The lives of rich and poor Victorian children

[Music] hi five and welcome back to another history video this week we are looking at the differences in lifestyles between poor victorian children and richer victorian children we'll be looking at the way that they live the things that they own their everyday routine and the differences between their lives we'll also shortly and briefly look at how the victorian period improve the lives of children in all forms of society this video includes amazing footage from the period itself some of them have been recoloured remastered and re-textured to make them look sharper and more modern but nevertheless uh date from the period itself the video you see now is from mitchell and kenyon's collection they were blackburn filmmakers in the early 1900s this video dates from 1901 and a little later we'll see some footage from 1896 filmed by the lumiere brothers from france these are the real children of the victorian age looking at us right now through the lens of the camera and i think you'll agree it's really astonishing [Music] so let's start by examining the lives of poor victorian children houses for poor victorian children were not pleasant places they were often slums or back-to-back houses that were joined at the rear meaning there was only one entrance and a limited amount of light these were dark and damp places rife with disease and overpopulation you may end up in a terraced house or a workers cottage joined on either side by another dwelling if you were extremely unlucky as a victorian child you may end up in a workhouse forced to work many many hours a day for food on the table and a bed to sleep in or an orphanage for children who had no parents at all many of these houses had no electricity even as an electricity supply was being granted and provided for a wider range of the population they often had outdoor toilets rather than indoor toilets these wouldn't flush and a night soil man would come around to collect your toilet waste and take it away in a cart your only outdoor space for recreation would be a small dark backyard and as said before living conditions were often overcrowded with several people sharing beds and often dozens to a room what about the daily routine and education for poor victorian children now at the beginning of the victorian period most children would have had to earn a living they might be street workers factory workers involved in some form of manual labor may be underground in the pits or the mines these were very unpleasant jobs very dangerous jobs and very low paid jobs by the end of the victorian period even the poorest of children would have had access to education until at least the age of 10 or 11 through the rugged schools unfortunately education was of limited quality classes were very large and buildings were often unfit for purpose at the beginning of the victorian period working hours for children could be very long 12 hours a day or even more in some cases but over time new laws limited the amount of hours a child could work although these laws were not always followed by all employers or even families who would prefer to have their children working harder to bring in more money as the family desperately needed it work and school would be five to six days a week with an early finish on saturdays sundays was usually fed spent with the family or at church or at sunday school the film from 1901 from michelin kenyon that you can see behind us here depicts people leaving the factories at lunchtime for their break and you can clearly see a large proportion of these workers are young children some of them the same age as you all equally fascinated by the strange object pointing at them which little did they know would preserve their images for eternity so what about life expectancy for poor victorian children unfortunately these children were exposed to poor living conditions often a lack of access to clean water and basic health care meant that many children died young furthermore there were a wide range of diseases such as cholera scarlet fever smallpox and typhoid infant mortality was high and childbirth was dangerous for women meaning that many children grew up in workhouses orphanages or were left harmless which further hindered their chances of a full and healthy life what about toys well as conditions for children improved there was an increased time for recreation and play poor children could not always afford toys and very often did not have anything of quality in fact many did not even have time to play at all any toys that the poor children owned would be of extremely poor quality handed down to them salvaged repaired or even handmade at home children would have poor quality dolls and doll houses basic toys such as spinning tops hula hoops and marbles were also quite popular among working and poor children what about clothing for poor victorian children well poor children would have very few clothes and what clothes they did possess would have to be constantly repaired and handed down to younger siblings children might have a set of sunday best clothes to wear to the church and for sunday walks these may still be limited in quality but would be considerably better than the clothes one during the week clothes which consisted of simple frocks or dresses for girls or a waistcoat shirts and jumpers for boys would often be torn or dirty from the unpleasant work that they did and from their lack of ability to clean them boys and girls would often cover their heads hats would usually take the form of flat caps for boys in this footage of a school parade in blackburn you can see the boys and the girls in their school uniforms the boys wearing their school caps which are very similar to flat caps so what was life like for middle and upper class children the homes of the middle and the upper classes were far better than those for the poor children they could range from large terrace houses to semi-detached or detached houses for the upper middle class to country estates and mansions for the upper class families houses would usually have ornamental gardens or extra land and space for recreation many houses would have an electricity supply by the late victorian period with indoor flushing toilets and proper sanitation rooms would be more spacious and there might be extra rooms for nurseries studies playrooms etc what about everyday life for the wealthier children well children from wealthy and middle class and upper class backgrounds would not typically work during their younger years most children would receive some form of education after the age of 10 with wealthier middle class children often having a private tutor or governors and upper class children attending expensive private schools boarding schools or grammar schools weekends would be packed with activities going to church playing sports or games or even day trips out to the seaside or countryside retreats or follies in this lumiere brothers film from 1896 which has been fantastically recoloured and retextured you can see the lumiere family have taken a day trip to the seaside i remind you that this film that you are watching is more than 120 years old [Music] the victorian era saw huge improvements for the life expectancy of middle and upper class people better living conditions in the suburbs and rural areas combined with improvements in health care and science for people who could afford access to it ensured that life expectancy increased and infant mortality declined [Music] wealthier children could afford more impressive toys this might include train sets bicycles footballs cricket sets toy horses and rocking horses and more furthermore once electricity became a common feature a new market of electronic and mechanical toys began to appear for those who could afford it however unlike today where many things are considered disposable and temporary toys were cherished they were well looked after and passed down through the family for generations wealthier children also enjoyed the benefits of pets as you've seen in this video things like cats and dogs were common fixtures in wealthier households clothing for upper-class children was far more impressive clothes would include more sophisticated waistcoats and jackets tailcoats for younger gentlemen there would be petticoats and pineapples for women headwear might include ornate bonnets or beautiful hats with flowers in for young ladies and bowler hats or top hats for young gentlemen school caps would be of a finer material and finer stitching there would also be a sunday best often tailored or fitted clothing for those who could afford it so now that we've examined the differences in the lifestyles between the rich and the poor victorian children and we've seen how their lives changed throughout the victorian era i'd like you to conduct some of your own research fill in the research sheet that i've sent to you and prepare a presentation for me on differences between the lives of the poor and the rich children in victorian times [Music] you

Channel: Mathew Wall

Views: 102,973

Rating: 4.9442458 out of 5

Keywords: Victorian children, Victorians, year 5, history, rich and poor, children, year 5 history

Id: OwglIviFj4E

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2021