History · AS: The Industrial Revolution in Britain, 1750-1850 (exams to Nov 2026). The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
Workers reacted to industrial change in three main ways. Some attacked the machines that threatened their jobs: the Luddites in the textile districts and the Captain Swing rioters in the countryside. Some demanded the vote, believing that only a reformed Parliament would help working people. Others organised for self-help through trade unions and cooperative societies.
The Reform Act of 1832 gave the vote to the middle class but not to workers. This disappointment was a main cause of Chartism.
Governments mostly answered with repression: troops, harsh laws, transportation. They made limited concessions when pressure was great, as in 1832, but rejected every Chartist petition.
Votes for women was not one of the six points of the Charter, and the Chartists did not win any of their points at the time. Do not credit them with the Reform Act of 1832, which came before the Charter.
Answer: The Chartists.
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