Most of the common killers — measles, scarlet fever, smallpox and typhus — had blighted Britain for centuries. Yet overcrowded and unsanitary conditions created by rapid urbanisation did assist the spread of these infectious diseases, as well as various illnesses of the digestive system such as diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. As the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure calculates, life expectancy in urban slums of the s and s was the lowest it had been since the Black Death.
The primary reason was the high rate of child mortality. Around one-third of children, and more than half in some poor neighbourhoods, died before they reached the age of five.
High child mortality was a factor driving increased numbers of offspring. However, as the letters, diaries and memoirs of men and women from all levels of society show, having more children never compensated emotionally for those who were lost.
As grim as these mortality statistics appear, overall the Victorian period was an era of improvement in terms of health. Life expectancy increased from around onwards, largely due to the fact that the Victorians became better at fighting diseases. Sanitary reform helped, because stagnant dirty water was flushed away. Doctors and scientists began to develop a better understanding of the causes of diseases. Though cholera killed more than 50, people in Britain during the —49 epidemic, the death toll fell to around 14, in the last epidemic of , after John Snow successfully demonstrated that the disease was transmitted via contaminated water.
Infectious diseases were responsible for around 40 per cent of urban deaths in , but this figure dropped to about 20 per cent by The moment at which the prevalence of degenerative disease overtook that of infectious disease came during the Victorian era. Alongside better hygiene, improved nutrition also helped combat disease, which might sound unlikely in light of a commonly told story of the period — the numbers of short men with bad teeth and poor eyesight, enlisting for service in the Boer Wars at the end of the century, who triggered a government inquiry.
Then there were tales of food adulteration — the use of chalk or alum in white bread, plaster of Paris in boiled sweets, horsemeat in sausages — encouraged by an unregulated industry under pressure to sell ready-made food at cheap prices. However, from , new legislation on food standards combated the worst abuses. Recent research suggests that Britons of the mid-Victorian period enjoyed a diet rich in fruit, whole grains, oily fish and vegetables — superior to ours today, in fact.
Nutritional problems came in the form of tinned foods and cheap sugar imported during the late 19th century — detrimental in the long term but, in the short term, sources of delight rather than misery.
Rosalind Crone is a senior lecturer in history at the Open University, specialising in the society and culture of 19th-century Britain, particularly criminal justice and popular culture. Sign in. Back to Main menu Virtual events Masterclasses. Home Period Victorian Was Victorian life really so grim? Why do Victorians look so miserable in photographs? Victoria and Albert: a marriage of misery? Working in a factory could be preferable to other types of paid work.
May 1, : India, which has been under British rule since , declares Queen Victoria empress, under direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. She is succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son, who reigned until his death in But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Liquid nitrogen. High-end machines.
Savory ice cream. Complex molds and intricate toppings. These might sound like things you might find in a fancy restaurant, but they were also the tools of a 19th-century woman who revolutionized home cooking. Long before Martha Stewart, Agnes How to videos Why join? Life in the Victorian era. What was life like in Victorian times? The inventions of machines in factories replaced jobs that people used to do, but people were needed to look after the machines and keep the factories clean.
Factories were built in cities, so people ended up moving to the cities to get jobs. Half the population in Britain lived in cities by the end of the Victorian era. Cities became crowded, busy and dirty, but discoveries about hygiene and sanitation meant that diseases like cholera were easier to prevent. People in the Victorian era started to use electricity for the first time , and to listen to music by playing records on the gramophone.
Steam trains made travel a lot easier, and rich people started to go on holidays to the seaside in places like Blackpool and Brighton. 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. By the end of the Victorian era, all children could go to school for free. The way we celebrate Christmas was begun in Victorian times — they sent the first Christmas cards and made Christmas crackers. Start your child on a tailored learning programme Weekly resources sent direct to your inbox Keep your child's learning on track.
Trial it for FREE today. At the beginning of the Victorian era in , most people would have used candles and oil or gas lamps to light their homes and streets. By the end of the Victorian era in , electricity was available and rich people could get it in their homes. Poor people could work in mines, in mills and factories, or in workhouses. They would have to crawl in small spaces in mines, or underneath machines in textile mills. It was very dangerous! They could afford to buy the new inventions coming out like the telephone, the gramophone for playing music and electric light bulbs.
For the first time in world history, more people lived in cities than in the countryside , making city centres very cramped! Poor people lived in crowded slums — houses which were overcrowded, smelly and in bad repair. As technology advanced, new machines left lots of people without jobs. Many resorted to workhouses , which provided basic poor relief like food, medical care and shelter in exchange for labour.
Conditions were poor and sadly, families were often separated. They fed the hungry in soup kitchens, and looked after the poorest children in orphanages. Seems unfair, right?! To make matters worse, the jobs were often dangerous and conditions were hard. Therefore, many children worked in factories, coal mines and as chimney sweeps. Queen Victoria believed that education should be for all , and by the end of her reign, going to school became compulsory for all children, rich or poor. Victorian children loved an adventure story!
Banks and offices would close and people could take time off work. The first travel agent, a businessman named Thomas Cook , ran trips to the seaside, which were very popular amongst Victorian families — those who could afford it, that is! In , the first Rugby Football Union was set up. It is believed that the sport was invented when William Webb Ellis , a pupil at Rugby School in England, picked up the ball during a game of football and ran with it!
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