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London’s population grew rapidly during the 19th century. This lead to major problems with overcrowding and poverty. Disease and early death were common for both rich and poor people. Victorian children did not have as many toys and clothes as children do today and many of them were homemade.
Also know, how is Victorian London described? The Victorian city of London was a city of startling contrasts. New building and affluent development went hand in hand with horribly overcrowded slums where people lived in the worst conditions imaginable. This growth far exceeded London‘s ability to look after the basic needs of its citizens. …
Additionally, what was Victorian London known for? It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform and social change, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph.
Also the question is, what was life like for the poor in Victorian London? 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.
Correspondingly, why was Victorian London so poor? During the Victorian era, the rates of people living in poverty increased drastically. This is due to many factors, including low wages, the growth of cities (and general population growth), and lack of stable employment.London in the 1800s was a compact city where most people worked within walking distance of home. The narrow winding streets were often crowded with people, horses and carts,with only wealthy people able to travel by private carriage.
What attitude did Victorians have that made them different?
In ideology, politics, and society, the Victorians created astonishing innovation and change: democracy, feminism, unionization of workers, socialism, Marxism, and other modern movements took form.
What did the Victorians do for us?
These included the invention of safe, electric light bulbs, public flushing toilets and the phonograph (which recorded the human voice for the first time). Many of the Victorians inventions still have a big impact on the world today. For example, one of the things they invented was the camera!
What was Christmas like in Victorian London?
The Victorians also transformed the idea of Christmas so that it became centred around the family. The preparation and eating of the feast, decorations and gift giving, entertainments and parlour games – all were essential to the celebration of the festival and were to be shared by the whole family.
Why were Victorian families so big?
The reason for this increase is not altogether clear. Various ideas have been put forward; larger families; more children surviving infancy; people living longer; immigration, especially large numbers of immigrants coming from Ireland fleeing the potato famine and the unemployment situation in their own country.
What was bad about the Victorian era?
The Victorians, especially poor ones, were at high risk of catching some nasty diseases. Most of the common killers – measles, scarlet fever, smallpox and typhus – had blighted Britain for centuries.
How did Victorians view the poor?
For the early part of the Victorian era the predominant idea of poverty was that it was the individual’s responsibility to keep out of poverty. If he failed to do this it was assumed that the poverty was the fault of a character defect in the individual rather than as a result of economic forces beyond his control.
What did Victorians eat?
The general Victorian diet consisted of a lot of fish, since meat was still more expensive, local, seasonal vegetables, fruits, and greens like onions, turnips, spinach, broccoli, cabbages, apples, cherries, and parsnips. Nuts were popular and available too and could be sold roasted from food carts.
What were the slums like in the Victorian era?
It was reported that the main features of slum life were ‘squalor, drunkenness, improvidence, lawlessness, immorality and crime’. Such stories made readers feel as though part of their city was like the Wild West.
What did Victorians smell like?
Most fragrances in early to mid-Victorian times were delicate and floral. They were understated, feminine – and often simply conjured up the scent of a particular flower, such as jasmine, lavender, roses, honeysuckle…
What was it like to be poor in London in the 1800s?
Poor craftsmen and laborers lived in just two or three rooms, and the poorest families lived in just one room with very simple and plain furniture. It was a difficult life for poor people: There was no government assistance for the unemployed, and many had trouble finding their next meal or a warm place to sleep.
What was the Victorian era a reaction to?
The Victorian era also marks a time of great economic growth, technological discovery, and industrialization. Many writers reacted to both the wonders of this Industrial Revolution as well as to the troubles of an industrialized society.
Was the Victorian era prudish?
But the image prevails, as does is the idea of Victorian society as prudish, covering table legs in case they offended, and refusing to countenance any reference to sex. …
Did they have phones in Victorian times?
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.
Did Victorians invent ice cream?
Our Victorian cook is using a hand-cranked ice cream machine, a relatively modern invention in late Victorian England. From the introduction of ice cream to Britain in the 17th century to the 1930s, most people made ice cream with a simple sorbetière (a lidded pewter jar) in a wooden bucket.
What did Victorians do for fun?
Victorian life could be busy but Victorians liked to make good use of their leisure time by playing games and sports and going on day trips and holidays. The ways in which people could entertain themselves varied depending on whether they were rich or poor, male or female.
What did Victorians give as gifts?
Gift giving was traditionally part of New Year celebrations, but the Victorians used Christmas as an occasion for giving fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets to their loved ones. Handmade games, dolls, books and clockwork toys were popular, as were apples, oranges and nuts.
Why did they put candles on Christmas trees?
Christmas Trees From Germany Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.
What were poor Victorian houses like?
Poor people in Victorian times lived in horrible cramped conditions in run-down houses, often with the whole family in one room. … Most poor houses only had one or two rooms downstairs and one or two upstairs. Families would crowd into these rooms, with several in each room and some living in the cellars.
How many children did the average Victorian family have?
For families with children the average was 2.94 children per family. A quarter had 4 or more children at home. From around 1870 there were changes in the composition of families.
What did the poor Victorians eat?
For many poor people across Britain, white bread made from bolted wheat flour was the staple component of the diet. When they could afford it, people would supplement this with vegetables, fruit and animal-derived foods such as meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs – a Mediterranean-style diet.
