The Victorians: A Social History

1. The Victorians: A Social History By: Spencer Ballard and John Geyer

2. Beliefs & Morals • Ideals of the Age - Responsibility - Diligence - Consciousness • Key Aspects of the Age - Scientific Advances - Industrialization - Evolution of Thinking

3. Entertainment • Kids played with paper and wax dolls • Fine arts - Theater - Plays • Social Occasions • Clubs • Music Halls • Pubs • Seaside Activities

4. Entertainment (cont.) • Sports - Cricket - Fishing - Football - Cycling - Boxing - Golf - Horseracing - Hunting - Rowing/Paddling - Rugby - Tennis

5. Occupations • Most workers were middle class workers coming from the North and Midlands • Worked in: - Factories - Coalmines - Railways • Farming in decline

6. Occupations (cont.) • Women usually only worked in textile factories or domestic service • Children (as young as 6) worked at: - Flax Mills - Blanket Mills - Fish Markets

7. Living Conditions • Industrial Towns were built quick with no planning, sanitation, or fresh water • Many families trapped in dire poverty and seasonal employment • Higher crime rate in cities • Sickness, such as Cholera, Typhoid, and Typhus, were common in cities as well

8. Living Conditions (cont.) • Typical Upper Middle Class: - Entrance Hall - Dining Room - Living Room - Music Room - Morning Room - Master Bed - 2-3 Bedrooms - Nursery - Kitchen - Bathroom - Solid, well built furniture

9. Daily Life • Big Cities: - Have competition, customs, and expectations - One loses individuality - Fast living - Self Dependency - Luxuries become necessities (wine)

10. Daily Life (cont.) • Factories & Industries - Poorly treated and overworked - Wanted reform of workdays (6 am – 8 pm) - Dark smoggy towns - Blackened Buildings - Coal and steam everywhere - Pubs were popular, brightly lit, loud, and had a lot of tobacco - Days categorized by drunken riots and silent factory work

11. Class System • Social Classes distinguished by: - Power - Authority - Wealth - Working and Living Conditions - Lifestyles - Life Span - Education - Religion - Culture

12. Class System (cont.) • Upper Class: - Commerce - Industry - Professions - Controlled Political System • Working Class: - Hostile to aristocracy and middle class - Skilled laborers had much more influence than unskilled laborers • Women belonged at home

13. Class System (cont.) • Victorian Gentlemen - All Victorians aspired to be one - Not by birth (though many claimed to be for this reason) - Some believed occupations as clergy made them gentlemen - Others believed growing wealth and influence did

14. Clothing • Victorian Women - Elegance and Grace - Heavy Petticoats - Underclothes - Hoop Skirt - Tight Corsets - Ornate Collars - Pelerines - Fans - Gloves - Hats - Uncomfortable and inconvenient yet frivolous and decorative

15. Clothing (cont.) • Victorian Boys - Skirts until age 4 - Graduated to jacket and skirt - Then Toddler Dresses - Moved on to Front buttoned blouse with trousers - Finally, a suit

16. Cockney • Cockney was the Victorians Slang • Unknown origins although there are some theories • Examples of Cockney: - Weeping Willow – pillow (2 word rhyming phrase) - Cake – shiver and shake - Girl – twist and twirl - Suit – whistle and flue - Tit for Tat – hat

17. Cockney (cont.) - Tea Leaf – thief - Half Inch – Pinch (steal) - Bird-Lime – Time - Rory O Moore – floor (now used to mean door) - Plates of Meat – feet (now used for street) • Rhyming Slang was disreputable and was only used by the lower classes