From Cottage to Factory: How the Industrial Revolution Shaped our Ancestors’ Lives

2 August 2026 MKHA Webmaster MKHA member events, Speaker meetings 0

Griffiths' Guide to the iron trade of Great Britain
Griffiths, Samuel, editor of "The London Iron Trade Exchange", No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Buckinghamshire Family History Society

Wednesday, 2nd September 2026 at 7.30 pm
Methodist Church, Queensway, Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes MK2 2HB

 This talk by Dr Richard Marks traces the journey from cottage industries and rural handcrafts to the rise of factories, steam power and bustling industrial towns. Drawing on vivid examples from textiles, railways, and local trades, the session will show how industrialisation created new opportunities but also new challenges, from child labour and urban overcrowding to migration and social mobility.

By connecting economic history with genealogical sources, the talk will help family historians see the Industrial Revolution not as distant history but as a living context for their own ancestors’ experiences.

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