Life in Victorian England
The Social Classes:
For people in Victorian England, the quality of daily life rested on a structure where each person
knew his place in society. Unlike American, the British people during this time did not believe that
“all men (and women) are created equal.” They believed that their place in society depended on their
source of income, as well as on where and to whom they were born and their family connections.
Most people were understanding and accepting of their place in society. Railroads designated
different cars for first class, second class, and third class, and passengers knew just where they were
to sit. If a working-class man had just won a lot of money and could afford a first-class ticket, he still
would not dream of riding home in the first-class car.
Class was also revealed in the Victorians’ manners, speech, clothing, education, and values.
Classes lived in separate sections of town and also observed varying social customs ranging from
religion to courtship to the names and times of their meals. Victorians believed that each class had its
own standards, and people were expected to adhere to the rules that were set for their class. People
thought that it was very wrong to behave like someone from a class above or below one's own.
England had only two major classes: The aristocrats (those who inherited land and titles), and the
commoners (everyone else). Still, most Victorians knew that their society was three-tiered. The labor
of the working class was more visible in society. Their work was very physical and dirty, which
showed every day in their clothes and their hands. Most people of the working class were paid a
daily or weekly wage. Men of the middle class did the clean work, which normally included mental,
not physical work. They were usually paid a monthly or yearly salary. The upper class included the
aristocracy and the landed gentry. Their income came from inherited land or investments, and as the
saying goes, "It takes money to make money."
To review, there were three main social classes in Victorian England:
 Upper class - did not work, income came from inherited land and investments
 Middle class - men performed mental or "clean" work, paid monthly or annually
 Working/Poor class - men & women performed physical labor, paid daily or weekly wage
1
Typical Yearly Incomes in Victorian England Based on Class
Upper Class:
Aristocrats (those born into royal or very wealthy families)
£30,000* or $49,200
Middle Class:
Merchants/Bankers
Professionals: Doctors, Lawyers, Clerks
Lower middle-class: Teachers, Journalists, Shopkeepers, etc.
£10,000 or $16,400
£300-800 or $492-$1,312
£150-300 or $246-$492
Lower Class:
Skilled workers: Carpenters, Typesetters, etc.
Sailors and domestic staff (housekeepers & cooks)
Laborers, soldiers
£75-100 or $123-$164
£40-75 or $66-$123
£25 or $41
(*₤1 English pound (₤) = approximately $1.64 American)
The Chart below shows how much money basic expenses would have cost people per year in
the late Victorian era. The amounts have been converted from British pounds to U.S. dollars to make
them easier to understand.
Rent
Rates and taxes including gas
Coals (Fuel)
Food: Butcher (Red Meat)
Food: Baker
Food: Grocer (Staple foods)
Food: Fruits/Vegetables
Food: Poulterer (Chicken, turkey)
Clothing: Husband
Clothing: Wife
Laundry
Doctor/Pharmacist
Travel
Local Travel (Work, shopping, etc.)
Entertainment
House Repairs
Garden
Miscellaneous
Totals:
1888
Annual
Today
Annual
$511.35
131.36
58.44
43.83
170.45
185.06
48.70
48.70
97.40
170.45
170.45
160.71
209.41
97.40
175.32
131.49
24.35
243.50
$9,897.96
2,639.46
1,131.20
4,336.25
848.40
3,582.12
942.66
942.66
1,885.33
3,299.32
3,299.32
3,110.79
4,053.45
1,885.33
3,393.59
2,545.19
471.33
4,713.31
$2727
$52,980
2
Upper & Middle Class Families
Families were very important to Victorians. They were usually large. In 1870 the average
family had five or six children. Most upper and middle class families lived in big, comfortable
houses. Each member of the family had its own place and children were taught to "know their place."
The father was the head of the household. He was often strict and was obeyed by all without
question. The children were taught to respect their father and always spoke politely to him calling
him "Sir." Very few children would dare to be sassy to their father or talk back to him. When he
wanted a little peace and quiet he would retire to his study and the rest of the family was not allowed
to enter without his special permission.
