Therefore, the rich middle class was a very wealthy class. For millions of Victorians, Victorian life had nothing to do with servants, etiquette or fashion. Living conditions for Victorian farm workers were often cramped and basic. If the work was seasonal or demand slumped, when they were laid off they had no savings to live on until the next job opportunity could be found. BBC Teach. Often many families would crowd into a single room for simply some place to lay their head. A poor family preparing food. The Industrial revolution had taken what many would consider to be medium class and left them without jobs. Rich Victorians lived a comfortable life The poor or lower class of the Victorian era had a very rough life. Poor Victorians would put children to work at an early a… Victorian Era: The Poor Law Amendment of 1834 The Poor Law Amendment of 1834 was introduced to combat the widespread poverty on the streets of England and to provide relief to the poor. Most employment was to be found in the newly industrialized cities, so many people abandoned their rural roots and converged on the urbanized areas to seek work. primaryhomeworkhelp.com, Woodlands Junior School, Hunt Road Tonbridge Kent TN10 4BB UK, Wealthy Victorians enjoyed a good and easy life. On the other hand their family life was tighter knit and more loving. The more people in a family who work, the better chance of having more money. For the poor Victorian Children life was much different. Word of the lesson: Comparison The main task is to create a spider diagram with findings from the sources about rich Victorians and then to compare this to what they have learned in all of the previous lessons about the poor during the Industrial Revolution. We know this: While London grew wealthy as Britain's imperial holdings expanded, London in the 19th century was also a city of incredible poverty. Middle and upper class Victorian Age families lived in large, comfortable houses. BBC School Radio. Check out the typical Victorian salaries. The Victorians, especially poor ones, were at high risk of catching some nasty diseases. Find out about the life of a young Victorian girl living in a wealthy household with a governess. Jerry White is professor in history at Birkbeck, University of London, specialising in working-class London life since 1700, and author of London in the Nineteenth Century (Jonathan Cape, 2007). This type of housing was in the older parts of town where streets were dangerous and diseases were running rampant. Living conditions in the Victorian era Their lives The rich and the poor The careless rich The most famous slums were in east which was often referred to as "darkest London" They suffered from epidemics including Cholera, Typhus, Influenza, fever and Malaria Houses had no The quality of life depended on whether you were rich or poor. Things were very different in case the of children born in poor families. Top 8 Victorian Era Poems That Must Be Read, Victorian era last name generator: Random last and first names. The Poor Law Commission of 1832 decided to amend the previous poor laws, for they were too liberal and did not implement discipline into the poor. The divide between the classes in the 19th century was such that food, clothes and even sanitation varied drastically. ©Copyright Mandy Barrow 2013 Also read about ragged schools.. Also read about ragged schools.. Child labor was a terrible problem and it was no longer just the father that would bring home enough money for food. Keep in mind that families were large in Victorian times, especially poor families. They were merely very wealthy business owners that maybe did not associate with royalty parties or occasions. Victorian Durham: the homes of the poor. The Victorian attitude toward the poor tended to be mixed. The Victorians liked to have their social classes clearly defined. The worst part for poor class families is that many needed their children to help work. Even children worked hard on the farm from as young as six years old. They had their own small vegetable garden and kept a pig to feed the family. In the 1850s one in nine girls over the age of 10 worked as domestic se rvants for wealthy homes. The reason for this increase is not altogether clear. Poor Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in the workhouse or early death. Wealthy Victorian Children This quickly made them into the lower class citizens as there were very few jobs that they were capable of finding at this time. During the reign of Queen Victoria, life was very different depending on whether you were rich or poor. Below is a table showing you some of the differences between rich and poor people: The Poor. Rich Victorians lived a very privileged life, while poorer Victorians had to work hard jobs for little money. 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. If you don't have much money you can't buy many things. Below is a table showing you some of the differences between rich and poor people: Being poor means having little money or few possessions. The country was growing so rapidly that the number of jobs just could not justify it. Very poor people with no home or job lived in 'workhouses'. If you were rich you could have a good and easy life. Industrialisation brought about rapid changes in everyday life that affected all classes and as a consequence Victorian society was full of extremes and startling contrasts. One of the major problems was the immigration of the country. The poor or lower class of the Victorian era had a very rough life. By the end of the century there were three … The nineteenth century saw a huge growth in the population of Great Britain. You can use this PowerPoint to demonstrate to KS2 students the differences between the Victorian classes and how this impacted people’s lives. Other times, children may be separated from parents and forced to work in harsh working conditions. [1] Unlike their lower class counterparts, upper class Victorian women more often than not had staff to help with the