Victorians

 

houses

The Victorian period is the time when Queen Victoria ruled Britain.

With the beginning of the railways and new manufacturing processes, previously locally produced building materials became available all over the country. This meant the end of all houses in the local area being built using the same building materials. Houses made of local stone, timber and straw could now, for example, be built of bricks from Bedfordshire and slate from North Wales.

The new mass produced bricks were cheaper and required less preparation and maintenance, so for the first time all over the country new mansions, chapels, cottages, barns and factories were made from the same material irrespective of region.

Despite the availability of these new products vast numbers of the working population in the countryside were still living in tiny cottages, hovels and shacks well into the 20th century. In towns poor people lived in back-to-back houses called terraced houses.

Terraced Houses

Rich Victorians favoured villas ( not the same as Roman villas), whilst the emerging middle classes of Victorian England lived in superior terraces with gardens back and front and a room for servants in the attic.

Villa

 

children

In the 1830s children could wave at puffing steam trains on the railways. By the 1860s, they rode bicycles, watched airships, ate tinned food, and talked excitedly of the latest huge iron steamships. In the 1880s, lucky children could speak on the telephone and in the 1890s they could travel by motor car. Life was not the same for all children during the Victorian times. The kind of life a child had in the Victorian times depended on its family. Children from working class families Children from rich families had few luxuries. ate poor food 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 went on holidays had expensive toys had pets such as ponies. Today, every child in Britain has the right to a free education. Many poor Victorian children never went to school. Young children were forced to work as soon as they were old enough to earn money for their families. Children at School Children at Work Victorian Toys Childrens Clothes

 

daily life

What was Family life like during the
Victorian times?

How many children did a normal Victorian family have?

Families were usually large, in 1870 many families had five or six children.

What did child call his/her father?

Each member of the family had their own role and children were taught to “know their place” and “be seen and not heard”. They called their fathers ‘sir’.

Who did the house work in rich people’s houses?

All households except the very poorest had servants to do their everyday work.

 

 Religion

Region was very important to the Victorians. A great number of people went to church, at least once and probably twice, every Sunday.

 Food

At the beginning of the Victorian period, people relied on the foods that were in season and available locally or those which had been pickled or preserved. Later, when the railways were built, many new and fresh foods to the towns and cities. The invention of the steam ship, and of transport refrigeration, meant that also meat, fish and fruit could be imported from overseas quite cheaply.

There were no fridges and freezes in the homes to keep food for a long time, so meals were limited by the available local food supply or food which had been pickled or preserved.

People did not buy their food in a supermarket instead they went to several small shops, all selling different types of food. Grocers’ shops sold dried goods such as tea, coffee, sugar and rice; butchers’ shops sold meat; and dairy shops sold milk, cream, eggs, butter and cheese.

Basic foods were: beef, mutton, pork, bacon, cheese, eggs, bread, potatoes, rice, oatmeal, milk, vegetables in season, flour, sugar, treacle, jam and tea.

 Money

Pounds (£)
Shillings (s.)
Pence (d.)

Find out more about money

 Clothes

Find out about clothes

 

We can learn about the Victorians in various ways:

Through buildings
We can still see some of their buildings. Many of our town halls and libraries were built during the Victorian times. (Find out about Victorian houses)

Through railways
Enormous railway stations remind us that railway was new and an important form of transport.

Through maps and documents
We can study Victorian maps and documents, such as the forms that were filled in during the census.

Through photographs
Photography was invented during Victoria’s reign, so people could now record on film what daily life was like.

toys

Victorian children had fewer toys than you have today.

Poor Children

Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Children would save their pocket money to buy marbles, a spinning top, skipping ropes, kites or cheap wooden toys.

Rich Children

Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles.

During Victorian times, people became fascinated by toys that made pictures move. One of the earliest and simplest of these was the thaumatrope. This is a disc with a picture on either side that is attached to two pieces of string or a stick. When you spin the disc quickly, the two pictures appear to combine into one.

Rich children had rocking horses with real horse hair manes, and dolls houses full of beautifully-carved miniature furniture. Other popular toys for rich children included china or wax dolls for the girls and clockwork train sets for the boys.

