ABSTRACT
The respectable working class approved of organised religion. The Religious Census of 1851 showed that 40.5 per cent of the population attended a place of worship on the particular Census Sunday. The impact of industrialism on the lives of working people has been much disputed. In the period 1830–50 there was created a legend of the working-class home under early industrialism which is still the basis of ‘golden age’ thinking by both radicals and conservatives. Women’s work raised questions about the quality and nature of family life. In the cotton districts in 1851, about 30 per cent of all married women were employed, and of these almost two-thirds were textile operatives. Industrialism gave some workers, especially the skilled, rising wages and improved standards of life, but it also brought new insecurities. Food for the working classes in the early nineteenth century was poor, and this added to the difficulties for women of providing tasty meals and a varied diet.
