The Age of Industrialisation – important questions for Boards 2027

CBSE Class 10 Social Science

1. VSA · 1 mark

   Which industries led British industrial growth before and after the 1840s?

   Answer

   Cotton led Britain’s industrial growth up to the 1840s; iron and steel led afterwards, as railway expansion increased demand.

2. SA · 2 marks

   How did British industrialists seek to protect and expand the market for their cotton goods? State how the share of cotton piece-goods in Indian imports changed by 1850 and the 1870s.

   Answer

   British industrialists pressurised the government to impose import duties on cotton textiles, protecting Manchester goods in Britain. They persuaded the East India Company to sell British manufactures in India. Cotton piece-goods formed over 31 per cent of Indian imports by 1850 and over 50 per cent by the 1870s.

3. MA · 3 marks

   State when the earliest factories appeared in England and when their numbers multiplied. Then describe the change in British raw-cotton imports between 1760 and 1787.

   Answer

   1. The earliest factories in England came up by the 1730s, while the number of factories multiplied only in the late eighteenth century. 2. In 1760, Britain was importing 2.5 million pounds of raw cotton to feed its growing cotton industry. 3. By 1787, the import figure had soared to 22 million pounds, an increase linked to changes in the process of production.

4. LA · 5 marks

   Explain why wage averages did not fully show workers’ welfare. Include the effects of rising prices and periods of employment, the extent of poverty and unemployment, and workers’ opposition to the Spinning Jenny.

   Answer

   Wage averages alone could not reveal the insecurity and hardship faced by workers. 1. Average figures concealed differences between trades and fluctuations from year to year, so rising average wages did not necessarily mean improved welfare. 2. During the prolonged Napoleonic War, prices rose sharply and workers’ real earnings fell because the same wages bought fewer things. Income also depended on the number of days employed, which determined average daily income. 3. Even at the best of times until the mid-nineteenth century, about 10 per cent of the urban population were extremely poor. During the economic slump of the 1830s, unemployment rose to between 35 and 75 per cent in different regions. 4. Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the Spinning Jenny, which reduced the demand for manual labour; women who depended on hand spinning attacked the machines. Thus, wage averages concealed poverty, insecure employment and the threat of new technology.

5. VSA · 1 mark

   By the end of the nineteenth century, what proportion of the total workforce was employed in technologically advanced industrial sectors?

   Answer

   At the end of the nineteenth century, less than 20 per cent of the total workforce was employed in technologically advanced industrial sectors.

6. SA · 2 marks

   How did trade with China help some Indian businesspeople accumulate capital for industrial investment? Name one entrepreneur or business group that followed this path.

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7. MA · 3 marks

   How did eighteenth-century inventions affect production and output per worker? Explain how Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill changed the organisation of cloth production.

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8. LA · 5 marks

   Describe how the Spinning Jenny changed spinning and labour demand. What treatment did jobless people experience in workhouses and Casual Wards?

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9. VSA · 1 mark

   Give one reason why British industrialists were cautious about adopting new technology.

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10. SA · 2 marks

    Besides overseas China trade, name other regions with which Indian merchants traded and describe one way internal traders helped finance business.

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