Victorian England (Health (Health was poor in Victorian England and the…
Victorian England
Health was poor in Victorian England and the average life expectancy was only 29.
only the rich could afford a doctor
Cholera was spread very quickly through Victorian England due to contaminated water. the Victorians did not know about bacteria and germs and believed that disease was spread through bad smells.
Even the wealthy caught diseases and many children suffered from illnesses such as measles, mumps and rubella. in 1840 1 in 3 children died under the age of 5.
People working in factories could be killed by the materials they were working with in some cases. for example, arsenic was a green dye that was used in wallpaper that poisoned many people.
People with mental illnesses were locked in 'metal asylums' where they could not get out.. one of these was a famous asylum in London called 'Bethlehem' but was referred to as 'bedlam'. Scrooge referred to it in A Christmas Carol, 'talking about a merry Christmas. i'll retire to bedlam' Men could sent their wives to places like this to get them out of the way.
Rich Society/Poor Society
Rich Society:
Only a minority were wealthy enough to live in decent houses, have regular meals and pay for a doctor when they were sick, this was because doctors were expensive and a lot of doctors were 'quacks'.
The wealthy lived side by side with those who were living in poverty.
Many wealthy Victorians believed that the poor were lazy and had no sympathy with them. This is why they didn't fund the poor or help them out by backing fresh food for them as they felt they didn't deserve it.
However some Victorians were very concerned about the plight of the poor, Dickens among them, this is why he wrote books about them stating that they were not poor and was just by fate that they were born into poor families and often couldn't do anything about it.
Poor Society:
The Poor Law of 1834:
If you were in debt, you were put in 'debtor's prison.'
Each parish had to look after its own poor.
Parishes banded together in 'unions' to build workhouses if they had none
In 1834 the law changed so that money and clothing could no longer be given out. The poor had to go into the workhouse or receive no help.
Living conditions for working people:
There was no running water, electricity, gas or inside toilets.
Large parts of towns and cities would have been overcrowded, often with 20 people or more from several different families living in four rooms.
There would often be one or two outside toilets per street. People would resolve this be just chucking waste out of the window, people passing down below would have to watch out!
There were no sewers as such, so effluent would run down the middle of the street and eventually make its way into the nearest river.
Water was from a water pump, but even so it was often contaminated.
Industrialization/Work
Industrialization:
The industrial revolution was in full swing in the Victorian era and many factories where built in cities which meant that a lot of people moved to urbanised places to find better work and the Population of London increased from 1 million to 6 million between 1800 and 1900
Most people had to work long hours in a factory (12-14 hours daily) and only had a lunch break. this tiring work had a big effect on people health and well being.
Victorian Children
The development of mechanisation and steam power meant it was possible to mass produce books cheaply, which allowed them to be distributed via the railway and sold to the working class people of Victorian Britain.
The working people would rarely enter a bookshop and so 'hawkers' or travelling salesmen, took the books to where they gathered. Dickens was one of the first authors to take advantage of this, publishing his novels in monthly instalments which were cheap to buy and small enough to pass around.
Other technological advances added to the popularity of reading. Electric and gas light meant it was easier to read after dark.
From 1833, the English parliament began providing money to build schools for poor children.
The Forster Elementary Education Act of 1870 meant that children were now required to go to school between the ages of 5 and 10 and by 1899, the school leaving age was raised to 12.
Many of these children would work for half a day in a factory and spend the other half at school.
In the early 19th century, illiteracy was common among the working class as education was not publicly funded and free education was only provided by churches, with the emphasis on religious teaching.