To date this has been my most enjoyable lecture. I have found the topic most interesting and including the set reading. I have never studied Dickens before, and therefore never read any of his work. However I really enjoyed his book 'Bleak house' it takes a while to get into, but after a while I became much enloved with the piece. In the lecture Paul focussed on the Dickens and Cobbett, the poor and the enviroment in Ireland. There are two perspectives focussed on; Urban linked to Dickens and Rural which links to Cobbett. During the period of the Napolic war (England was not involved before 1800) From the military point of view England became very succesful during. During the war they started to build the empire.
The Transatlantic Triangle Trade (The slave trade)- This became enormously profitable, South african slaves where taken and traded in different countries for materials, and ended up being sold to places where they helped make clothing. The Abolitation slavery act came in 1833. At the time Machester was a main point of trade, cotton came in cheap. It was known as Gold for Machester and therefore the introduction of a new revolution.
As the war ended the Corn law was brought in, a tariff which was put on any item that came into britain. This was incredibly bad for the poor. The introduction of Corn Law made the price of bread to rise, and therefore for the poor, who relyed on bread, could not afford to buy it. This pushed people beyond the breadline, making living conditions worse. People were then driven into the city, although the cities were not built for the amount of people 'people drowning in sewage'.
1846- was the repeal of the Corn law. There was more of a concern with people in factories, workers wanted more money to afford the high priced bread. There was a repeal to get cheaper bread for workers.
