Many of the foregoing chapters have been concerned with outlining the nature of the changes which transformed Britain from a pre-dominantly agricultural country into the leading industrial country in the world in the early nineteenth century. In this chapter the effect of these changes on the way of life of the working people must be considered. A most important effect of the industrial development of the country after 1700 was to change the occupation by which many people earned their livings. Not all these changes in occupations involved very drastic alterations to people’s way of life, but one very significant trend was emerging during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries — the unit of industrial organisation was expanding rapidly.