The Overpopulation Problem of Manchester, England

Over the course of the nineteenth century, the growth of Manchester raised many issues and different types of reactions amongst the people of this city. Some main issues were overpopulation, disease, and bad labor conditions; moreover, the reactions were not well at first, but had a better outcome at the end.

Manchester, England was seen as the Workshop of the World and was the second largest city of the kingdom in size and population. However, even with a rapid growth for the economy, there were still bad sides to this growth. One main issue was overpopulation. In Document 2, an English Romantic poet named Robert Southey explains how things aren’t the same and how the Industrial Revolution took over everything. He explains in detail about how the houses built with brick are now blackened with smoke, along with how the previous buildings that were as large as convents, no longer have antiquity, beauty, holiness, and are now filled with machines that could be heard from outside.

He also puts in a saddening moment of whenever a bell rings from within, it is no longer used to call people inside to pray, but for now it was to call the workers in to work. Moving on to Document 6, a public health reformer named Edwin Chadwick talks about the diseases and poor health conditions throughout the population. The diseases were caused/aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by dead and decomposing animals and vegetable substances, damp and filth, and close or overcrowding dwellings. The diseases spread all throughout the laboring classes, causing a death rate greater than the loss from death or wounds in modern wars.

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The labor class was an easy target because of the towns they lived in, since it was very runned-down and overcrowded. Chadwick goes on to say how because of these terrible outbreaks, the adult-population was short-lived, reckless, and intemperate, and with habits of sensual gratification. The adult-population lived reckless possibly because they knew that they weren’t going to live a long life by the way the health conditions were going; causing them to be reckless. Lastly, in Document 7, a French socialist and women’s rights advocate named Flora Tristan speaks about the terrible work conditions in Manchester. She says that the poor health conditions are mostly in the manufacturing towns. She explains how most of the workers lacked clothing, a bed, furniture, fuel, wholesome food including potatoes.

Tristan also includes the terrible twelve to fourteen hours a day shift in the factories, and how they were shut up inside low-ceilinged rooms where the workers breathed in foul and toxic air, absorbing fibers of cotton, wool, flax, particles of copper, lead, or iron. The workers lived off of limited to sometimes no food and an excess of strong drink. This left them wizened, sickly, and emaciated; moreover, their bodies were thin and frail, they had feeble limbs, pale complexions, and tired or dead eyes. Because of these terrible conditions, one can assume that the owners of the factories had no care for the workers physical, mental, and health state, and that all they cared about was getting the product and selling it to make money.

After all of these terrible issues during the growth of the economy in Manchester, the reactions weren’t as great, but got better towards the end. One reaction could be found in Document 8, where in a British medical journal called The Lancet, a list of the average age at death is expressed throughout four different districts. This could be seen as a reaction from all of the terrible living and working conditions, and diseases. Out of all the four districts, Manchester has the youngest age of death throughout the different laboring classes. The gentry/professional at 38 years of age, the farmer/trader at 20 years of age, and the laborer/artisan at 17 years of age. Because of these young ages of death, it could be seen how bad the immune health was during the nineteenth century.

Moving on, in Document 9, Wheelen and Co. was a business company that made a statement for a business directory. This business is speaking on behalf of Manchester, since it is being granted a royal charter as a city. They go on to say how great Manchester is as a manufacturing city and how great everything was. Nothing about the poor health conditions of the workers or the town was mentioned, which could be seen as a cover up. This reaction could be seen more on the negative side since nothing of the death rates, or bad conditions are mentioned, except for the good part like the industry.

Lastly, in Document 10, a journalist and historian named William Alexander Abram wrote about how the conditions of the factory and of the workers safety were improved. An act called The Hours of Labor in Factories Act was passed in 1844, and it stated that the excessive hours of work were to be reduced to ten hours per day, wages were largely increased, public parks, baths, and free libraries promoted the health, happiness, and culture of the industrial orders. Sickness and mortality have been reduced to an extent that was almost incredible, which helped the city of Manchester a lot.

In conclusion, over the course of the nineteenth century, the growth of Manchester raised many issues and different types of reactions amongst the people of this city. The issues of overpopulation, disease, and bad labor conditions were soon reacted with The Hours of Labor in Factories Act, and it helped a lot of the people of Manchester.

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