What are the differences in culture between 1750, 1900 and 2008 in Britain?
In some respects Britain moved backwards a little in terms of personal enlightenment in the reign of Victoria (1837-1901). We often hear of “Victorian values”, eg a rejection of promiscuity, insistence on marriage and legitimacy, sexual suppression etc. We know that long before this age, people generally did not care if a couple were married or not, or if the children were born within wedlock or out of it. But this became a huge issue of the time. 1750 was in the middle of Britain’s industrial revolution, the catalyst that industrialised the whole world, starting here. In 1750, 20% of all the world’s manufacturing output came from Britain, which is a high share to begin with. By 1900 almost 80% of all manufactured goods were made in Britain. The cultural effect of industrialisation, starting from the agricultural revolution, which involved invention, innovation and industrialisation of farming and enclosure of land, was to move large amounts of the population from the countryside into