The mother would often spend her time planning dinner parties, visiting her dressmaker or
calling on friends. She did not do jobs like washing clothes or cooking and cleaning. Both parents
saw the upbringing of their children as an important responsibility. They believed a child must be
taught the difference between right and wrong if he or she was to grow into a good and thoughtful
adult. If a child did something wrong he would be punished for his own good. "Spare the rod and
spoil the child" was a saying Victorians firmly believed in.
Most days middle and upper-class children saw very little of their parents. The children would
spend most of their time in the nursery and would be supervised by their nanny. Victorian children
were expected to rise early because lying in bed was thought to be lazy and sinful. The nanny would
be paid about ₤25 ($48) a year to wash, dress and watch over the children, entertain them, give them
medicine, take them to the park, and teach them how to behave. Some would only see their parents
once a day. In the evening, clean and tidy children were allowed downstairs for an hour before they
went to bed. Some mothers taught their children to read and write, and sometimes fathers taught their
sons Latin. As the children grew older, tutors and governesses were often employed, and boys were
sometimes sent away to school. When the children grew up, only the boys were expected to work,
the daughters stayed at home. Girls were expected to marry as soon as possible.
All households except the very poorest had servants to do their day to day work. The cook and
the butler were the most important. The butler answered the front door and waited on the family. The
cook was responsible for shopping for food and running the kitchen, she would often be helped by
kitchen and scullery (assistant) maids. Housemaids cleaned the rooms and footmen did the heavy
work around the house. People would come from the country to work as servants in the town houses.
These jobs were popular because they gave the servants somewhere to live and clothing to wear.
They earned about ₤50 ($82) a year. Many of these workers spent their entire working lives working
for the same household.
3
Poor / Working Class Families
Working class people were rarely educated and had to work with their hands. For them, strength
and health was the only way they could earn money. If the worker or workers in the family suddenly
became injured or ill, they could no longer work, and they had to go to their local church for help.
But churches could only help so much, so the greatest fear among these people was ending up in the
workhouse, where thousands of homeless and penniless families were forced to live.
Workhouses
Because of a rise in the population of Britain in the 19th century, it was becoming more and
more expensive for churches to support the poor. The Workhouses were an attempt to solve this.
Before workhouses came into being, the poor were able to stay in their homes and claim church
parish “relief.” This “relief” would be what we call “public assistance” or “welfare,” today. In 1834
the Poor Law Act was created to get rid of poor people who were seen to be lazy, drunken, or just
trying to live off the free church money.
The workhouse was the last resort for a lot of the poorer families who had genuinely come
across hard times. If the breadwinner lost his/her job or fell, sick then there would be no wages
coming in and the only option they had was to leave their homes and move into the workhouse.
Because of the conditions at the workhouse, families would try to cope with their poverty before
suffering the shame of having to go into them. In the workhouses, thousands of children in poor
families died of diseases like scarlet fever, measles, polio and tuberculosis--diseases which are
curable today. These were spread by foul drinking water, open drains, and lack of toilets. In
overcrowded rooms if one person caught a disease, it spread quickly through the rest.
The workhouse buildings were usually grim looking places and the rules for residents were also
designed to make it the last option. On entering the workhouse, people were forced to submit to a
check for lice and disease. They were stripped, searched, washed, and had their hair cut short. They
were made to wear a prison-style uniform. If people went out of the workhouse, they would be
recognized by their uniform as being from the workhouse. The inmates rose at 5:00 a.m. and went to
bed at 8:00 p.m.
One especially cruel aspect of the workhouse was that families were separated. Husbands, wives
and children would be in separate parts of the workhouse. They were not allowed to meet even in the
4
gathering areas. Keeping husbands and wives apart was another way for the government to control
an increase in the population of the poor.
Below are some pieces of information from actual workhouse records:
Daily Food Allowances for Those in Workhouses:
Breakfast:
Males over 15 years: 8 oz. of bread and 1 pint of gruel (thin oatmeal) or 1 pint of broth.
Females over 15 years and Children 7-15 years: 6 oz. of bread,1 pint of gruel or 1 pint of broth.
