There was a big difference between rich and poor in Victorian times. Rich people could afford lots of treats like holidays, fancy clothes, and even telephones when they were invented. Poor people – even children – had to work hard in factories, mines or workhouses. They didn’t get paid very much money.
How did Victorians society treat the poor?
Poor Victorians would put children to work at an early age, or even turn them out onto the streets to fend for themselves. In 1848 an estimated 30,000 homeless, filthy children lived on the streets of London.
How did rich people live in the Victorian era?
Most rich people had servants and they would live in the same house, frequently sleeping on the top floor or the attic. The rich had water pumps in their kitchens or sculleries and their waste was taken away down into underground sewers. Gradually, improvements for the poor were made.
What did Victorian rich people do?
Rich Victorian men had jobs such as doctors, lawyers, bankers and factory owners. Until near the end of the Victorian era, parents had to pay to send their children to school. This meant that many poor children received no education and could neither read not write.
What was the Victorian attitude towards the poor?
Victorian attitudes towards the poor were rather muddled. Some believed that the poor were facing their situations because they deserved it, either because of laziness or because they were simply not worthy of fortune. However, some believed it was up to personal circumstances.
Was Victorian Society strict?
The Victorian era is seen as an era of contradiction. Social movements that promoted public morality coincided with a divisive class system that imposed harsh living conditions on the working and lower classes. Dignity and repression were contrasted with child labor and rampant prostitution.
Why was Victorian poverty so horrific?
Low wages and the scramble for jobs meant that people needed to live near to where work was available. Time taken walking to and from work would extend an already long day beyond endurance. Consequently available housing became scarce and therefore expensive, resulting in extremely overcrowded conditions.
Did rich and poor go to school in Victorian times?
At the start of the Victorian era, very few children actually attended school. Children from rich families would be educated at home by a governess (a female teacher).
What were rich Victorians houses like?
Wealthy Victorian families lived in large detached and semi-detached townhouses with room for servants. Reception rooms were high-ceilinged and designed to impress guests. They had elaborately moulded cornices and marble fireplaces. This show of opulence wasn’t restriced to the interior of the house.
What was life like for rich Victorian children?
Life for Victorian children was very different from our lives today. Children in rich households had toys to play with and did not have to work, but children in poor households often had to work long hours in difficult, dangerous jobs. They didn’t have toys to play with but sometimes made their own.
What did rich Victorian girls wear?
The fashion of the 19th century is renowned for its corsets, bonnets, top hats, bustles and petticoats. Women’s fashion during the Victorian period was largely dominated by full skirts, which gradually moved to the back of the silhouette.
What was life like for poor?
| 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 are the three fears of the Victorian society?
The anxieties of the Victorian Era as they are represented in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, fears that include scientific growth, female empowerment, homosexuality, and foreign colonization, are not so different from the fears that American society has today.
What did Victorian society fear?
The Victorian preoccupation with social class and the fear of overstepping social boundaries is also evident and is represented by Watson’s concerns about Miss Morstan’s potential inheritance. The character of Tonga represents a Victorian fear of otherness.
What is Victorian society known for?
The Victorian era saw revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, which shaped the world as we know it today. These transformations led to many social changes with the birth and spread of political movements, most notably socialism, liberalism and organised feminism.
What was it like to live in the Victorian era?
Although the Victorian era was a period of extreme social inequality, industrialisation brought about rapid changes in everyday life that affected all classes. Family life, epitomised by the young Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their nine children, was enthusiastically idealised.
Was the Victorian Society religious?
Predominant at the start of the 19th century, by the end of the Victorian era the Church of England was increasingly only one part of a vibrant and often competitive religious culture, with non-Anglican Protestant denominations enjoying a new prominence.
What were poor Victorian houses like?
A poor Victorian family would have lived in a very small house with only a couple of rooms on each floor. The very poorest families had to make do with even less – some houses were home to two, three or even four families. The houses would share toilets and water, which they could get from a pump or a well.
How much did poor Victorians get paid?
The average wage in the 1850s was about 15 shillings (75p) a week. Many children got just 5 shillings (25p) a week, or less. While thousands of children worked down the mine, thousands of others worked in the cotton mills.
What was wrong with Victorian society?
They did not have access to clean water and food, education for their children, or proper clothing. Often, they lived on the streets and were far from the work they could get, so they would have to walk to where they needed to get to.
How were rich and poor Victorian children educated?
Children in Victorian times
School was not free and only richer families could send their children to school. Some rich children would be taught at home by a governess. With no school to go to, many children hung around the streets. Some ended up in jail for begging or causing trouble.