Victorian Women:
Daily Life
Corinne McClenahan and My Lynn
Nguyen
Engl 273
Introduction
• Around 1848 women in Victorian England were
different throughout the various classes. Society and
the economy had a great deal to do with how they
dressed, behaved, and the present conceptions of
Victorian women
• Many women supported themselves and their
family with paying jobs, as well as already having the
domestic life to return to.
• “Sexuality, intellect, and personal satisfaction were
not emphasized.” (Beeton)
• “Feminine happiness was the result of faithful
execution of domestic duties, making the good
bourgeois wife an angel of the house.” (Beeton)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/efae17089cf8b12fa582a201
Choose a class
Underclass Middle
Upper class
working
http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/dore/5a.jpg
http://www.rarebookschool.org/2005/exhibitions/eyreapparent/img/charlotte_big.jpg
http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Victorians/1895tailmarb.jpg
UNDERCLASS/LOWERCLASS
Lower than the lowest workers, many women resorted to
prostitution to take care of themselves and their children. The
struggling economy and low job availability left unskilled women to
face poverty, illness, and disease on the streets, many of who were
elderly as well.
http://aljwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/prostitute20.gif
• seamstresses, mill workers
• -working on the farm, factories, and
mines
• -wash clothing for upper classes and
are servants
• -some would prepare and sell fish or
make or repair nets
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iP2BwIvsRA/S8kuTbdxxdI/AAAAAAAABtY/XKpsBN3njU0/s400/vintage-woman-s
MIDDLE
Around the 1840’s women were becoming
more and more responsible for themselves
and their family. As a result, they began
holding occupations including:
tradeswomen, attorneys, hoteliers
engineers, teachers (school mistresses,
governesses).
Female writers such as Charlotte Bronte
challenged impressions of what is
appropriate behavior for women, through
creating a prominent heroine character in
Jane Eyre (1847)
https://encryptedtbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQMFABVsPkVQ47
3Rhmg_adk_6EjbyvXXhdIAumi4lOiPaXlnN8
http://19thcenturyhistorian.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/image142.gif
Victorian kitchen." Photos/Illustrations. “Our Life in a Flat,” in
Hellis, Nellie. The Girl's Own Paper February 28, 1885. Daily
Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
“Needlework and teaching were seen as ‘natural’ professions
for women at this time”. (VictorianWeb)
UPPER CLASS
• The Uplands and The Lawn
- Exclusively for wealthy women, lived in these
houses that overlooked the sea and gardens
- if a woman had a good education then she
might become a governess (a woman
employed to teach children in a private
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/lawnthe.jpg
household.)
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/archers.jpg
if she was born into a wealthy family, then her
family would set her up with a school or small business
Women of this class usually associated with others of
their class.
Princess Victoria
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/victoria.jpg
http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/pics/1863.jpg
http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Victorians/confmarb415x20.jpg
Woman and daughter dusting parlor."
Photos/Illustrations. Library of Congress. Daily Life
through History. ABC-CLIO,2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
A fashionable lady in dress and undress" ( 1807)." Daily Life
through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Thank you
http://womanandhersphere.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/club-picture.jpg
Work Cited
"Aspects of the Changing Status of New England Women 17901840." Teach US History |. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov.
2014.
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." American Scenes of
Everyday Life, 1840 1910. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
"Jane Eyre and the 19th Century Woman." The British Library.
N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period."
Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period.
N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"Miscellaneous Women's Occupations in Hastings, 1850s1870s." Miscellaneous Women's Occupations in Hastings, 1850s1870s. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.