Museum of Science and Industry

By the time Manchester received city status in 1853, it had undergone several transformations. From Roman settlement to medieval market town, Manchester remained an obscure backwater. The Industrial Revolution changed that, putting Manchester on the map as the 'shock city' of the age.

Manchester's population exploded from 40,000 in 1788 to more than 300,000 in 1850. Extremes of wealth and poverty lay close together. This social and economic revolution drew international attention, attracting praise and disgust in equal measure. It inspired Friedrich Engels, who arrived to work at his father's Salford cotton mill, to write The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Urban growth fostered both civic pride and radicalism. Manchester people played a central role in struggles for the right to vote, free trade and improved living conditions. It was the scene of the Peterloo Massacre (1819), the first Trades Union Congress (1868) and the formation of the Woman's Social and Political Union (1903).