ABSTRACT
The process of industrialisation, which began in the second half of the eighteenth century, has traditionally been seen as a major watershed in the social history of England. However, it is now widely accepted that many of the important trends of this period had a much longer history, stretching back into the early modern era. These processes began to transform England from an agricultural and rural society into an industrial and predominately urban one. There were alterations to agriculture, increases in manufactured output and important changes in the structure of populations through evolving patterns of migration and the growth of towns. Although it is now rare for historians to speak in stark terms of a shift from one family form to another, the possibility remains that these changes had a profound impact on the nature of family life.
