Housing was extremely over-crowded, with entire families or groups of strangers crammed into a single room for cooking, eating and sleeping. They would share beds or sleep on the floor, with rags covering broken windows and often flea or insect-infested environments.
What were the living conditions like in London in the 1800s?
London’s population grew rapidly during the 19th century. This lead to major problems with overcrowding and poverty. Disease and early death were common for both rich and poor people. Victorian children did not have as many toys and clothes as children do today and many of them were homemade.
What was London like in the 1880s?
By 1880 there were one million gas street lamps in London, and the gas works were consuming 6.5 million tons of coal annually. The city became noteworthy for the brightness of its streets, shopfronts, and interiors at night compared to other European cities.
What was it like to live in London in the early 19th century?
In the 19th century, London was the capital of the largest empire the world had ever known — and it was infamously filthy. It had choking, sooty fogs; the Thames River was thick with human sewage; and the streets were covered with mud.
How dirty was London in the 19th century?
In the 19th century, London was the capital of the largest empire the world had ever known. It was also infamously filthy. Its residents choked on soot-drenched fog, traveled down streets covered with muddy horse excrement and drank water from the Thames River, which was thick with human sewage.
What did Victorians smell like?
By the middle of the Victorian era, bergamot and lemon oil had surpassed Eau de Cologne to become the most popular fragrance for women. According to Goodman: “Bergamot and lemon oil, sometimes employed separately but more often used in combination, was the signature smell of the middle years of the century.
What was life like for the poor during the 18th century in London?
Poor craftsmen and laborers lived in just two or three rooms, and the poorest families lived in just one room with very simple and plain furniture. It was a difficult life for poor people: There was no government assistance for the unemployed, and many had trouble finding their next meal or a warm place to sleep.
What was living in the 1880s like?
The period was characterized in general by economic growth and prosperity in many parts of the world, especially Europe and the Americas, with the emergence of modern cities signified by the foundation of many long-lived corporations, franchises, and brands and the introduction of the skyscraper.
What did London look like in the early 1800s?
London in the 1800s was a compact city where most people worked within walking distance of home. The narrow winding streets were often crowded with people, horses and carts,with only wealthy people able to travel by private carriage.
How hard was life in the 1800s?
Life for the average person in the 1800’s was hard. Many lived a hand-to-mouth existence, working long hours in often harsh conditions. There was no electricity, running water or central heating.
What were slums like in the 1800s?
They became notorious for overcrowding, unsanitary and squalid living conditions. Most well-off Victorians were ignorant or pretended to be ignorant of the subhuman slum life, and many, who heard about it, believed that the slums were the outcome of laziness, sin and vice of the lower classes.
What was a common problem in 19th century London?
In the 1850s London experienced the Great Stink when the River Thames became a giant sewer overflowing not only with human waste but also dead animals, rotting food and toxic raw materials from the riverside factories.
What was London like in 1889?
London in 1889 lay at the heart of the most extensive empire the world had ever seen. This was the year that the luxurious Savoy Hotel opened and the ornate Tower Bridge was under construction. But though there was fabulous and ostentatious wealth in many areas of the capital, it was unequally distributed.
Why were London homes smelly in the 19th century?
The smell of human waste and industrial effluent hung over Victorian London. For centuries the River Thames had been used as a dumping ground for the capital’s waste and as the population grew, so did the problem.
How did people clean themselves in the 1800s?
Though even wealthy families did not take a full bath daily, they were not unclean. It was the custom for most people to wash themselves in the morning, usually a sponge bath with a large washbasin and a pitcher of water on their bedroom washstands. Women might have added perfume to the water.
Why was Victorian London so smelly?
The Great Stink, as was named the horrendous smell given off by the Thames, plagued London for a great many years during the Victorian era. Prior to the construction of the current system, the Thames was London’s sewer, full of human remains, human waste, animal waste, rubbish, industrial outflow.
How did Victorian ladies deal with periods?
The Victorian Period (And Beyond)
From the 1890s to the early 1980s, people used sanitary belts, which basically were reusable pads that attached to a belt worn around the waist – and yes, they were as uncomfortable as they sound.
Did Victorian ladies shave?
In the Victorian era, ladies with excess facial or body hair didn’t have the luxury of making an appointment at their local salon. Instead, women employed various methods of hair removal at home. There was shaving and tweezing, of course, but there were also more dangerous methods.
What did Victorians use for toilet paper?
Before that, they used whatever was handy — sticks, leaves, corn cobs, bits of cloth, their hands. Toilet paper more or less as we know it today is a product of Victorian times; it was first issued in boxes (the way facial tissue is today) and somewhat later on the familiar rolls.
Where did the poor live in London in the 1800s?
Whitechapel
Home to many of London’s poor, from the working classes right down to the destitute, Whitechapel was plagued by overcrowding, crime and deprivation.
How were poor people treated in the 18th century?
In the 18th century those who were too ill, old, destitute, or who were orphaned children were put into a local ‘workhouse’ or ‘poorhouse’. Those able to work, but whose wages were too low to support their families, received ‘relief in aid of wages’ in the form of money, food and clothes.