Social
- 74% of children die before they are five, this figure goes up to 90% with children who live in workhouses.
- In the early 18th Century a third of the population die from small pox.
- The roads between towns, cities and villages were dangerous due to the number of highwayman that patrolled them.
- Religion was out of fashion in the early 1700s but by the mid 18th Century there was a great enthusiasm reinstalled in the nation.
- In 1742 construction started for the Coram Foundling Hospital.
- In upper class families that sent their children to school, the girls would study embroidery and music in contrast to science and other more academic subjects that boys were taught.
- The upper class had a social hierarchy of their own. There was the landowners, who had political power, the gentry and then the yeomen. This was on top of the strict class boundaries of the middle and working classes.
Cultural
- The Church and the state were separated but in 1710 there was an attempt to reunify the two entities, this failed in 1714.
- The first performance of 'Rule Britania' was in 1740.
- Handel composed 'Messiah' in 1740 and it was first performed in 1741 in Dublin.
- The west tower of Westminster Abbey was built in 1745
- Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833 but anti-slavery feelings were expressed by the Pope as early as 1741.
Economic
- In the 1700s half the population worked in agriculture and manufacturing. The Industrial Revolution was in its infancy, but the might of industrial Britain was not created at this time.
- In 1712 Thomas Newcomen invented the steam powered piston engine which laid the foundation for the steam engine and the development of that to power trains, this was a driving force of the Industrial Revolution.
- 1747 saw Liverpool overtake Bristol as the leading slave trading port.
Political
- In 1743 George II led the English army into battle in the War of Austrian Succession. This was the last time a British monarch led the army into war.
- In 1707 England and Wales (which was invaded by the English in 1283 and gradually absorbed into the English political system) created a union with Scotland.
- Gloucester was run by merchants.
- 1742 saw Prussia (Germany) and England create an anti-French treaty, England and France were fighting throughout this century.
- The 1751 'Murder Act' meant murderers would suffer public dissection or hanging in the gibbet.
- In the mid-1700s an act was past that prevented infants from being raised in workhouses.
- The early 18th Century saw the fist premier of England in Walpole who used bribery and political maneuvering to invent a his own job, leading parliament. He was the first person in public office to live at 10 Downing Street. In 1742 he was forced to resign due to a poor election and questions over his leadership when dealing with a war with Spain. He was replaced by the Earl of Wilmington, Spencer Compton, who held office until he died a year later.
- In 1751 a tax on gin was introduced to try and lower the excessive drinking problem that England had.
- The Empire was taking shape throughout this period, it was based on merchantism which meant private companies such as the East India Trading Company would do business overseas and be supported by troops from the state. India was taken over in 1757.
