A North-South Divide - British Cities and Regions before and after the Industrial Revolution - Essay Example

The North South Divide Contents Introduction page 1 Before the Industrial Revolution, page 2 Changes in Economic Power, page 3 Specialization, page 4 Post Industrialization, page 5 Recent Events, page 6 How Real Are the Differences Between the North and South?, page 7 Conclusion, page 8 Introduction In 1707 the modern United Kingdom was created by the Act of Union. This was meant to be both an economic as well as a political union, with many of the points in the actual Treaty of Union being concerned with economic activity according to McInnes ( 2011) . Article 6 ( 1706) for instance begins ‘That all parts of the United Kingdom for ever from and after the Union shall have the same Allowances, Encouragements and Drawbacks’. Fine words and presumably well meant. Yet in economic terms, as well as in many other ways, the country is still divided. Considering its relative small size there are huge differences between the north and south of Great Britain. Such things as accent, culture, life expectancy, even the weather are very different, as is the economy. These differences have persisted over a very long period. According to statistics produced by the Office of National Statistics, Family Expenditure Survey, 2001, people in some areas of the north are only half as likely to have access to the internet and this of course affects the amounts of internet shopping that is done. This however is a modern practice, but the differences are much more deep seated and long standing. . London has been England’s capital city continuously since 1100 and the reign of Henry I Being in the south east it is near to continental ports, has easy access to the sea and so has every physical advantage. It was until relatively recently the centre of the British Empire and remains a world centre for financial exchange and banking. In 1700 it had a bigger population than all the other cities of the country put together. Places such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds were still tiny in comparison. And then came the Industrial Revolution. This essay will examine why the economies of certain areas of the United Kingdom have prospered or declined at a greater rate than other areas at the same time. Also considered will be the way in which a free market economy copes with the increasing problems caused by both urban congestion, and urban decay. Before the Industrial Revolution Before the Industrial Revolution by far the majority of the population were employed in rural and manual trades. (Cambridge History 2000-2011) Hume ( 2004) describes how in the Glasgow of 16th century all industry was by hand except for milling. Before the invention of such things as the steam engine, the factory system and modern day transport, all power for manufacturing came from only natural sources. – manual and animal labour, water and wind power. Textiles were produced on hand looms and people worked in relative isolation in their own homes. If work wasn’t available locally then people might well migrate to London. What then brought about the huge changes in the 18th and 19th centuries? The Economist article ‘In London’s Shadow, (1998) describes how ‘ In the 19th century Britain's provincial cities were the dynamos powering the country to international pre-eminence.’ So how and why did this occur? One major influence was the huge increase in the population. There were no major wars on British soil and the days of such devastations as the Black Death were gone, so the death rate declined and the birth rate rose. New methods of farming meant that even on the farms output increased, but rural wages remained very low. In the cities however, although conditions were poor, the factory system needed workers to bring about cheaper production to meet the increased market demands. Steam power, coupled with the growth of Empire, meant that raw materials such as cotton, wool, sugar, tea etc could be obtained easily. Communications improved from 1850 when the first undersea communications cable was laid in 1850 ( Glover 2010) Changes in Economic Power Although London remained important, the industrial revolution relied to a large extent upon such things as coal and communications by water. Most coal was in the north and cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham had excellent water transport systems. They were therefore able to expand at a great rate and soon exceeded in size the medieval county towns such as Norfolk, Chester and so on At the time of the Doomsday survey Birmingham had only 5 villagers. In the 18th century the population doubled in 50 years In the late 18th century such industrial geniuses as Watt, Priestly and Boulton had arrived according to Birmingham U.K. ( undated) .Brindley instigated the great network of canals that have given Birmingham more miles of waterway than Venice. This meant that not only could goods be sent out, but more could be brought in. Birmingham today uses a very wide variety of raw materials, especially metals , and so is not as reliant upon one industry as some other cities, although car manufacturing did predominate at one time. . The huge growth in new cities such as this meant of course that these populations had to be provided for – housing, often back to back, in narrow streets that rarely saw sunlight. And even such poor houses needed sewage systems, transport links, shops, health care entertainment and all the rest. At first they managed with communal taps and wells. Such cities were filthy. Torqueville in 1835 after a visit to Manchester, where he felt that men were being almost turned back into savages‘, was still able to see advantages, ‘From this filthy sewer pure gold flows’ Even an unskilled factory worker would often have a wage double that of a farm worker. The people involved were quite prepared to compromise on such things as privacy, dirt and health in order to eventually gain financial advantages Over time things did improve. And so ever more workers were needed to meet these new needs and to provide necessary facilities The huge factories , the railways and canals took up space in the city centres and so those who could afford it, including the factory owners, moved out from the centres into the brand new suburbs. This is turn increased the need for rapid local transport systems - horse drawn at first, but soon there were trains, electric trams and later motorized transport. The distances involved brought their own disadvantages - higher rents and mortgages, transport costs etc, but the financial returns balanced these. It can be clearly seen how the cities created new jobs and technologies. Mokyr ( 1999, page 115) shows how, if the industrial revolution had not occurred, income per capita would have decreased rather than risen Specialization Many cities tended to specialize in particular industries. Preston and other Lancashire towns depended upon textiles, as did Bradford and Leeds. The problem with this was that when overseas territories , especially parts of the former empire such as India, became able to produce such products firstly for themselves and secondly more cheaply, then the economies of many British cities declined. Doncaster and its surroundings relied on coal as did places such as Tyneside, and parts of