1.2) Setting the Scene
The 1880s and 1890s were a period of rapid economic and social change in Great Britain.
In 1887 the British Empire reigned
supreme was at its height
but social divisions were stark
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Among these changes, the world-wide spread of steamships and railways brought a flood of cheap imports to Britain. Also the output of all types of mass produced consumer goods increased rapidly and found a ready market, particularly among the affluent middle classes.
These developments were to transform the retailing trades. Big department stores and multiple chain stores began to replace the traditional family draper or grocer.
The wages, hours and working conditions of those employed in these establishments were among the worst experienced by the employed population. Unemployment, sickness and old age,not yet regularly provided for by the State, still held terror for the worker.
This series of events towards the end of the 19th century highlight the age in which the Union's pioneers lived.
1885 - General Gordon killed taking Khartoum.
- First inoculation against rabies.
1886 - Statue of Liberty unveiled.
1888 - Jack the Ripper murdered six women in London.
1889 - Eiffel Tower completed.
- Great London Dock Strike.
1890 - Van Gogh shot himself dead.
- Rubber gloves first used in surgery.
- Opening of the first underground railway in London.
- Moving picture films shown in New York.
1891 - Conan Doyle published 'Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'.
- Factory Act forbade children under 11 to work in factories.
1893 - Henry Ford designed his first gasoline buggy.
1894 - Blackpool Tower opened.
1896 - First Olympic Games.
- Locomotives Act brought the repeal of 'Red Flag Restriction'
- Maximum speed limit raised to 14 mph.
1897 - Trained nurses only to be employed in hospitals.
- Employers' Liability Act: Responsibility for injuries to and compensation of employees injured at work.
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