Example history dissertation topic 5:

How important was migration to the development and growth of urban centres in the period 1700 – 1801?

The urban population of England (excluding London) grew threefold between 1700 and 1800, from 5.5% to 16.5% of the total population, whilst agricultural productivity per head rose by 47%. This resulted in a greater proportion of rural labour being available for non-agrarian work because the agrarian economy could function successfully without pressing into service the labour of all those who were born in the countryside. Consequently, the prospects for increased industrial production rose. It was not the case, however, that England’s villages emptied due to a relentless stream of labourers forced off the land and into the towns through enclosure, as industrialisation did not necessarily go hand-in-hand with increased urbanisation in this period. This dissertation addresses and evaluates the underlying trends that accounted for these trends during the period.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Everitt, A. (1979) ‘Country, county and town: Patterns of regional evolution in England’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 29, pp. 79-93.
• Glass, D.V. (1965) ‘Population and population movements in England and Wales, 1700 to 1850′, in, Glass, D.V. and Eversley, D.E.C. (eds), Population in History. Chicago: Aldine Publishing, pp. 221-246.
• Law, C.M. (1972) ‘Some notes on the urban population of England and Wales in the eighteenth century’, The Local Historian, Vol. 10(1), pp. 13-26.