Supper: Same as Breakfast.
Children under seven years of age: For each child under the age of seven months - half pint of
milk and half oz. of sugar. For each child between the ages of seven months and two years - half pint
of milk, half oz. of sugar, and 2 oz of bread. For each child between the ages of two years and seven
years - half pint of Milk, 4 oz. of Bread, and half oz. of Cheese.
Workhouse Tasks
Poor who stay for more than one night:
Males, for each entire day of detention: “Shall break seven carts-full of Stones, or other such
quantity not less than five carts, nor more than thirteen The stone shall be broken to such a size as the
Guardians determine or, the picking of four pounds of unbeaten or eight pounds of beaten hemp
(used to make ropes and fill for seams in ship building.) Or nine hours' work in digging or pumping,
or cutting wood, or grinding corn.”
Females, for each entire day of detention: “The picking of two pounds of unbeaten or four pounds
of beaten hemp, or nine hours' work in washing, scrubbing and cleaning, or needlework.”
Punishments for Workhouse Offenses
Paupers who escaped from the workhouse, refused to do the required work, disobeyed the
rules of the workhouse, gave a false name to avoid work, or destroyed their workhouse uniform
would be sentenced to one to three months imprisonment with hard labor.
Schools in Victorian England
Many children in early Victorian England never went to school at all and more than half of
them grew up unable even to read or write. Children from rich families were luckier than poor
children. Nannies looked after them, and they had toys and books. A governess would teach the
children at home. Then, when the boys were old enough, they were sent away to a public school such
as Eton or Rugby. The daughters were kept at home and taught singing, piano playing and sewing.
5
Types of Schools
There were several kinds of schools for poorer children. The youngest might go to a "Dame"
school, run by a local woman in a room of her house. The older ones went to a day school. Other
schools were organized by churches and charities. Among these were the "ragged" schools which
were for orphans and very poor children. Wealthy children were sent to attractive, well-maintained
private schools because their parents could pay the expensive tuition.
School Rooms
The school could be quite a depressing building. The rooms were warmed by a single stove or
open fire. Walls were bare. Curtains were used to divide the schoolhouse into classrooms. The noise
of several classes competed as they were taught side-by-side. There was little fresh air because
windows were built high in the walls to keep pupils from looking outside and being distracted from
their work. In the country barns were often converted into schools. School managers didn’t like to
spend money on repairs, so buildings were allowed to rot, and broken equipment was not replaced.
Children were often scared of their teachers because they were very strict. Children as young as
thirteen helped the teacher to control the class. These “pupil-teachers” scribbled notes for their
lessons in books. They received certificates which helped them qualify as teachers when they were
older. In schools before 1850, a single teacher might instruct a class of over 100 children with the
help of pupils called “monitors.” Salaries were low, so more women taught than men.
After 1870, all children from five to thirteen had to attend school by law. In winter in the
countryside, many children faced a teeth-chattering walk to school of several miles. A large number
didn’t turn up. Lessons lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a two-hour lunch break. Because
classes were so large, pupils all had to do the same thing at the same time. The teacher barked a
command, and the children all opened their books in unison. At the second command they began
copying sentences from the blackboard.
Victorian lessons concentrated on the “three Rs”-Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic.
Children learned by reciting things like parrots until they were perfect. It was not an exciting form
of learning. Science was taught by “object lesson.” Snails, models of trees, sunflowers, stuffed dogs,
crystals, wheat or pictures of elephants and camels were placed on each pupil’s desk as the subject
for the lesson. The object lesson was supposed to make children observe, then talk about what they
had seen. Unfortunately, many teachers found it easier to write lists on the board describing the
object, for the class to copy. Geography meant yet more copying and reciting - listing the countries
on a globe, or chanting the names of railway stations between London and Holyhead. Teacher’s
plans from the late 1800s, have a greater number of subjects, including needlework, cookery and
woodwork. But the teacher still taught by writing on the board and talking.
