1. How did a rising population bring about social and economic change?

Britain – Economic and Social Development, 1700-80

In this course, Professor Jeremy Black (University of Exeter) explores economic and social change in Britain in the period of 1700-80. In the first lecture, we think about how a rising population in Britain contributed to economic and social change in this period. In the second lecture, we think about the role of international trade in changing Britain’s social and economic landscape. In the third lecture, we think about the Financial Revolution in Britain, after the Glorious Revolution. Next, we think about how crime and anxieties around crime impacted Britain socially. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how societal dynamism was impacted in this period by religious revivalism, specifically Methodism.

1. How did a rising population bring about social and economic change?

In this lecture, we think about how a rising population brought about social and economic change in Britain from 1700-80, focusing in particular on: (i) the fact that the first national census in the UK wasn’t recorded until 1801; (ii) the stagnant population numbers in the first four decades of the 18th century; (iii) the crisis in population numbers at the beginning of the 1740s, linked to a poor harvest, which led to a rapid increase in population thereafter; (iv) the treatment of smallpox and the Agricultural Revolution which contributed to the rising population; (v) the minimal immigration into Britain during this time, with rising emigration; (vi) high infant mortality rates contributing greatly to the low life expectancies in this period; (vii) high pregnancy and childbirth mortality of women, resulting in an increase in family structures being made up of a father, children and a second wife; (viii) increasing presences of widows as the only parent in a family, due to men marrying older than women but dying younger; (ix) an increasing pressure on social welfare as a result of these family structure changes.