Victorian Living

Surviving the Victorian Era was an unlikely occurrence. Infant Mortality and Childbirth were a common death within babies and toddlers, with most people experiencing atleast 1 sibling die. The causes could have been anything from malnutrition, disease, complications during birth etc. Babies were often subject to mistreatment, often being silenced with a concoction of opium and alcohol. 

Upper class areas of Liverpool, 1899.

-136 newborns out of 1000 would die before they reached the age of one. 

-Working class districts maintained a rate of 274 infant deaths per 1000 births.

-Impoverished slums had a horrifying 509 infant deaths per 1000.

-One half of all children of farmers, laborers, artisans, and servants died before reaching their fifth birthday.

Child in Coffin, circa. 1850.
http://thechirurgeonsapprentice.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/cd31.jpg

This is the shocking reality for the Victorian Era, which led to many, many children from one set of parents. One Child had the average of 10 siblings. Fatal Diseases, including multiple influenza outbreaks, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, and typhoid were the most common cause of death.

-Only 25% of people survived smallpox.

-Most people died from lungs deteriorating when suffering with tuberculosis.

-Cholera spread quickly through the unsanitized water systems, due to the over-population in the cities and towns. 

-In Manchester, 40% of children survived childhood. The Working Class were lower, 22 was the average life expectancy.

Anyone could be victim to these diseases, Charles Darwin lost his 10 year old daughter to tuberculosis in 1851. At the end of the 19th century, tuberculosis accounted for 60,000 child deaths per year. No one was immune.  

However, if one child was lucky enough to survive to the age of 4 or 5, they then had the odds against them due to Industrial Death. A child's life was extremely contrasting, dependent on the class. Wealthy Children had little parent-child communication, with an overwhelming sense of boredom, being constantly reminded to be prim and proper. Toys consisted of nothing but homemade dolls and wooden blocks. Whilst the wealthy seemed to have a good life, they were subject to an affectionless existence, only communicating with their nanny, living a lonely and monotonous routine. The working class children, on the other hand, lived in small houses with many of their family, even living in one single room. This left the families to be more close-knit, but this did not always lead to affection. Many parents would have 10-12 children on the reason alone that they would be able to help pay for bills. These children were made to work hard for long hours, in filthy and dangerous conditions. Health and Safety did not exist, the children had to do this work to help pay the bills, they had no say in the matter. Mining, factory work, street sweepers, chimney sweepers, clothing and hat makers, farming, textile mills, servants and sadly even prostitution were on the list of jobs for children. 

Victorian Chimney Sweep
circa. 1880's.
http://www.victorianchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Victorian-Children-Chimney-Sweeps.jpg

-Chimney sweeps would be sent up chimneys and come out covered head to toe in soot, only to be washed in cold salt-water, and sent up another, grazes and cuts still bleeding. 

-Children working in factories worked from 14-18 hours a day, every day of the week. Their small size led them to have to crawl in and under machines, often when they were still on.

Street Children were in abundance in Victorian England. They were found in alleys, often orphans or runaways from alcoholic or neglectful parents, were abuse was the norm. Some children fell prey to prostitution or thieving to stay alive, whilst some worked normal jobs like other children. 

 

(Paxton Price, 11th December 2011, 'Victorian Children in Victorian Times', [Viewed 22nd February 2015], available from: http://www.victorianchildren.org/victorian-children-in-victorian-times/)