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556 Timelines<br />

1811–12 The campaign of the Luddites, who broke factory<br />

machinery in a protest about workers’ conditions<br />

1812–14 Second War of American Independence: Britain was<br />

unable to regain this part of the former Empire<br />

1814 Invention of the railway locomotive by George<br />

Stephenson<br />

1815 Congress of Vienna, at the end of the wars against<br />

France (the Napoleonic wars). Britain emerged as the<br />

most powerful nation in Europe, and consolidated this<br />

position throughout the nineteenth century<br />

1819 The Peterloo Massacre: a workers’ uprising in<br />

Manchester was brutally suppressed, with many<br />

casualties<br />

1824 Trades unions were recognised by the British<br />

government<br />

1829 The Catholic Emancipation Act made discrimination<br />

against Catholics illegal in Britain<br />

1830 A new liberal (Whig) government was elected in Britain<br />

– emulating the upheavals of the so-called ‘July<br />

revolution’ in France, which led to the abdication of<br />

King Charles X<br />

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY<br />

1832 The First Reform Bill: voting rights were extended for<br />

the first time to men who were not landowners, and<br />

most of the privileged seats in Parliament (the rotten<br />

boroughs) were abolished<br />

1833 Slavery abolished in British colonies<br />

1833 First Factory Act improved workers’ conditions and<br />

made factory inspections compulsory<br />

1833 Poor Laws provided accommodation in workhouses<br />

for the destitute, but with forced labour<br />

1834 A group of labourers from Dorset (later called ‘the<br />

Tolpuddle Martyrs’) were sentenced to exile for<br />

protesting against worker exploitation (remission was<br />

granted in 1836)<br />

1837 Victoria became Queen<br />

1839 Industrial uprising of the Chartists, who rebelled against<br />

Parliament’s rejection of the popular People’s Charter

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