VICTORIAN LONDON 19 th century QUEEN VICTORIA

VICTORIAN LONDON (19 th century)

QUEEN VICTORIA (1819 -1901) • Was crowned queen of England in 1837 at the age of 18 • Married Prince Albert of Germany in 1840 • Often publicly displayed their family life with their nine children • Many political and social reforms occurred during her reign as queen • The term “Victorian England” resulted from her ethics and personal tastes which were reflected in middle class life

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (17501850) • England changed from an agricultural society to an industrial society with the development of: – Steam-powered machinery – Textile machinery – Mining machinery – Improved canals, roadways, and railways

EFFECTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION • Positive: – Increased employment opportunities in mills and factories – More middle class businessmen becoming rich vs. upper class nobility wealth • Negative: – Child labor – Dirty working and living conditions – Long working hours

LONDON’S POPULATION EXPLOSION • One million people in 1800 • More than two million people by 1850 • Thousands of people came from the countryside looking for work in the city • Many row houses, alleys and streets were being built to accommodate the increasing population • The city was in an upheaval

LONDON STREETS • Streets were crowded, noisy and very dirty • Vendors selling items such as pies, coffee, fish, vegetables, clothing, birds, flowers, etc. • Street musicians and performers • Horse-drawn cabs, omnibuses and carriages • People walking to work, shopping, socializing

LONDON STREETS, cont. • Street sweepers • Soot everywhere from chimneys belching coal smoke • Raw sewage in the gutters and Thames River • Pick-pockets, vagabonds, beggars and drunks • Streets lit at night by feeble gas lights

WORKING LONDON • Rich businessmen (such as Ebenezer Scrooge) owned companies and traded stocks at the Royal Exchange • They employed poorly paid clerks (such as Bob Cratchit) and expected them to work long hours, six days a week • A typical clerical worker was paid about $130 a year (Cratchit made half of that) • Factory owners employed people that worked twelve hours a day, six days a week. Many were children because there were no child labor laws. • Because of the presence of many wealthy people, there was a great need for domestic workers (servants). These workers often lived in their masters’ homes and were paid next to nothing.

• Rich: HOUSING – Lived in large townhouses with servants – Many lived in fashionable areas of the city near the business district (such as Scrooge) • In-between: – Lived in areas with moderately-sized rented houses (the Cratchits lived in Camden Town) – Areas were shabby, dingy and damp, but still better than the poorer part of town • Poor: – Lived in small row houses, shacks or tenements on the east side of the city along the river – Often crammed eight to ten people in a room – Workhouses – boarding house/prison for debtors (whole families lived here) – Many lived and died in the streets (including children)