Editing Leicester (section)

====Industrial era====
[[File:Butler Leicester Seamstress front.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Leicester Seamstress'' by [[James Butler (artist)|James Walter Butler]] (1990)<br />Leicester, Hotel Street]]
The construction of the [[Grand Union Canal]] in the 1790s linked Leicester to London and [[Birmingham]]. The first railway station in Leicester opened in 1832, in the form of the [[Leicester and Swannington Railway]] which provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries.{{sfn|Butt|1995|p=141}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Victorian Leicester |last=Elliott |first=Malcolm |publisher=Phillimore |year=1979 |isbn=0-85033-327-X |location=London and Chichester |pages=26}}</ref> The [[Midland Counties Railway]] (running from [[Derby railway station|Derby]] to [[Rugby railway station|Rugby]]) linked the town to the national network by 1840. A direct link to [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras]] was established by the [[Midland Railway]] in the 1860s. These developments encouraged and accompanied a [[Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom|process of industrialisation]] which intensified throughout the reign of [[Queen Victoria]]. Factories began to appear, particularly along the canal and river, and districts such as [[Frog Island, Leicester|Frog Island]] and [[Woodgate, Leicestershire|Woodgate]] were the locations of numerous large mills. Between 1861 and 1901, Leicester's population increased from {{nowrap|68,100}} to {{nowrap|211,600}} {{citation needed|date=October 2015}}and the proportion employed in trade, commerce, building, and the city's new factories and workshops rose steadily. [[Hosiery]], textiles, and footwear became the major industrial employers: manufacturers such as [[N. Corah & Sons]] and the Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company were opening some of the largest manufacturing premises in Europe. They were joined, in the latter part of the century, by engineering firms such as Kent Street's Taylor and Hubbard (crane makers and founders{{clarify|date=December 2014}}), Vulcan Road's [[Gimson and Company|William Gimson & Company]] (steam boilers and founders), Martin Street's Richards & Company (steel works and founders), and [[British United Shoe Machinery]] Co (manufacturer of [[footwear]] machinery and materials).

The politics of Victorian Leicester were lively and very often bitter. Years of consistent economic growth meant living standards generally increased, but Leicester was a stronghold of [[Radicals (UK)|Radicalism]]. [[Thomas Cooper (poet)|Thomas Cooper]], the [[Chartism|Chartist]], kept a shop in Church Gate. There were serious Chartist riots in the town in 1842 and again six years later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/leicchar.htm |website=A Web of English History |publisher=Dr Marjie Bloy |title=Chartism in Leicestershire |access-date=23 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115108/http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/leicchar.htm |archive-date=26 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Leicester Secular Society]] was founded in 1851 but [[secularism|secularist]] speakers such as [[George Holyoake]] were often denied the use of speaking halls. It was not until 1881 that [[Leicester Secular Hall]] was opened. The second half of the 19th century also witnessed the creation of many other institutions, including the town council, [[Leicester Royal Infirmary|the Royal Infirmary]], and the Leicester Constabulary. It also benefited from general acceptance (and the Public Health Acts ){{citation needed|date=February 2016}} that municipal organisations had a responsibility to provide for the town's water supply, drainage, and sanitation. In 1853, backed with a guarantee of dividends by the Corporation of Leicester the Leicester Waterworks Company built a reservoir at Thornton for the supply of water to the town. This guarantee was made possible by the Public Health Act 1847 and an amending local Act of Parliament of 1851. In 1866 another amending Act enabled the Corporation of Leicester to take shares in the company to enable the construction of another reservoir at Cropston, completed in 1870. The Corporation of Leicester was later able to buy the waterworks and build another reservoir at Swithland, completed in the 1890s.<ref>Elliott, Malcolm.op cit pages 62 -64 and 124–135</ref>

Leicester became a [[county borough]] in 1889, although it was abolished in 1974 as part of the [[Local Government Act 1972|Local Government Act]], and was reformed as a non-metropolitan district and city. The city regained its unitary status, being administered separately from Leicestershire, in 1997. The borough had been expanding throughout the 19th century, but grew most notably when it annexed [[Belgrave, Leicestershire|Belgrave]], [[Aylestone]], [[North Evington]], [[Knighton, Leicestershire|Knighton]], and [[Stoneygate]] in 1892.