in Post Office revenue. Trade benefitted greatly from cheap postage.
see also: POSTAGE
The invention of the dynamo early in the 19th century facilitated the generation of elecricity in large quantities not only for motive power (see: Railways below) but allowing the development of the telegraph and, later, the telephone.
Wheatstone and Cooke's magnetic needle telegraph came into use in 1837.
In 1865 the laying of the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable was completed.
In the same year, Thomson's (Lord Kelvin's) siphon recorder allowed messages to be recieved which had previously been too feeble to record.
The telegraph became a government monopoly and was put under the control of the Post Office in 1869.
Sixpenny telegrams were introduced in 1885.
see also: TELEPHONE
Graham Bell's articulating telephone was first produced in the USA in 1877.
A telephone exchange using Edison's system was erected in London's Lombard Street.
The Bell and Edison's companies were united as the United Telephone Company.
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see also: TELEGRAPH
George Stephenson (1781-1848), the son of a Northumberland collier, constructed the Stockton and darlington in 1825 and the Manchester and Liverpool Railway in 1830 using the 4 feet 8� inch guage of the Newcastle coal tram roads.
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| | | Stephenson's engine "The Rocket", equiped with tubular boilers, ran at 30 mph on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel commenced the building of the Great Western Railway in 1833 using a broad guage of 7 feet.
The Midland Railway Bill was passed in 1863 and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later called the Great Central) Bill in 1893.
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The advent of steam power and iron (later steel) construction of hulls led to the development of the great Atlantic and other liners.
In 1812, the Comet, a steamboat built by Henry Bell, plied for hire on the Clyde.
The Savannah, partially powered by steam, sailed from New york to Liverpool in only twenty-six days in 1819.
In 1838, the wholly steam-powered Great Western sailed from Bristol to New York in only fifteen days.
The Peninsular and Oriental (P&O) and Cunard lines were founded in 1840.
By 1885, the voyage from Liverpool to New York was reduced to seven days.
The Increase in Speed
Increases in the speed of vessels was facilitated by many improvements. The screw propeller (patented by Smith and Ericson in 1836) replaced paddle wheels.
Compound engines were adopted in 1856 and later triple expansion engines making longer voyages possible. Boilers were improved and wooden hulls were replaced, first by iron and later by steel.
Turbines came into use.
The Suez Canal
The use of steam power and sailing via the Suez Canal which was opened in 1869 reduced the passgae from Enlgand to India from three months to only about three weeks.
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| | | Passengers who could afford to do so travelled Port Out, Starboard Home, thus ensuring their cabins were on the side of the vessel away from the heat of the tropical sun. This was the origin of the word "Posh".
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