Poor children often had to work instead of going to school. Many worked with their parents at home or in workshops, making matchboxes or sewing. Children could also earn a bit of money as chimney-sweeps, messengers or crossing sweepers like the boy in this picture.
What did poor Victorian children do?
Children worked on farms, in homes as servants, and in factories. Children provided a variety of skills and would do jobs that were as varied as needing to be small and work as a scavenger in a cotton mill to having to push heavy coal trucks along tunnels in coal mines. There were so many different jobs!
Where did poor Victorian children live?
The poor Victorian Children lived a very different life than the children of wealthier families. They didn’t have the nice houses to live in or the extravagant toys, clothes or fine foods that the rich kids had. They lived in much smaller houses or even single rooms.
What was Victorian home life like?
The houses were cheap, most had between two and four rooms – one or two rooms downstairs, and one or two rooms upstairs, but Victorian families were big with perhaps four or five children. There was no water, and no toilet. A whole street (sometimes more) would have to share a couple of toilets and a pump.
What was life like for poor people in Victorian times?
| The Poor | The Wealthy |
|---|---|
| had few luxuries. ate food they could afford to buy worked long hours lived in damp, filthy conditions. Many children died of disease. | usually well fed, clean and well clothed. didn’t need to work lived in big houses with servants went on holidays children had expensive toys children went to school |
What was life like for a poor child in Victorian times?
The children of the poor were not thought to be a blessing, but often a burden on the family. With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated. Seen as simply the property of their parents, many children were abandoned, abused and even bought and sold.
Did children from poor families go to school in the Victorian times?
Where did poor Victorians go to school? Poor children sometimes had the opportunity of attending a church school, but these schools had very poor facilities with class sizes of up to 100 children. However, from 1880 the law changed and all children between the ages of 5 to 10 had to go to school.
How were children treated in workhouses?
The harsh system of the workhouse became synonymous with the Victorian era, an institution which became known for its terrible conditions, forced child labour, long hours, malnutrition, beatings and neglect.
What age did Victorian children start work?
Research has shown that the average age at which children started work in early 19th-century Britain was 10 years old, but that this varied widely between regions. In industrial areas, children started work on average at eight and a half years old.
What did rich Victorian children wear?
Children tended to wear miniature versions of adult clothes. Boys wore dresses until they were about five years old. Once of school age they wore suits or short trousers and jackets with a cap. Sailor suits were also fashionable.
Did Victorian houses have bathrooms?
In fact, Victorian architecture did not make provision for bathrooms and most Victorian terraced houses in cities such as London didn’t even boast a bathroom. For many, the weekly ablutions meant a trip to the public baths.
What were Victorian bedrooms like?
Victorian bedrooms often had an area where the person would get dressed, usually behind a decorative screen which would obscure their modesty from the rest of the room. This can be useful in a period style bedroom to hide mess and clutter.
How were the poor treated in the Victorian era?
The new Poor Law ensured that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed and fed. Children who entered the workhouse would receive some schooling. In return for this care, all workhouse paupers would have to work for several hours each day. However, not all Victorians shared this point of view.
Did poor Victorians have pets?
Even poor working-class families would capture wild birds like blackbirds, linnets and thrushes to keep as pets, often hanging the cages outside their windows and feeding them scraps, while aspirational middle-class families would buy more expensive pets, such as pedigree dogs, to signal their higher wealth and status.
Why was life unfair for poor people in Victorian society?
This is due to many factors, including low wages, the growth of cities (and general population growth), and lack of stable employment. The poor often lived in unsanitary conditions, in cramped and unclean houses, regardless of whether they lived in a modern city or a rural town.
What was life like for a poor child in the 1840s?
Poor children who survived infancy were often put to work at an early age. In the 1830s and 40s, many children labored in textile mills and coal mines, where working conditions often proved deadly. Girls as young as five went into domestic service as nurses or maids to wealthy families.
What was school like for poor Victorian children?
‘Ragged’ Schools were set up in 1844 for children who were in extreme poverty. These schools offered them free lessons and a meal every day. In 1872 the Education (Scotland) Act made it the law that all children aged 5 to 13 years old had to go to school.
What is a Victorian workhouse for kids?
Workhouses were large buildings where poor people who had no home or job lived. People would do jobs around the workhouse in order to stay there to have a roof over their heads. As well as the poor orphaned children, the sick, disabled, elderly and unmarried mothers were also usually sent to the workhouses.
Where did poor children go to school?
Where did poor children go to school? Poor children went to free charity schools or ‘Dame’ schools (so called because they were run by women) for young children. They also went to Sunday Schools which were run by churches. There they learnt bible stories and were taught to read a little.
Why did Victorian children not go to school?
Victorian schooling. At the start of Queen Victoria’s reign, there were no government-run schools, and no law saying children had to go to school.
How did Victorian parents punish their kids?
Although most did not physically strike their children, they did resort to other forms of punishment such as locking the child in a closet, sending them to their room or having their allowance taken away.