More information:

Victorian Toys 
Images , some are interactive! Click on etoys

solider

During the Victorian times, men were expected to fight for their country. Some soldiers were volunteers whilst others were forced to join the army by the government. They were expected to serve in the army for a fixed time before going back to their ordinary jobs and also could be called up to fight for their country at any time. Victorian Wars Crimea War 1854 – 1856 Chinese Opium Wars 1839-42 and 56-60 New Zealand Maori Wars, 1844-6, 1860-1 and 1863-5 Ashanti (Ghana) of 1873-4, 1895-96 and 1900. Zulu 1879 1st Boer War 1880 – 1881 Egypt and Sudan 1882 – 1898 Chinese Boxer Rebellion 1900 2nd Boer 1899 – 1902 Why did Britain need a lot of men to fight? The army was needed to protect the British Empire, an empire that ranged, at times, from the American colonies in the West, Australia and New Zealand in the East, Canada and her dominions in the North and huge chunks of Africa in the South, including Egypt and Rhodesia. The Royal Navy and the army were used to support the establishment of colonies, protect trading posts and fight against rivals such as the Dutch and Spanish. Britain had many factories which needed sources of raw materials and markets for finished goods. It also needed more room for population expansion. The colonies was the answer to Britain’s needs. Soldiers of the Crimean War 1854 Queen Victorian inspecting a soldier

Your quality of life during the Victorian times depended on whether you were rich or poor.

• Wealthy Victorians enjoyed a good and easy life
• Poor Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in the workhouse or early death.

Below is a table showing you some of the differences between rich and poor people:

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 does being poor mean?

Being poor means having little money or few possessions.

You need money to buy things such as as food and clothes. If you don’t have much money you can’t buy many things.

Why did many children from poor families have to work?

Most children from poor families had to work because their families needed the money.

Having a job is important so you can earn money. The more people in a family who work, the better chance of having more money. More money means more food and better living conditions.

Find out about life for rich and poor children

What happened to the very poor people?

Very poor people with no home or job lived in ‘workhouse

inventions

The Victorian period saw many major developments that made travel, communications and trade easier for many people. The railways allowed people to travel cheaply and rapidly, opening up new possibilities for both rich and poor. The postal service expanded after the introduction of the ‘Penny Post’. Many of the things we take for granted today, such as photography, telephones, electric light bulbs and cars were invented during Queen Victoria’s reign. Click here to go to our Victorian Invention Timeline The first photographs were taken in the 1830s. Within a few years most towns had a photographic studio where families went dressed in their best clothes to have their picture taken. They had to stand still for a long time, otherwise the picture would be blurred! Did you know? The word photography is derived from the Greek words for light and writing. Electric Telegraph developed by William Cooke and Charles Wheastone. Swinging needles transmit message in code in 1858. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. The first cars appeared during the Victorian times, but only rich people could afford them. Early car drivers were required to have a special attendant walking in front of the car, holding a red flag as a warning. The German engineer Karl Benz built the first motorcar in 1885. It was a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a one-cylinder gasoline engine. The speed limit for cars was four miles per hour. Guglielmo Marconi, from Italy, is credited with the discovery of radio in 1895. We can’t really say he “invented” radio. Nobody ever does invent anything from scratch as each “invention” is the consequence of many previous discoveries and researches (in this case especially those done by James Clerk Maxwell, Sir Oliver Lodge, and Heinrich Hertz. Bicycles became very popular in the 1870s.Invention of the penny-farthing bicycle. by British engineer, James Starley. The huge front wheel was almost six feet from top to bottom. and the seat was above the wheel. It had no brakes! This design was used until about 1880 when a bicycle with equal-sized wheels was developed. Thomas Twyford built the first one-piece toilet. Twyford’s model was also the first constructed of china, much easier to clean than the previous wood or metal models. Sir Rowland Hill, a retired teacher, introduced a pre-paid penny post for letters in Britain in 1840. Up to this time the person receiving the letter had to pay for it. With the invention of the stamp, the person sending the letter had to pay. The Penny Black stamp is the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, and is perhaps the most famous stamp ever issued. It was a one penny stamp with Queen Victoria’s profile against a black background and was produced in 1840. It was used for letters weighing less than half an ounce. For heavier letters the Twopenny Blue was used, which was similar, except that its background was blue. After the invention of the electric light bulb by Thomas Edison (USA) and Joseph Swan (UK) in 1879, electric light started to replace the dim, yellow gas light, oil lamps and candlelight. Some towns were lit by electricity too, making them more welcoming at night. Steam was used to power factory machinery, ships and trains. Great iron steamships were built made crossing the ocean faster than ever before. Many people left Britain, sailing away to start a new life in Canada or Australia. By the 1880s steam power was also being used to turn dynamos in power stations in order to make electricity. The 1840s was a time of railway madness. Trains were cheaper and faster than canal boats or horse drawn carriages. The first steam trains had appeared before Victoria’s reign. But in the 1840s and early 1850s private companies built 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometres) of railways all over Britain. The very first electric train was invented by a German in 1879. Electric trains were quieter than and not as dirty as steam trains but it was many years before they were used for passengers. Click here to go to our Victorian Invention Timeline

 

cloths

Victorian people dressed appropriately to their age, and position in society.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1861

Victorian poor

Victorian wealthy

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

Photos of clothes worn by Men

Photos of clothes worn by Ladies

Photos of clothes worn by Children

More photos and where clothes were bought

 

 

 

Filed under Uncategorised | Comment (0)