Chapter 3 · A long and illustrious history

A global power: Life in the UK test study notes

After 1688 Britain developed a constitutional monarchy in which Parliament held real power, and Sir Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister in 1721. Jacobite hopes of restoring the Stuarts ended at Culloden in 1746, and the Highland Clearances later forced many Scots from their land. The 18th-century Enlightenment produced thinkers such as Adam Smith and David Hume. James Watt's work on steam helped to drive the Industrial Revolution, which was built on coal, iron, canals, factories and, later, cheap steel. Britain was also deeply involved in the slave trade. Then campaigners such as the Quakers and William Wilberforce helped to secure its abolition in 1807. This was followed by the end of slavery in the colonies in 1833. Britain lost its American colonies but defeated Napoleon's France at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Under Queen Victoria the Empire became the largest the world had seen. The 19th century also brought the Great Exhibition, the Crimean War, the Irish famine, gradual reform of voting and a growing campaign for women's rights.

Key facts to remember

1656 – Jewish people settle in London, returning to Britain for the first time since the Middle Ages.
Huguenots – French Protestants persecuted for their religion; many settle in Britain and, being well educated, work as scientists, bankers, weavers and craftspeople.
1689 – the Bill of Rights confirms Parliament's rights, requires the monarch to be a Protestant and requires parliamentary elections at least every three years.
After 1688, only men who own property of a certain value can vote; women cannot vote at all.
Pocket and rotten boroughs – a 'pocket borough' is a seat controlled by one wealthy family; a 'rotten borough' is a constituency with hardly any voters.
1695 – newspapers no longer need a government licence, an important step towards a free press.
1707 – the Act of Union creates the Kingdom of Great Britain, without Ireland; Scotland is no longer independent but keeps its own legal system, education system and Presbyterian Church.
1714 – Parliament chooses George I as king because he is Queen Anne's nearest Protestant relative.
1721–42 – Sir Robert Walpole serves as the first Prime Minister.
1746 – Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobites are defeated at Culloden; in the later Highland Clearances, landlords destroy many small farms, called crofts, to make way for sheep and cattle.
Robert Burns (1759–96), 'The Bard', writes in Scots, in English with Scottish words and in standard English; his Auld Lang Syne, based on a song he reworked, is sung at New Year (Hogmanay).
The Enlightenment: Adam Smith (economics), David Hume (philosophy) and James Watt (steam power).
A key Enlightenment idea: people should be free to hold their own political and religious beliefs, without the state dictating them.
Until the 1700s, agriculture is Britain's main employer, alongside cottage industries making goods such as cloth at home.
New machinery and steam power drive the Industrial Revolution; Britain leads the world in large-scale industrialisation.
Industrial Revolution: Richard Arkwright's efficient factories, canals linking factories to towns, cities and ports, coal and iron, and the Bessemer process for mass-producing steel.
Cheap steel from the Bessemer process boosts shipbuilding and the railways.
Richard Arkwright starts out as a barber and wig-maker before moving into textiles, where he pioneers factory production.
Working conditions in the factories are harsh and unregulated, and children are often treated as badly as adults, or worse.
1846 – the Corn Laws are repealed, so cheaper grain and raw materials can be imported, which helps British industry.
Captain James Cook maps the coast of Australia in the 18th century, and the first colonies follow.
Imports – tea, spices and textiles come from India and present-day Indonesia; sugar and tobacco come from the West Indies and North America.
1810 – Sake Dean Mahomet opens Britain's first curry house in London.
The slave trade – British ships carry enslaved people, mostly from West Africa, to work on plantations in America and the Caribbean.
In the late 18th century the Quakers set up the first formal anti-slavery groups and petition Parliament to end the slave trade.
1807 – it becomes illegal to use British ships, or to sail from British ports, to trade in slaves; 1833 – slavery is abolished in the British colonies. Campaigners include William Wilberforce and the Quakers.
The American colonists object to being taxed by a Parliament in which they have no representation: 'no taxation without representation'.
1776 – the American colonies declare independence; 1805 – Nelson wins at Trafalgar but is killed; 1815 – Wellington defeats Napoleon at Waterloo.
Visitors can go aboard Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, in Portsmouth. Wellington, who beat Napoleon at Waterloo, later becomes Prime Minister.
1801 – Ireland joins Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Union Flag combines the crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick.
Wales and its dragon are not shown on the Union Flag because Wales was already united with England when the first Union Flag was made in 1606.
On the Union Flag, the crosses of St Andrew (white on blue) and St Patrick (red on white) are diagonal; St George's red cross is upright.
1837–1901 – reign of Queen Victoria, as the British Empire grows to include India, Australia and much of Africa.
1851 – the Great Exhibition takes place in Hyde Park inside the Crystal Palace, a vast building of iron and glass; most of the goods on show are British-made.
The Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel builds the Great Western Railway, bridges, tunnels and ships.
Brunel's Great Western Railway, linking London Paddington with the south-west, the West Midlands and Wales, is Britain's first major railway.
1853–1913 – emigration is encouraged, and up to 13 million British citizens leave the country.
1853–56 – Crimean War; Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, cares for soldiers; the Victoria Cross is introduced.
In the Crimean War Britain, France and Turkey fight Russia; it is the first war that the media report on extensively, using news stories and photographs.
From 1845 – the Irish famine kills around a million people; around 1.5 million leave Ireland, and by 1861 Liverpool, London, Manchester and Glasgow have large Irish communities.
Charles Stewart Parnell (the handbook spells it 'Stuart') supports 'Home Rule', under which Ireland would remain part of the UK while having a parliament of its own. Groups such as the Fenians want full independence.
1832 – the Reform Act increases the number of voters; from 1838 the Chartists campaign for votes for all men, including working people and others without property.
1870 and 1882 – Married Women's Property Acts let wives keep their own earnings and property, which until then legally belonged to their husbands.
1903 – Emmeline Pankhurst helps found the WSPU, whose members are called suffragettes; they chain themselves to railings, break windows and go on hunger strike.
1899–1902 – British forces fight the Boers, settlers of Dutch origin (from the Netherlands), in South Africa; the hard-fought war raises questions about the Empire's future.
1907 – Rudyard Kipling, born in India in 1865, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature; his books include The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories.
In the later 20th century, as colonies gain more freedom, the move from Empire to Commonwealth is mostly peaceful and orderly.

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These notes summarise the official handbook, Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents (3rd edition), which all the test questions come from. Try the free chapter 3 questions.