The Industrial Revolution is not mentioned specifically, but implied in Jane Austen’s novels, the more rapid means of transportation being one of them. Life was hard for the working poor, and many died premature deaths. But miracles did occur. Take the tale of John Evans, a miner in a coal pit at Pentre’r Fram Colliery, Minera, Wrexham, Wales. On the 27th of September in 1819, almost 200 years ago, the pit flooded and two men lost their lives and a third went missing.
John Evans in 1819. Image from the National Museum Wales
The miner was trapped by the flood 120 yards below the surface with 18 other men. Fifteen were rescued, but not Evans and two other miners. During the 7 days that it took to pump the water out, three coffins were made to bury the presumed dead men. On day 8, two bodies were recovered, but John Evans was nowhere to be found. His wife begged for the rescuers to continue so that she could give her husband a proper burial.
He was found alive on the 13th day. His daughter reported that he had managed to survive by eating tallow candles and drinking water droplets from the roof of the mine. After his rescue, John took the coffin home with him and used it as a cupboard for many years. He died in April, 1865 at the advanced age of 73. The colliery closed during the Depression after 124 years of continuous work. – Callaghan Family Archives
Jane Austen's World 
It is no surprise that the term ‘industrial revolution’ is not used by Austen is that it was not coined until years after her death:
”industrial revolution n. a rapid development in industry; spec. (freq. with capital initials) the development which took place in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, chiefly owing to the introduction of new or improved machinery and large-scale production methods.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. II. iii. xvii. 119 The opening of a foreign trade..sometimes works a complete industrial revolution in a country whose resources were previously undeveloped.
1884 A. Toynbee (title) Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England . . ‘
I meant ‘ . . AS it was not coined . . ‘
Agreed, Chris. What I meant to say was that she did not comment on the rapid changes. Interesting, for her life must have benefited greatly from the inventions. She does mention the Rumford stove in Northanger Abbey, but this is rare.
the real point Jane austen rarely describes the working classes because it was out of her experience. Probably she didn’t mention the issues of the industrial revolution because never saw directly the trasformations of an exploding industrial city like manchester. i don’t think that industrial revolution affected noticeably the still rural areas in which she lived. she doesn’t mention also the problems liked to the enclosure act. also, these problems and their social implcations became evident much later, when Mrs. Gaskell wrote about them.
Yes I’ve wondered about Jane’s experience of the agricultural revolution. Her brother Edward Knight was a rich landowner with estates in Hampshire, at Chawton and in Kent just outside of Canterbury. He must have had to grapple with the changing rural scene.. Jane must have observed it all.
She wrote about the changing face of Briitain, most obviously in Sanditon which was a new type of settlement new invented in the 18th century.Sanditon would have been about the intricacies of it’s development and social mix. Why didn’t the agricultural or industrial revolution impinge on her ? Maybe she chose to ignore it.She lived at time when Romanticism was holding sway but there is no inclination towards the Romantics way of looking at life either.
Hola. Yo creo que el tema de las clases trabajadores no está muy explotado en las novelas de Jane Austen nu en ninguna novela de regencia. Me ha gustado el post y conocer la vida de este minero.
Un saludo!
I was reading Sense and Sensibility the other day, and noticed for the first time, a reference to enclosure (ch. 33). John Dashwood is telling Elinor about all of the expenses he has:
“He paused for her assent and compassion; and she forced herself to say,
“Your expenses both in town and country must certainly be considerable;
but your income is a large one.”
“Not so large, I dare say, as many people suppose. I do not mean to
complain, however; it is undoubtedly a comfortable one, and I hope will
in time be better. The enclosure of Norland Common, now carrying on,
is a most serious drain. And then I have made a little purchase within
this half year; East Kingham Farm, you must remember the place, where
old Gibson used to live. The land was so very desirable for me in
every respect, so immediately adjoining my own property, that I felt it
my duty to buy it. I could not have answered it to my conscience to
let it fall into any other hands. A man must pay for his convenience;
and it HAS cost me a vast deal of money.”
This speech is just dripping with irony, in my opinion. :-)
Good job they weren’t using wax candles by then …!
Good for John Evans. Two of my ggrandfathers were killed in the mines in PA.
It’s amazing what mankind accomplished without the use of modern technology.