The Iron Men

The Workers Who Created the New Iron Age

Anthony Burton

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2015
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780750975568
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

This is the story of how a change in how iron was made in the 18th century changed the world forever, and of the men and women who made it happen. The production of iron around 700BC was so important that it was called the Iron Age. This was the second Iron Age. Iron made the machines of the industrial revolution; it transformed transport with iron ships and iron trains running on iron rails; iron- framed buildings were the prototypes of the modern skyscraper. But progress was bought at a price: the knife grinders of Sheffield were lucky to survive to reach their 30th birthday before dying of ruined lungs. The women chain makers of the Black Country were described in the 19th century as "The White Slaves of England." This is a story that mixes brilliant innovation with hardship and struggle.

Table of contents

• Title
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The First Iron Age
• 2 The Darbys of Coalbrookdale
• 3 The Industry Develops
• 4 Nails and Chains
• 5 The ‘Colossus of Roads’
• 6 Steam and Iron Rails
• 7 The Iron Ship
• 8 The Iron Frame
• 9 The Beginnings of a Steel Industry
• 10 The Tin Can
• 11 The New Steel Age
• 12 The Triumph of Steel
• 13 Onwards and Upwards
• 14 The Modern Age
• Select Bibliography
• Copyright