In the 19th century machines in factories were usually operated by steam engines. At the end of the 19th century they began to convert to electricity.

In the mid 19th century travel was revolutionised by railways. They made travel much faster. (They also removed the danger of highwaymen). The Stockton and Darlington railway opened in 1825. However the first major railway was from Liverpool to Manchester. It opened in 1830. In the 1840s there was a huge boom in building railways and most towns in Britain were connected.

The first underground railway in Britain was built in London in 1863. Steam locomotives pulled the carriages. The first electric underground trains began running in London in 1890.

Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler made the first cars in 1885 and 1886.

Meanwhile at sea travel was revolutionised by the steam ship. By 1815 steamships were crossing the English Channel. Furthermore it used to take several weeks to cross the Atlantic. Then in 1838 a steam ship called the Sirius made the journey in 19 days. However steam did not completely replace sail until 1897 when Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine.

A number of inventions to do with clothing were made in the 19th century. The safety pin was invented in 1849. Henry Seely invented the electric iron in 1882 but it did not become common until the 1930s. Dry cleaning was invented in 1855. The zip fastener was invented in 1893.

Gaslight first became common in well off people's homes in the 1840s. By the late 1870s most working class homes had gaslight, at least downstairs. Bedrooms might have oil lamps. Gas fires first became common in the 1880s. Gas cookers first became common in the 1890s.

Joseph Swan invented the electric light bulb in 1878. The first town to have electric streetlight was Godalming in 1881.

During the 19th century medicine made great advances. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) proved that microscopic organisms caused disease. In the early 19th century many scientists believed in spontaneous generation i.e. that some living things spontaneously grew from non-living matter. In a series of experiments between 1857 and 1863 Pasteur proved this was not so. Once doctors what caused disease they made rapid headway in finding cures or preventions.

Surgery was greatly improved by the discovery of Anaesthetics. As early as 1799 the inventor Humphrey Davy (1778-1829) realised that inhaling ether relieved pain. Unfortunately decades passed before it was actually used. An American dentist Henry H. Morgan began using ether in 1846. In the same year ether was used as an anaesthetic by surgeons.

James Simpson (1811-1870), who was Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University, began using chloroform for operations in 1847. Incredibly some people disapproved of using chloroform to relieve pain, especially if it was used to help women giving birth. Some people thought that childbirth ought to be painful! However in 1853 Queen Victoria insisted in having chloroform when she gave birth to her eight child. Afterwards most of the opposition to using chloroform ended. Nobody dared criticise the queen!

In 1865 Joseph Lister (1828-1912) discovered antiseptic surgery, which enabled surgeons to perform many more complicated operations. Lister prevented infection by spraying carbolic acid over the patient during surgery. German surgeons developed a better method. The surgeons hands and clothes were sterilised before the operation and surgical instruments were sterilised with super heated steam.

Rubber gloves were first used in surgery in 1890.

Anaesthetics and antiseptics made surgery much safer. They allowed far more complicated operations.

In 1851 Herman von Helmholtz invented the ophthalmoscope. The hypodermic syringe was invented in France in 1853.

In 1895 x-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen. The same year aspirin was invented.

During the 19th century people discovered new materials. Portland cement was invented in 1824. In 1839 Charles Goodyear discovered rubber vulcanisation and celluloid was invented in 1869.

In 1856 Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) invented the Bessemer converter, which converted iron to steel by blowing air through it while molten.

Meanwhile a whole host of inventions improved life for people during the 19th century. These included the lawn mower in 1830. Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper in 1831 and the cash register in 1879. Other useful inventions were barbed wire by Joseph Glidden in 1873, the electric fan in 1882 and the fountain pen in 1884. In 1885 Donald Dewar invented the vacuum flask.

At the end of the 19th century bicycling became a popular sport. The safety bicycle went on sale in 1885 and in 1892 John Boyd Dunlop invented pneumatic tyres (much more comfortable than solid rubber ones!) Bicycling clubs became common.

The steam driven printing press was invented in 1814 allowing newspapers to become more common.

One new hobby in the 19th century was photography. Henry Fox Talbot took the first photograph in 1835. However photography was more than just a pastime. In 1871 a writer said that one of the great comforts for the working class was having a photo of a family member who was working a long way off. They could be reminded what their loved one looked like.

The first cheap camera was invented in 1888 by George Eastman. Afterwards photography became a popular hobby.

The industrial revolution also transformed warfare. Railways meant armies could be transported much faster than before. The telegraph meant that messages could also be transmitted much faster.

At the beginning of the 19th century Sir William Congreve (1772-1828) developed the Congreve rocket. These rockets were used at Copenhagen in 1807 and they set most of the town on fire. However rockets lacked both range and accuracy and after the Napoleonic Wars they fell from favour.

Meanwhile in 1807 a Scot named Alexander Forsyth patented the percussion cap. When a trigger was pulled a hammer hit a container of fulminate of mercury, which exploded and ignited the charge of gunpowder. The percussion cap replaced the flint lock.

In 1837 Johann von Dreyse invented the first breech loading firearm, the needle-gun. It was adopted by the Prussian army in 1841. Over the following decades the breech loading rifle was refined and improved.

Breech loading guns greatly increased the rate of fire. The British army began using breech loading guns in 1865.

The range of guns was improved by rifling. Some guns had been rifled for centuries but it only became commonplace in the 19th century.

In the late 19th century rifles were improved further by the introduction of magazines, which greatly increased the rate of fire.

Meanwhile in 1835 Samuel Colt invented the revolver. Traditionally the cavalry fought with pistols and swords but the revolver made swords obsolete.

In the 19th century many people experimented with machine guns. In 1862 Richard Gatling invented the Gatling gun. However the first really successful machine gun was the maxim gun, invented by Hiram Maxim in 1884. It was adopted by the British army in 1889.

War at sea was changed by exploding shells, by steam engines and by iron ships. In 1858 the French launched La Gloire. It was made with plates of iron fixed onto timber. However in 1860 Britain launched HMS warrior. This ship was made with an iron hull instead of a wooden hull with iron plates fixed on. Soon the traditional gun deck on warships was replaced by turret guns on the top deck.

In the 1860s Robert Whitehead developed the modern torpedo. The British navy began making torpedoes in 1871.

In the 19th century new explosives were invented to replace gunpowder. TNT was invented in 1863 and dynamite followed in 1867. Cordite was invented in 1889.

To read more about life in the 19th century click here.

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