The Life and Times of Charles Dickens

Life in England mid 1800’s to the turn of the century                                  Class Structure in Victorian England Upper Class/Wealthy Middle Class Working Class (Skilled and Unskilled) Under Class A closer look…

Upper Class/Wealthy The top class was known as the Upper Class or Aristocracy. It included the Church and nobility, which had great power and wealth. This class consisted of about two percent of the population, but owned the majority of the land. It included: the royal family, lords, the clergy, great officers of state, and those above the degree of baronet. These people were born into nobility, privileged, and avoided taxes.

Middle Class/Bourgeoisie The middle class consisted of the bourgeoisie – also referring the middle working class. It was made up of factory owners, bankers, shopkeepers, merchants, lawyers, engineers, businessmen, traders, and other professionals. These people could sometimes be extremely rich, but in normal circumstances they were not privileged, and they especially resented this. There was a very large gap between the middle class and the lower class.

Working Class ( Skilled and Unskilled) “The working class” or skilled laborers were above the unskilled class- but not by much. This class is also referred to as the Proletarian Class. The lower class contained men, women, and children performing many types of labor, including factory workers, seamstresses, sweepers, miners, and others. Like the middle class, the lower class also had to endure a large burden of tax. This third class consisted of about eighty five percent of the population but only owned less than fifty percent of the land.

Working Class Skilled Woman

Working Class ( Skilled and Unskilled) The working class unskilled laborers contained many men, women, and children with no particular skill. These people typically did odd jobs that did not last long. Many unskilled laborers were a step away from being homeless and occasionally spent time on the streets.

Under Class The Under Class is also “the poor” (those who were not working, and were receiving public charity). This was considered a submerged "under class" sometimes referred to as the "sunken people"-- which lived in poverty. The under class were more susceptible to exploitation and were therefore exploited. These people often starved to death on the streets or died from malnutrition or disease.

Streets of London

The Industrial Revolution During the 1800s the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Britain. The use of steam-powered machines, led to a massive increase in the number of factories (particularly in textile factories or mills).

From Country to City As the number of factories grew, people from the countryside began to move into the towns looking for better paid work. Cities filled to overflowing and London was particularly bad. People crowded into already crowded houses. Rooms were rented to whole families or perhaps several families. If there were no rooms to rent, people stayed in lodging houses.

Child Labor Children worked in coal mines carrying large buckets of coal around on their backs, or they worked sitting down in the mine alone to open the door for a coal cart passing through. Many factory workers were children. They worked long hours and were often treated badly by the supervisors or overseers. In match factories, children were employed to dip matches into a chemical called phosphorous. This phosphorous could cause their teeth to rot and some died from the effect of breathing it into their lungs.

Child Labor The mill owners often took in orphans to their workhouses, they lived at the mill and were worked as hard as possible. They spent most of their working hours at the machines with little time for fresh air or exercise. Even part of Sunday was spent cleaning machines. There were some serious accidents, some children were scalped when their hair was caught in the machine, hands were crushed and some children were killed when they went to sleep and fell into the machine.

Child Labor When young boys first started working as chimney sweeps between five and ten years old, they suffered many cuts, grazes and bruises on their knees, elbows, and thighs however after months of suffering their skin became hardened.

Street Kids Hordes of dirty, ragged children roamed the streets with no regular money and no home to go to. The children of the streets were often orphans with no-one to care for them. They stole or picked pockets to buy food and slept in outhouses or doorways.    Some street children did jobs to earn money. They could work as crossing-sweepers, sweeping a way through the mud and horse dung of the main paths to make way for ladies and gentlemen. Others sold lace, flowers, matches or muffins etc out in the streets.

The Life of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. His father, John Dickens, was a clerk at the Navy Pay Office. His father continuously lived beyond his means and was imprisoned for debt in 1824.

When Charles was 12, he was pulled out of school to work in a boot-blacking factory to support the family. He glued the labels onto the bottles of boot black for six shillings a day. Wow! Today, One Shilling would = 12 pennies! So in ONE MONTH of factory work Charles made an estimated 144 Pence which would = $17.28 today!

Dickens begins to Write Dickens has said that his time working and living alone in a boarding house traumatized him for the rest of his life. Dickens eventually returned to school at Wellington House Academy in London. Dickens began submitting material to the British Press where he was paid a penny a line. He was not unlike a reporter for a newspaper today.

Some professional works and gains Dickens's career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays to appeared in periodicals. Dickens proved to be a prolific writer writing 20 novels, plays, short stories, and essays. Some of his more famous works include: Oliver Twist 1837 Nicholas Nickelby 1838 A Christmas Carol 1843 David Copperfield 1849 A Tale of Two Cities 1859 Great Expectations 1860

Personal Life Dickens married Catherine Hogart in 1836. Catherine’s sister, Mary, moved into their house and it was suspected that Dickens was in love with her. Mary died in 1837, and a heartbroken Dickens requested to buried next to her. Mary has shown up in many guises in his books, but usually as a good-hearted character.

Personal Life Dickens had 10 children with Catherine, but they separated in 1858. In the 1850s, Dickens spent much time traveling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and readings, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. From 1860 until the time of his death, Dickens lived at Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died at Gadshill on June 9, 1870.