A Second Revolution
New inventions began to transform people's lives. How many do we still use today?

• Coal gas was used in most homes for lighting, heating and cooking. By the end of the 19th century, gas had been replaced by electricity - a much safer source

• Phosphorus was used to make matches

• Street lighting, using piped gas at first, made the streets much safer at night and helped cut crime

• Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone

• Edison invented the light bulb and the gramophone (an early record player)

• Oil was discovered in America and the first petroleum (petrol) was made

• The wireless radio was first developed in 1896.

• Nobody had heard of digital technology!

The colonies provided raw materials such as tea, spices, raw cotton and flax, wool, diamonds or gold. They were forbidden to make their own goods but had to buy the products made in British factories.

The industrialists and the merchants - who handled the buying and selling of products - became incredibly rich. Back home, they spent their new-found wealth on luxury items and grand houses.

Thousands of people headed for the colonies in search of a better life. During the Clearances, families were encouraged to leave the Scottish Highlands for the New World.

An Epic Era
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Britain was the richest country in the world. Scotland's wealth was based on heavy industry. It was a world centre for steel production, shipbuilding and engineering. Coal from Scottish mines was sent to all corners of the globe. The foundations of modern Scotland had been laid.

	Queen Victoria Victoria was the grand-daughter of George III. She was only 18 when she became queen and her reign was one of the longest in British history. She visited Scotland many times with her husband, Prince Albert. When she bought Balmoral Castle as a holiday home, she started a fashion for buying Highland estates amongst the wealthy Victorians.

Medicine and Health
There were huge advances in surgery and the treatment of disease. Scientists made the link between germs and disease. They developed ways to inoculate (give people tiny doses of germs to build up a resistance) large numbers of people against typhoid, cholera and tuberculosis. The unhealthy living conditions of the time meant that these diseases were not uncommon. At the same time, local councils provided clean water and built proper sewers.

Patients were more likely to survive operations. The shock of surgery often killed people. Now surgeons used anaesthetics - ether and chloroform - to knock people out before lifting their knives. Antiseptics were used to prevent blood poisoning.

Iron Horses
By 1870, thousands of miles of railways had been laid across Britain. The railways speeded up the transport of goods and raw materials but they also carried passengers. George Stevenson built the first Scottish railway between Glasgow and Garnkirk in Lanarkshire in 1831. Now that transport was quicker and cheaper, holidays to the seaside and other places became very popular.

A Better Life?
The slave trade horrified the Victorian middle classes, but some of the worst slavery was on their doorstep, in the factories and mines across Britain. Orphanages and poor houses dealt with the worst cases of poverty but they were grim, brutal places.

Social reformers tried to improve poor people's lives. At the same time, trade unions (organised groups of workers) began demanding fairer wages and better working conditions. Meanwhile, local councils provided public baths, museums, libraries and parks. Most of these are still in use today.

Glossary

Colonies
Countries taken by force and made part of a more powerful country's empire. A colonised country usually has a raw material which the powerful country wants.