British History

Colonisation of the Antipodes - penal colonies 1788

• The majority of these convicts were young men, many of whom had committed only petty crimes.
• New South Wales opened to free settlers in 1819. By 1858, transportation of convicts was abolished.

• The colonisation of Australia and New Zealand began with the desire to find a place to put prisoners after the original American colonies were lost.
• The first shipload of British convicts landed in Australia in 1788, on the site of the future city of Sydney.

The union with Ireland and adoption of the Union Flag 1801

• After bribery of the Commons and gentry, Britain and Ireland were formally united, with seats for 132 Irish members in Parliament
• The red cross of St Patrick was incorporated in the Union flag to give the present flag of the United Kingdom

• Because of fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, the Prime Minister, William Pitt, concluded that direct rule from London was the only solution.

The Victorians (1837 – 1900)

• During Queen Victoria's reign, the revolution in industrial practices continued to change British life.
• With it came increased urbanisation and a burgeoning communications network (Railways, canals, telegraph).
• The industrial expansion also brought wealth and, in the nineteenth century, Britain became a champion of Free Trade across her massive Empire.
• Both industrialisation and trade were glorified in the Great Exhibitions,
• However by 1900, Britain's industrial advantage was being challenged successfully by other nations such as the USA and Germany.
• The Empire witnessed renewed conflict, although Victoria' reign can be seen as the imperial Golden Age

Irish famine 1845 - 1850

• When the potato crop failed (a staple of the Irish diet), over 1,000,000 Irish citizens died.
• A further 1-2,000,000 emigrated (mainly to Britain and the United States).

• The Irish rural economy had come to rely on the potato too much as a cheap and available source of food.
• The crisis was not helped by poor weather, epidemic disease and a slow response from the British government.

Education Act 1870

• This ‘act’ provided mass education on a scale not seen before.
• The State became more involved in the running of schools.
• Elected school boards were given powers to enforce attendance of most children below the age of thirteen
• By 1874, over 5,000 new schools had been founded.

The British Empire

• The British Empire was the world's first global power
• It was a product of the “European Age of Exploration” following the discovery of the Americas in the 15th century.
• By 1921, the British Empire governed a population of about 470–570 million people (1/4 of the world's population)
• It covered about 37 million square kilometers, almost a third of the world's total land area.