19TH CENTURY
Steam & Speed: Industry, Transport and Communication
Submarine Torpedo Boat, Garret, 1879. Science and Society Picture Library (click image for larger version)
The scale of Britain's industrial expansion during the nineteenth century was enormous and unprecedented. Fuelled by a rapid increase in international trade and a growing middle-class demand for consumer goods, Britain led the world in the development of rail networks and steamships. Its imports and exports increased concomitantly, supported by the class system and a renewed puritan work ethic.
On the sea, Britain dominated the industrialised world both in tonnage and distance: the British India Steam Navigation Co., established in 1856, became the largest shipping line in the world, eventually connecting India to South East Asia, the Far East, the Persian Gulf, Britain, East Africa and Australasia. Surprisingly, Britain lagged behind France, the United States, and Germany for self-propelled vehicles: most British cars were manufactured from German parts. The Victorian era remains the height of Britain's technological achievement.
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Industry, Power & Social Change
The emergence of Britain in the Victorian period as the world's most powerful trading nation was the direct result of the process of industrialisation that had transformed the nation since the latter part of the 18th century.
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The Power of Steam at Sea
At the heart of the complex structure of international trade developed by the Victorians and upon which their process of wealth generation depended, were efficient means of communication. It was the successful development by the Victorians of steamships and railways, together with the electric telegraph that gave them their unique place in history.
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The Power of Steam on Land
Steam locomotives were extensively used on colliery and quarry lines, particularly in the north east of England, and experimentally in other areas, during the first decades of the nineteenth century, with the technology being constantly improved by engineers such as George Stephenson and Richard Trevithick.
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Other Forms of Victorian Transport & Communication
The other type of railway developed in Britain and then used worldwide was the urban Underground. The first passenger carrying underground railway was opened in London between Paddington and Farringdon on 10 January 1863.