Life and work in Merthyr Tydfil in the nineteenth century

The sum up of industry in Merthyr was the main(prenominal) resolve for the huge increase in universe of discourse all over a atomic number 6 old age from 1750 to 1851. The population was imaged at four hundred good deal for the yr 1750,this was bonny an account so we do not make love how reliable this is as it is just an estimate and was not an official system. However by 1801 the first census was introduced and this produced an official examine for the population in Merthyr at the while, which was sevensome thousand people. This shows a massive increase in population in just over fifty eld. The population move to climb up until 1851 where it r each(prenominal)ed forty hexad thousand people. ancestor A1The population of Merthyr TydfiltwelvemonthPopulation175040018017,000183130,000185146,000The atomic number 18a of Merthyr was ideally situated for an iron plant, as the mountains to a higher place were inexhaustible pedigrees of Iron ore, char, limestone, fire stone and fire clay. at that place were several iron works in Merthyr at the time but the ones of Mr.Crawshays were the grandest and largest. The workers requital averaged 3 a month. This covered Men, Women and Children. The utmost wage of the workers was nine Guineas, which was 9.45 per month. However this compared to Crawshay was postal code as he was earning a bumper 36,000 per annum.These facts and figures issue forth from witness A2 from the re descent booklet. Rev. George Capper produced the address in a journal of a trip of Wales. This therefore makes the root a actually reliable piece of evidence as Reverend George wrote it, who would guide been a authentic and respected member of society. Also he would have had no reason to gather in a biased view on the subject. The source is very useful to a historian perusal the works in Merthyr as it gives information regarding the size of the works and wage structures of the factory.Transport played a major part in the branch of Merthyr as an industrial town. In 1790 plans were swan forward to construct a canal, which would go from Merthyr to Cardiff.It cost 103,600 and took four years to build. On its completion in February 1794 the canal mensural 241/2 miles. The canal allowed raw materials to be transported at a much double-quick rate than previously, it could also transport a larger amount of goods at a time, compared to the old method of a knight and cart. Source A5(ii) shows how in ten years the use of the canal went from 83,729 tons of sear a year to 211,214 tons of coal a year.The levels of discontent in Merthyr fathered to rise at the start of the nineteenth century. on that orient were many factors that contributed to this one of them was motortruck tokens that were issued to workers as payment. This caused discontent because the tokens could only be fatigued in the shops, which were owned by the truck companies. The goods were highly priced and poor in quality, this along with a number of other issues including the tell apart of the government at the time lastly led to the start of the revolutions in Merthyr at the start of the nineteenth century.Source B2 explains how the riot in Merthyr had reached such a point that it would be impossible to stop without the help of the military. It also explains what the rioters were doing during the riot, how they had demolished truck shops, the main one being the Morgan Lewis shop. It goes on to distinguish that he thought there were in excess of two thousand people doing all the mischief they can. G.Lyndon produced the source in a garner to Samuel Homfray on the 20-second September 1800. It would have been reliable because the letter was shoot downn from the time of the riot, also source B3 is shows a word-painting of troops arriving in Merthyr which backs up what is said in the letter. The painting is a coetaneous painting by Penry Williams.Even though it is a contemporary painting it may not be an entirel y reliable source as the artist may have magnified the scene, it would have been much reliable if it had been a photo instead of a painting. This would run the usefulness of the source to an historian studying the events in Merthyr. The usefulness of the letter is that it would have been able to tell historians exactly what was waiver on in Merthyr at the time and how serious the riots actually were.At the start of the nineteenth radical ideas started to become more popular in Merthyr. They believed that wide surmount reforms were needed in Merthyr at the time. These views are put across in source B4, which is part of an anonymous paper, found draw close Penydarren on 27th January 1817. It talks most the misery of the people of Merthyr and how if changes are not made soon the workers will take the law into their own hands.Source A1 shows the ingathering in population in Merthyr over a hundred years from 1750 to 1831. Source C1 shows the census of 1851 in detail. The dependa bility of this source is put into question as it says that the center population in Merthyr in the year 1851 is six thousand, five hundred and xx eight. If this is compared to source A1, where it states that the population in Merthyr was actually thirty thousand people. Therefore there is a difference of nearly twenty five thousand between each source. This also casts doubt over the reliability of source A1, however in my credence source I believe that source A1 would be more reliable than source C1 because source A1 supports the fact that Merthyr was booming due(p) to the increasing size of the ironworks at the time.