Georgian Britain (1714–1830) was a place of rapid social and economic change and radical new ideas. If you want to find out more about the period, Channel 4's Georgian Underworld website takes an in-depth look at the great social upheavals of the age and examines why they came about and what they led to.
Wicked City
In the teeming cities of 18th-century Britain, the Georgians were beginning to explore their new social and economic freedoms. Big money, global trade and the open exploration of sex and sexuality were all part of the cosmopolitan urban landscape. But for Henry Fielding, poverty and crime were the flip side of this economic progress.
Find out more in Wicked City» on the Georgian Underworld website
In the teeming cities of 18th-century Britain, the Georgians were beginning to explore their new social and economic freedoms. Big money, global trade and the open exploration of sex and sexuality were all part of the cosmopolitan urban landscape. But for Henry Fielding, poverty and crime were the flip side of this economic progress.
Find out more in Wicked City» on the Georgian Underworld website
Liberation
Enlightenment ideas began to gain ground in Georgian Britain. Art began a move from the private to the public sphere, and there was an explosion of popular comic, political and satirical writing. This was also when Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, wrote her 'Vindication of the Rights of Women' in which she denounces marriage as 'legalised prostitution'.
Read more about these radical new ideas in Liberation» on the Georgian Underworld website.
Enlightenment ideas began to gain ground in Georgian Britain. Art began a move from the private to the public sphere, and there was an explosion of popular comic, political and satirical writing. This was also when Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, wrote her 'Vindication of the Rights of Women' in which she denounces marriage as 'legalised prostitution'.
Read more about these radical new ideas in Liberation» on the Georgian Underworld website.
Doing Good
Problems of crime and destitution in Georgian Britain prompted a revolution in concern for the poor. With visionary ideas on prison reform, charitable hospitals and anti-slavery campaigns, philanthropists such as Hannah More and Thomas Coram sought to tackle the underlying causes of criminality and put an end to the poverty and destitution of Georgian society.
Find out more in Doing Good» on the Georgian Underworld website.
Problems of crime and destitution in Georgian Britain prompted a revolution in concern for the poor. With visionary ideas on prison reform, charitable hospitals and anti-slavery campaigns, philanthropists such as Hannah More and Thomas Coram sought to tackle the underlying causes of criminality and put an end to the poverty and destitution of Georgian society.
Find out more in Doing Good» on the Georgian Underworld website.
Radicals
As workers organised against the effects of new machines replacing skilled workers in the cotton industry, we see the beginnings of what eventually became the trade union movement. Also inspired by the political aims of the French Revolution, the workers' goals went beyond the Luddites' smashing of factory machines. Following some historic clashes, such as the bread riots of 1816 and the Peterloo Massacre, their campaign achieved a political victory in the 1832 parliamentary Reform Act.
Find out more in Radicals» on the Georgian Underworld website.
As workers organised against the effects of new machines replacing skilled workers in the cotton industry, we see the beginnings of what eventually became the trade union movement. Also inspired by the political aims of the French Revolution, the workers' goals went beyond the Luddites' smashing of factory machines. Following some historic clashes, such as the bread riots of 1816 and the Peterloo Massacre, their campaign achieved a political victory in the 1832 parliamentary Reform Act.
Find out more in Radicals» on the Georgian Underworld website.
Lawbreakers
While the Fielding brothers and their Bow Street Runners attempted to bring law and order to the streets of London, some criminals became folk heroes because they defied the harsh social rules that oppressed working people. The time was ripe to reform both the prison system and the society that forced so many into destitution and crime.
Find out more in Lawbreakers» on the Georgian Underworld website.
While the Fielding brothers and their Bow Street Runners attempted to bring law and order to the streets of London, some criminals became folk heroes because they defied the harsh social rules that oppressed working people. The time was ripe to reform both the prison system and the society that forced so many into destitution and crime.
Find out more in Lawbreakers» on the Georgian Underworld website.
