Five Uncomfortable Facts About the Victorian Era (2024)

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Five Uncomfortable Facts About the Victorian Era? ›

Arsenic was all over the place, poisoning people. Poor urban people lived in conditions that wouldn't be believed today. Urban poor children sold themselves (or were sold) to middle and upper-class men for sex. Women's dresses caught fire when they stood too near a fire — “hearth death.”

Victorians were big advocates of spiritualism and believed in the afterlife. Public events involving hypnosis, séances and fortune telling were popular occasions during the era, and it was big money for the people performing these acts.

POVERTY. Luxuries were not available to the millions of working poor, who toiled for long hours in mills (like Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Cumbria), mines, factories and docks. The dreadful working and living conditions of the early 19th century persisted in many areas until the end of the Victorian age.

Famine, financial depression, pollution, and stark social inequality characterised the period, and many people began to wonder how a prosperous nation could have allowed life to become so grim for so many of its citizens.

Facts about the dark side of Victorian History

But the Victorian Era also had a dark side. Disease, poor sanitation, low wages, and the abuse of children were all parts of everyday life. Even the wealthiest and most powerful members of society couldn't escape the horrors of the Victorian Era.

The nineteenth century saw repeated public scares about sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums. Newspapers reported stories about innocent men and women being attacked on the streets, forced into carriages and locked away in awful conditions.

Instead of sticking to a set bedtime, says Ekirch, households would head to bed a few hours after dusk, wake up for an hour or two, and finish off the night with their second sleep, which lasted until dawn.

Poor children often had to work instead of going to school. Many worked with their parents at home or in workshops, making matchboxes or sewing. Children could also earn a bit of money as chimney-sweeps, messengers or crossing sweepers like the boy in this picture.

The Victorian era, thanks to industrialisation, saw a massive expansion of cities and towns, and with it a rise in disease, poverty and unemployment.

What were the dangers of the Victorian times? ›

Infectious diseases were the greatest cause of Victorian mortality. Most of these, such as smallpox, tuberculosis and influenza, were old scourges, but in 1831 Britain suffered its first epidemic of cholera. Slowly it was understood that it was spread by water contaminated by sewage.

Disadvantaged Victorians means Victorian people or groups that are in unfavourable circ*mstances or considered to be vulnerable, especially in relation to financial, employment or social opportunities.

The Victorian Era in Britain was dominated by the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time, there were still issues within the social structure. The social classes of this era included the Upper class, Middle class, and lower class.

Victorian society wrestled with conflicts of morality, technology and industry, faith and doubt, imperialism, and rights of women and ethnic minorities. Many Victorian writers addressed both sides of these conflicts in many forms of literature.

The Victorian era saw revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, which shaped the world as we know it today. These transformations led to many social changes with the birth and spread of political movements, most notably socialism, liberalism and organised feminism.

If you're wondering what was life like in the Victorian era, then social inequality and changes are important points to consider. Poor people often lived in very crowded and unhealthy conditions. They often had to share a small room with many other people, and there was no indoor plumbing.

VI. The worst Victorian hypocrisy, of course, is held to be prudishness: that is, unwillingness to speak or write of physical sex in any aspect. The MidVictorians had a repulsion for the subject. Every one over forty years old today knows how strong that repulsion was.

“Sentiments and designs that may seem unusual today were often considered signs of good fortune, while others poked fun at superstitions,” says Bradbeer. Folk customs influenced the design of many Victorian Christmas cards. In British folklore, for example, robins and wrens are considered sacred species.