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First Central Bank established in England
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Thomas Newcomen invented the first productive steam engine
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John Lombe starts his silk factory
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James Kay invented the Flying Shuttle, a simple weaving machine
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James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny, which allowed one worker to spin eight spindles
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Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, which hooked up spinning machines to a water wheel
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James Watt patented his revision of the steam engine, featuring a separate condenser
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Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule which combined spinning and weaving into one machine
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Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations.
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Watt adapts his steam engine from a reciprocal to a rotary motion
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Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom, which, after 1800 was powered by new steam engines. Replaced the flying shuttle.
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Henry Cort invented highly successful iron refining techniques.
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Carkwright changes his huge factories over from water power to steam engines.
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Combination Acts make it illegal in England for workers to unionize in order to bargain for higher pay or better working conditions.
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Richard Trevithick drives the Cornish “puffer” steam powered locomotive down the street of Camborne, England.
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Luddite Rebellion begins.
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Parliament passes law making it illegal by penalty of death to destroy industrial machines.
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George Stephenson patented a steam engine locomotive that ran on rails.
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Stephenson commissioned to construct a 30-mile railway from Liverpool to Manchester.
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Sadler Committee investigates child labor in factories and issues report to Parliament.
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The first Factory Act provides first small regulation of child labor in textile factories.
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Poor Law created “poorhouses” for the destitute.
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Friedrich Engels publishes his observations of the negative effects of industrialization in The Condition of the Working-Class in England.
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British government sets up the General Board of Health to investigate sanitary conditions, setting up local boards to ensure safe water in cities.
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Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.
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Public Health Act gives government responsibility to ensure public health for housing and sewage.
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Education Act made school compulsory for children up to age 10.
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Factory Act raised the minimum work age to 12 years old.
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Education Act made school compulsory for children up to age 14
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English government mandates and funds compulsory education for all citizens through age 18.