Children learned to write on slates. They scratched letters on them with sharpened pieces of
slate. Paper was expensive, but slates could be used again and again. Children were supposed to
bring sponges to clean them. Most just spat on the slates, and rubbed them clean with their sleeves.
Older children learned to use pen and ink by writing in “copybooks.” Each morning the ink monitor
filled up little clay ink wells and handed them around from a tray. Pens were fitted with scratchy,
leaking tips, and children were punished for spilling ink which “blotted their copybooks.” Teachers
also gave dictation: reading out strange poems which the children had to spell out correctly.
6
Slates showing pictures and names of different objects hung from the walls of the
kindergarten class. The children would chant the name of each object in turn. When they could use
the words in sentences they would move on to a “reader.” This would probably be the Bible. For
reading lessons, the pupils lined up with their toes touching a semi-circle chalked on the floor. They
took turns reading aloud from the Bible. The words didn’t sound like everyday words; children
stumbled over the long sentences. Quicker readers fidgeted as they waited for their turn to read.
School inspectors slowly realized that the Bible’s language was too difficult. Bibles were gradually
replaced by books of moral stories, with titles like Harriet and the Matches. A reader had to last for a
whole year. If the class read it too quickly, they had to go back to the beginning and read it all over
again.
Teachers handed out regular canings. Inside the “punishment book” that every school kept,
there were many reasons for these beatings: rude conduct, leaving the playground without
permission, moodiness, talking back, missing Sunday prayers, throwing ink or spit wads, and being
late. Boys were caned across their bottoms, and girls across their hands or bare legs. Some teachers
broke canes with their fury, and kept birch rods in jars of water to make them more bendable so they
would sting. Victims had to choose which cane they wished to be beaten with!
Christmas Celebrations
Although Christ's birth has been celebrated since the 4th century, most of the English customs
we are familiar with today are as recent as the Victorian Era. Many of the early ceremonies were
rooted in pagan beliefs. Some customs, like wassailing, still survive.
The Protestant Reformation condemned most of what they believed were superstitious pagan
customs and banned public celebrations of Christmas. The Puritans abolished all Christmas
celebrations as well. It wasn't until Prince Albert of Germany married Queen Victoria of England and
brought many German customs with him that Christmas began to gain popularity again.
One of the first signs of Christmas was the arrival of the Christmas card in the mail. John
Calcott Horsley designed the first Christmas card in 1846. Only 1000 cards were printed that first
year and were expensive, but the pattern for the future was formed. Then in 1870, postage was
reduced to one half penny per ounce and a process called color lithography made printing colorful
cards easier. This began the real spread of the Christmas card. At first, designs were simple, but as
technology advanced, new subjects evolved. Popular designs were Christmas feasts, church bells,
turkey, and plum pudding.
Christmas decorations sometimes appeared well before the holiday also, but many still held to
the old superstition that it was bad luck to decorate with evergreens before Christmas Eve. The most
favored plants were all “magical” because of the mid-winter berries they produced: mistletoe, holly,
7
and ivy. The red berry of the holly was believed to protect one against witchcraft. The branch of
holly had to be carried into the house by a male, since holly was thought to be a male plant. One use
for holly sprigs was to decorate the Christmas pudding. The ivy, thought to be a female plant,
symbolized immortality. Mistletoe, because of its pagan origins, was not allowed in any church.
Kissing under the mistletoe was a purely English custom, and only as many berries as were on the
mistletoe, could there be kisses. Since after every kiss, a berry had to be removed from the sprig.
The Christmas tree can truly be called a Victorian invention. The custom of a lighted tree
began in Germany and German settlers brought the idea to America. But it wasn't until Prince Albert,
who was of German descent, brought the Christmas tree to England in 1840 that it gained popularity
there. By 1847, the trees at Windsor Castle were hung with presents as well as wax candles. The
tradition spread as English citizens followed the Royal example. The trees and other decorations
were removed on Twelfth Night (January 6). To do so before or after was considered bad luck.
