Name:_____________________
Date:____________________
Questions on Queen Victoria’s Empire: “The Industrial Revolution”
1) What happened during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)?
2) What was the “genie of the modern age”? What was the result of releasing that “genie”?
3) What was the world of Britain like in 1819 when Queen Victoria was born? What was agriculture
like?….transportation? Why did it change?
4) Why was the development of steam railroads so significant? Where was the first railroad developed
(between which two industrial cities)?
5) What was the “dark side” of technological progress? How did the Industrial Revolution affect British
society?
6) Why was the great “Victorian boom” actually the great “Victorian insecurity”?
7) How old was Queen Victoria when she became queen? Did she appear prepared to rule Britain?
8) Why was the British monarchy not respected when Victoria came to the throne? How would Victoria
try to change this image?
(over)
9) When Queen Victoria came to the throne what social changes were taking place?
10) How did Charles Dickens describe one of the factory towns?
11) What ruled the daily lives of the factory workers? How could their lives be described?
“Testimony Before Parliamentary Committees on Working Conditions in England” in 1831
Read pages 267-272 of The Human Record and answer the following questions:
1) What differences were there between working conditions in the mines and in the cotton factories?
2) As revealed by questions they asked, what did the committee members consider the worst abuses of
working conditions in the factories and mines?
3) What does the testimony of Hannah Richardson and George Armitage reveal about
a) the economic circumstances of working class families?
b) attitudes of working class families toward their families?
4) Consider the testimony of the workers themselves. Do the workers express anger? Do they demand
changes? What might explain their attitudes?