Nottinghamshire, but by the end of the 20th century the coal had run out or was unaccessible and hardly any mines are still in operation. This has placed such areas at a disadvantage as against London, which was generally much more diverse in its industries. . Post Industrial Revolution By 1875 things were slowing down. The economy continued to expand for a long while, but so did that of other industrialized nations such as the United States of America and Germany. The industries based in the north, those based on coal, textiles and shipbuilding were in deep decline and had all but disappeared the late 20th century. Meanwhile countries such as China , Japan etc were coming to the fore and taking the dominant places that Britain once held in terms of the global economy. In the south of England industries such as food production and electrical engineering were growing. In places such as Cornwall which had been in industrial decline for longer and so offered opportunities for new industries, new industries such as processed food production, moved in . In former rural areas such as Bedfordshire, as towns such as Luton expanded more recently, and light industry, such as electrical engineering, was able to move in. This was encouraged under the long term leadership of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Duranton and Monastiriosis ( 2001)also point out ( page22) how educational advantages dominated earleir in the south , where the major univeristies of Oxford and Cambridge were sited. Glasgow, once notorius for its slums, is now a beautiful city and a great cultural centre. The transition was a hard one involving not just ripping out the slum dwellings, but also destroying the close knit communities that inhabitied them. So many cities have changed in character as well as in hteri ecomnomies over time. Recent Events With the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1984 once again the south flourished as against the north, as new possibilities opened up with Europe. However in 1983 the United Kingdom had joined the European Union and this meant the release of huge amounts of cash which could be used to regenerate northern cities such as Manchester. ( Manchester City Council 2011)so London and the south east were not the only beneficiaries of European contact. The financial crash of recent years has affected each and every person in the U.K., whether they live in the north or the south and whatever their previous economic status. The problem is that in areas where people were already disadvantaged financially the impact has been greater. Instead of having to decide to take a cheaper holiday or switch a child to a state school, people are having to buy their clothing from cheaper shops - Primark thrives, replacing C and A and Marks and Spencers in many High streets ( Primark Stores 2011) , and people switch their food buying to the cheapest sources. More and more small businesses go to the wall and unemployment, especially among young people, even graduates, continues to rise. Congestion is a major problem in such a small island, but London perhaps suffers more than most places with speeds falling as low as 10 miles per hour, Smit ( 2006) quoting information from Transport for London. This is the same speed as horse drawn carriages would have been at in the 19th century. This difficulty, together with inflated property prices, means that not only are traditional industries such as printing moving out, but that new industry of whatever kind will tend to look elsewhere. This in itself brings a number of problems. Workers have to relocate away from their extended families and long term friends. Children have their education disrupted and loose friends. Spouses of the moving workers have to look for new jobs of their own. Often new estates and new towns build houses first and it takes some considerable time for other services to adequately cope - local transport, schools, health services etc will all have to make adjustments, which takes both time and money. Although the difficulties may not be anywhere near as pronounced as those facing migrants to the industrial towns and cities of the19th century, they nevertheless present real difficulties which place stresses on local resources. How Real Are the Differences Between the North and South? National legislation has to some extent ironed out differences. Even in the 19th century the 1870 Education Act meant lots o f new schools and then the 1875 Public Health Act meant an increasing uniformity in local service provision.  There are local hospitals and other health service provision since the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948. Duranton and Monastiriosis ( 2001) looked not just at differences in average wages, but also at the rates paid to workers doing very similar work and then found that differences were much less than mihg tbe thought. . Their findings reveal that London workers may actually be much closer to national averages in certain industries. They point how out differences beween individuals , in whatever part of the country, increased during the 1980s and 1990s. As far as populations are concerned, Birmingham , which had continued to expand ever since its foundings, has in recent years dropped back to 1980 figures. Liverpool, once a major port, has only half the population it had in 1931. Business Source Premier ( 1998) reports tha tMerseyside was the only Britsh urban area with a population decline from 1991 to 1996, and this decline is expected to continue ( Waddington 2009) , but has more recently attracted new industries - not least tourism, but also banking , call centres and car manufacturing. Another more recent phenomenom is the influx of large numbers, both from the former Empire countries, and more recently from Europe, Eastern Europe in particular. Such people , as migrants, have always done, tend to cluster together, and are particualrly likely to settle in cities, even if the majority do not intend to settle permanantly ( BBC News May 2007) Also, as migrants have always tended to do, they are, in many cases, taking work that others don’t want such as fish processing in the north of Scotland and rural agricurture in Eastern England. ( BBC 2011). Such people , where they do interact with locals, have an effect outside the big ciites. Conclusion Despite many changes over a considerable period the north south divide still persists. Accents and dialects, culture and all the rest still present obvious differences. This isn’t entirely due to economic differences, but these are of course very important. Yet some factors work to cut down such differences. People move around much more than they once did. Young people go away to university and then settle far from home. Those from north and south watch the same television programmes and read the same newspapers. Legislation is passed nationally. Yet those in the south east are still more inclined to vote Conservative than Labour (UK General Election 2010 results map) and to earn more than their northern counterparts. As quoted by Duranton and Monastiriosis ( 2001) workers in London had salaries at a rate of 137% of the national average. Yet many northerners would still not want to live further south for any number of reasons – and so percieved differences persist. 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