| What was it like to be poor and living in Victorian | | | | railways, Covent Garden wholesale market had to |
| London? What Victorian people experienced and how | | | | have its supplies delivered by barrow and cart through |
| they lived their lives depended on which class and | | | | narrow streets and alleys, while, live animals were |
| economic group they belonged to. Queen Victoria | | | | driven by often-drunken drovers, through respectable |
| came to the throne in 1837 and by the time of her | | | | London streets on their way to Smithfield meat |
| death 64 years later, the population of Britain had | | | | market. During the Mid-Victorian era, London had |
| doubled. The Victorian poor lived and died in wretched | | | | numerous daily street markets such as Leather Lane |
| conditions at a time when the revolutionary changes of | | | | off Holborn and the Cut at Lambeth and areas where |
| industrialisation created massive wealth for many. Life | | | | large numbers of poor people lived. The retail markets, |
| in London saw many changes during Victorian times. | | | | such as Petticoat Lane and Berwick Market were |
| The Victorian Pub - The Modern Plague of London | | | | essential to the working class who could not afford |
| The Victorians drank for many reasons other than just | | | | shop prices. |
| to be socialable. Water was unsafe and ale was used | | | | Victorian Children |
| as a thirst quencher. It was believed intoxicants | | | | In well-off families, daughters were taught at home by |
| imparted physical stamina and energy - also, its initial | | | | their mothers, governesses or in small private schools - |
| effect was that fatigue was temporarily dulled. Alcohol | | | | while orphan and pauper children in 1833 were quite |
| was used as a pain killer, in treatments by dentists and | | | | often enduring a working day of 14 hours, even at six |
| surgeons and as pain relief during childbirth. Excessive | | | | years old. A big advance came in 1873 when the |
| drinking was common and there were pubs to suit | | | | employment of children was only allowed if it could be |
| every taste: the inns with accommodation for | | | | shown the child had a record of school attendance but |
| travellers, were the most respectable - at the other | | | | the abuse of boy chimney sweeps continued in spite |
| end of the scale were the gin shops which served the | | | | of the law. Victorian families were large, with five or |
| very poor. Pubs were the only place many people | | | | more children not unusual until the late 1800's. |
| could enjoy comforts not available in their own homes | | | | The Victorian Woman |
| - newspapers, light and warmth and a chance to | | | | Pre- marital chastity was very important in Queen |
| socialise with company. | | | | Victoria's England, even though females from working |
| Health - Dirt and Disease | | | | class families were hardly innocent about sexual |
| Until the bacteriological causes of disease were | | | | matters because of the cramped conditions they lived |
| understood in the late 19th century the connection | | | | in. Even among the upper classes an ideal of the |
| between dirt and disease wasn't understood. | | | | perfect lady, was somebody without any sexual |
| Overcrowded conditions, limited access to light and air, | | | | desires - just strong feelings for family and a desire for |
| streets littered with refuge with cesspools being the | | | | motherhood. Sexuality represented the animal side of |
| normal sanitary arrangements, made sure Typhus and | | | | human nature and the Victorians believed that family |
| other diseases abounded amongst the poorest of | | | | relationships would not last when people put their own |
| London society. Around 1842, the average age of a | | | | pleasures before duty. Prostitutes and adulteresses |
| man living in Whitecapel, London was 45 for a | | | | were disliked and feared because of the passions |
| professional man, 27 for a tradesmn and 22 for a | | | | they aroused. Prostitution may have seemed the only |
| labourer. Wealthy people were less affected by | | | | option for many single women faced with a life of |
| diseases such as typhus - associated with insanitary | | | | poverty. |
| housing - but the waterborne disease of cholera, | | | | The End of Victoria's Reign |
| spared no class. The River Thames was used as a | | | | In the last part of Victoria's reign, thousands of row |
| main sewer but only when politicians were driven from | | | | houses were built for artisans- many were plain and |
| the Houses of Parliament by the stench from the river | | | | cramped but at least they had water, drainage and |
| in hot weather, was anything done to improve | | | | gas. The working week was cut by a fifth and |
| drainage. | | | | workers had more time for leisure but for poorest |
| London Markets in Victorian Times | | | | members of society in London, the Victorian era was |
| Most of the commodity markets were built or rebuilt | | | | time of great hardship and misery. |
| during Victorian times. Before the coming of the | | | | |