Families began their Christmas Day by going to church. (Christmas Eve services did not
become popular until after World War II.) The ringing of bells called everyone to church. At
services, scriptural lessons were taught and carols were sung. Most of the carols we sing today were
written in the nineteenth century, although old favorites such as 'Silent Night' and 'Hark the Herald
Angels Sing' are much older.
Carols were also sung at home and families even walked door-to-door to entertain others. Also
going from house-to-house were the wassailers. These were usually the poor of the church parish
(congregation), who sought donations of drink, food or money as they invited others to drink from
their wooden bowl.
Christmas dinner was a grand affair. Goose, chicken, or a large roast of beef took center stage
on the table. Turkey, while popular in America, wasn't customary fare until late in the 19th century in
England. Christmas pudding, made with beef, spices, bread crumbs, and “plums”, the English word
for any dried fruit such as raisins, dates, or prunes, was mixed on Stir-up Sunday, the Sunday before
Advent, in order for the mixture to mature. Everyone in the house took turns stirring the pudding
with a wooden spoon (in honor of the Christ child's wooden crib). The stirring had to be done in a
clockwise direction for luck.
Mince pies were another traditional dish. They were sweeter, made with mincemeat, fruit and
spices, and had to be eaten for the twelve days of Christmas to ensure twelve months of luck in the
coming year. Each one eaten had to be baked by a different person, however, so there was much
sharing with friends.
After dinner, children pulled Christmas crackers and everyone exchanged gifts. Christmas
crackers are small cylinders of paper and cardboard that make a brief “snap” sound when pulled
apart. Inside these brightly wrapped cylinders were small toys, fortunes, and paper crowns. The
paper crows represented the Three Wise Men from the Christmas story. The evening usually ended
with parlor games and carol singing.
8
Name: _______________________________________Date: _________________Period:_____
Life in Victorian England
Directions: Answer the following questions based on the reading packet: Life in Victorian England
1. How did people in Victorian England differ from Americans in the 1800’s?
a. they spoke a different language
b. they were much wealthier
c. they were higher class
d. they didn’t believe all people were equal
2. The middle class earned money by:
a. doing manual labor
b. doing mental work
c. making investments
d. stealing from the rich
3. How much money total would Victorians have to spend on food for a year?
a. $452.91
b. $496.74
c. $594.14
d. $448.04
4. What is meant by the term “domestic staff?”
a. people who worked in the fields
b. people who sold merchandise
d. people who worked in homes
e. people who entertained others
5. What is meant by the phrase, “Spare the rod and spoil the child?”
a. don’t beat children, but spoil them rotten
b. if you don’t beat children, they’ll turn out well
c. spoiled children should be beaten
d. children who aren’t beaten won’t become good adults
6. Who spent most of the time with children?
a. the mother
b. the father
c. the grandparents
d. the nanny
7. Upper and middle class boys:
a. were the head of the household
b. were expected to marry as soon as they left home
c. were often sent away to a public school
d. attended Dame Schools
9
8. For their income, poor/working class families relied on:
a. the kindness of others
b. public assistance
c. their health
d. social security
9. What happened to thousands of children in workhouses?
a. they were worked to death
b. they were given up for adoption
c. they were sold into slavery
d. they died of diseases
10. A meal for an infant would be:
a. half a pint of milk and half an ounce of sugar
b. a pint of milk and an ounce of sugar
c. a cup of milk with sugar in it
d. a pint of sugar and a half an ounce of milk
11. All of the following are tasks in the workhouse except:
a. cooking
b. washing
c. cleaning
d. pounding rocks
12. Victorian children:
a. had to go to school from ages 5 to 16
b. had to attended classes from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
c. were given detention as punishment
d. learning lesson mostly by reciting and memory
13. Children in Victorian schools were punished for:
a. talking back to the teacher
b. rudeness
c. being moody
d. all of the above
14. Early ceremonies celebrating Christmas were based on:
a. pagan beliefs
b. Puritan beliefs
c. Christ’s birth
d. English customs
15. Who were “wassailers?”
a. church members who helped the poor
b. professional entertainers who sang Christmas carols door-to-door
c. makers of plum pudding
d. beggars who went door-to-door asking for food and money
10