Victorian life 1837-1901

Victorian life 1837-1901

1. Industrial Revolution

   • The Industrial Revolution changed Britain from a land of small towns, villages and farms into a land of cities, large towns and factories. The population grew from 16 million in 1801 to over 41 million by 1901. Cities grew fast, as people moved from the countryside to work in factories. Men, women and children worked in factories, and in coal mines. Factory and mine owners became rich, but most factory and mine workers were poor. They were paid low wages, and lived in unhealthy, overcrowded slums
     • Smoke from the chimneys of the factories used to coat the walls of the houses and make the streets grimy. The industrial areas around Wolverhampton became so covered in grime that it became known as the Black Country.
   • Britain’s exports went up dramatically and many businessmen made a lot of money in the Victorian era
   • One of the most valuable exports was cotton cloth. This was mainly manufactured in Lancashire and in parts of Scotland. It is estimated that the cotton industry alone provided jobs for more than 1 million people in the 1850s

2. Empire

   • Britain ruled the British Empire. Victoria was Empress of India as well as Queen of Britain, Canada (the biggest country in the Empire) and small countries such as Jamaica. Trade with the Empire helped make Britain rich.

3. key dates

   • 1 August 1838 Slavery is abolished in the British empire
   • 17 September 1838 London-Birmingham line opens and the railway boom starts
   • June 1840 Vaccination for the poor is introduced
     • infant vaccination was made compulsory in 1853
   • September 1845 Irish potato famine begins
   • 28 March 1854 Britain and France declare war on Russia and the Crimean War begins
   • 24 November 1859 Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' is published
   • 9 August 1870 Women obtain limited rights to retain their property after marriage
   • 2 August 1880 Education becomes compulsory for children under ten
   • Top 1 January 1883 Married women obtain the right to acquire their own property
   • October 1897 Women's suffrage campaign gains momentum
   • Top 22 January 1901 Victoria dies and is succeeded by Edward VII

4. Schools

   • Dame school'
     • usually run by one woman. The 'dame' often did her best, but she was a child-minder not a trained teacher. Often quite poor herself, she took as many children as she could cram into her house. Poor parents working hard to earn a living paid her a few pennies a week to look after their children, and perhaps teach them the alphabet or how to sew. Most of the time, the children amused themselves and did not learn very much.
   • Sunday schools
     • Sunday schools were run by churches, to teach children about the Christian faith. Journalist Robert Raikes started the first Sunday School for poor children in Gloucester in 1780.
   • Rugged shools
     • Ragged Schools were schools for poor children. One of the first was started in Portsmouth by a shoe-mender named John Pounds. Older children helped to teach younger ones. Ragged Schools were often in one room of a house, or in an old barn. From 1833 factory owners were supposed to provide at least 2 hours education every day for child-workers, but not many children actually got lessons.
   • There were some good schools for boys, for example, grammar schools and public schools. Only richer families could afford to pay the school fees, though some schools gave free places to poor boys. Poor girls did not go to school when the Victorian age began meaning they had little education. Girls from wealthy families would usually be taught at home by a governess. Sometimes, wealthy girls may have attended boarding schools too.