During the 17th and 18th centuries, the time of industrial revolution, the city of Manchester, England had evolved into a "Workshop of the World," yet the city had developed controversy in the aspects of social health/living conditions as scrutinized by many poets and visitors, political gain and misuse of English working class, and economic growth which resulted in much larger cities.
The largest concern of industrialized Manchester was that of the social health and living conditions of the people living in the city. The British medical journal illustrates the wretched health conditions by pointing out Manchester has the youngest average death rate for all of its populace. This is in direct correlation to the fact Manchester is the biggest industrialized city in the world at this time. Even in the other industrialized regions in Britain at the time, had higher ages of average death rates. Many visitors of this time period saw this social disgust first hand as they traveled through the crowded streets. Robert Southey, a romantic poet described it as overpopulated, crowded streets, and countless buildings blackened by smoke caused by the heavily industrialized city. This was from a man who was searching for a setting possibly for his next poem in his homeland of Britain. A French visitor saw it much harshly being it the time of the Napoleon wars (Britain renewing its war with France) and described Manchester as the total opposite of what a city should look like. Although these thoughts may be true during the peak of the industrial revolution William Abram saw is differently towards the end of the revolution and distinguished a change after the Hours of Labor in Factories Act passed in 1844. Work hours were decreased, conditions were improved, and public conditions were revived to bring out the necessities of human health and happiness. The majority of the social difficulties were attributed to the government and political authorities of the time period in Britain.