Unfortunately, there were certain aspects of the Industrial Revolution which were rather unexpected. The one which had the most impact on the British economy was the improvement of transportation, including the invention of refrigerated shipping crates. This meant that cheap grain and, to a lesser extent, meat, could be shipped from South America, Africa and Australia to Great Britain. All of a sudden the market was flooded with cheap foods and the price of grain fell dramatically. Yeomen, seeing far more stable jobs in industry, left their land to go work in factories.
What followed was "The Great Depression," a rather strange economic catastrophe where unemployment dropped, the average real wage rose, and prices dropped, from an of 96 in 1880, to an index of 68 in 1895, not reaching the base years until the two years prior to the first World War. (Perkin, pg. 37) However, during The Great Depression, real wages rose, something which has even led historians to argue whether this can be counted as a "Depression" or not. (Perkin, page 37). Although it may have seemed as though the lower classes were seeing difficult times, it was really the wealthy landowners who were hurt: they had great deals of land which was expensive to maintain, and, because agriculture was no longer profitable, no renters. The traditional ways were no longer acceptable: landowners were literally renting out their land at any price they could get.(Perkin, pg. 66) In some parts of the country, the average rent of land fell 35% between 1871 and 1896. (Perkin, pg. 38) As the number of millionaire landlords fell from 118 in the 1870's, to just thirty-six by the end of the nineteenth century, (Perkin, pg. 64) Society saw its brightest lights, such as the Duke of Manchester who's income fell by almost half, fade into a pathetic poverty.