running of their home and the raising of their children, leaving them with plenty of time to enjoy the finer things in life. The houses would share toilets and water, which they could get from a pump or a well. The middle class, on the other hand, had a very successful time in the Victorian era. Why not trying looking at another theme to find out more about Victorian life? This quickly made them into the lower class citizens as there were very few jobs that they were capable of finding at this time. Millions lived in overcrowded and dirty slums that's simply defy understanding today. In the Victorian era, English family life increasingly became compartmentalised, the home a self-contained structure housing a nuclear family extended according to need and circumstance to include blood relations. Skilled and unskilled workers alike were paid subsistence-level wages. Victorian England Rural Life. Steam trains made travel a lot easier, and rich people started to go on holidays to the seaside in places like Blackpool and Brighton. The Industrial revolution had taken what many would consider to be medium class and left them without jobs. Boys would be employed to scare the birds from the crops, guard the livestock from straying, pick hops, sow potatoes … How can we find out what life was like during the Victorian times? The difference between private life and commerce was a fluid one distinguished by an informal demarcation of function. This was often due to poor diet and malnutrition although the biggest killer remained dirty drinking water. You need money to buy things such as as food and clothes. Primary Homework Help However, many people considered the rich to be middle class if they did not have anything to do with royalty. Gleanings of corn were collected after the harvest and used to make flour and bread and they would make their own cider, ale and wine from fruit such as elderberries. ate … Others may wish to introduce pupils to these documents to create a wider enquiry question of their own, for example on the role of women, the lives of rich and poor or childhood in Victorian times. Most of the common killers – measles, scarlet fever, smallpox and typhus – … Most children from poor families had to work because their families needed the money. Having a job is important so you can earn money. Learning Objectives: To investigate the differences between the lives of Rich and Poor Victorians. Poorer people often lived in crowded and difficult conditions. Poor children often had to work instead of going to school. Some families had as many as eight to twelve children or more. Poor Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in the workhouse or early death. On the one hand, more well-to-do Victorians were always encouraged to show charity to the needy. Use the activity to assess their level of knowledge and understanding from any recent study of Victorian Britain. Many worked with their parents at home or in workshops, making matchboxes or sewing. This was a sharp contrast to the overcrowded and unhealthy conditions of the working and poor classes of this time. The Wealthy. The Victorians. Find out what Victorian home life was really like. Explain that the aim of the first session of teaching is to find out what life was like for the Victorian poor. The problem with the Victorian era is that there were very few families that had relatively nice homes, enough to eat on, and a decently successful career. How Did Poor People Live During the Victorian Era? Has women’s place in society changed from Elizabethan and Victorian Eras. Image courtesy of www.eriding.net (Click image to enlarge.) This article complemented a five-part BBC Two series The Victorian Slum, showing modern families living in simulated slums, which aired in autumn 2016. The poor children had to work public jobs for their families to survive. KS2 History - The Victorians. You either had the money or you didn’t, which in reality probably drove the middle class to extinction for a time throughout the Victorian era. Victorian England was a … The poor or lower class of the Victorian era had a very rough life. Victorian houses of wealthy owners had features such as bay windows, stained glass in the windows and doorways, patterned brickwork and slate roofs. The purpose of the prison system was to make time behind bars so utterly unpleasant that those who found themselves languishing behind the grim, grey walls of a penitentiary would, on their release, think twice before daring to re-offend. Life in Victorian Britain was vastly different for rich and poor people. This drove the prices down on the wages and most poor class families struggled to even put food on the table. For these, the Victorian era was one of abject poverty. Find out about life for rich and poor children. PART I: THE RICH. Janet Sacks’ Victorian Country Life is a good reference for those who want to know more; other sources for this article are linked throughout the post. and "What questions do you want to ask about the life of the poor?" By Staff Writer Last Updated Mar 26, 2020 12:49:48 PM ET Poverty stricken families living during the Victorian Era likely lived in crowded, unkempt, slum houses, or were homeless, endured poor sanitary conditions and often were forced to subject their children to work in harsh conditions. Liza Picard examines the social and economic lives of the Victorian working classes and the poor. There was the rich lady, who led the nostalgically stylized view of Victorian life – all bustles, petticoats and jewels, and conversely there was the somewhat less rosy existence of the poor woman; a life of chimney sweeping, workhouses, and prostitution. The working class was divided into three layers, the lowest being 'working men' or labourers, then the ‘intelligent artisan’, and above him the ‘educated working man’. Victorian home life was comfortable for wealthy families. While poorer Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in population. 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