ABSTRACT
The most formative and seminal force in the lives of the great bulk of the English people was work. This had been true, of course, since time immemorial and was to remain so long after our period. From the tenderest of years until old age, infirmity or death intervened, labouring people were predestined to do just that – labour. For many of them, however, these years witnessed a qualitative shift in their working lives – and not for the better – as they found their lifetime’s labours located in an urban environment. Moreover, in many of the nation’s expansive industries, the very nature of employment was of a qualitatively new kind, for which no amount of previous experience – of long hours, application and endurance – was of particular benefit or relevance. An increasing number of working people were, at one and the same time, expected to adapt their domestic lives to the rigours of the urban environment and the rhythms of their working lives to the demands of new industrial processes.
