VICTORIAN FAMILIES

POOR AND WORKING FAMILIES The bigger number of families lived in small apartments. Some no bigger than one room. Sometimes two or more families would share an apartment. These apartments could be found in a very criminal part of town. They would be in buildings that were very close to or connected to another set of apartments. These apartment buildings were not like the attractive apartments we have today. They were built very cheaply with little consideration for safety and attractiveness. There was no plumbing or bathrooms much less flushing toilets. Public outhouses were used by everyone that lived within the block.

MOST CHILDREN HAD NO CHOICE - THEY NEEDED TO WORK TO HELP THEIR FAMILIES EARN ENOUGH MONEY TO LIVE. Children worked very long hours with little breaks and no fresh air. They often worked in very dangerous conditions resulting in injuries or even death. Children were paid very little because they were younger The lucky children got apprenticed in a trade, the less lucky ones worked on farms or helped with the spinning. When new types of work appeared with the development of industries and factories, it seemed perfectly natural to use children for work that adults couldn't do; Crawling underneath machinery or sitting in coal mines to open and close the ventilation doors.

SLUM CHILDREN Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in city slums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play except alleys and yards. But poor children still managed to make some fun. They played with whatever they could find, perhaps dancing to the music of a hurdy-gurdy man, paddling in a stream, or climbing trees and lamp- posts.

RICH FAMILIES Wealthy families lived in the countryside, or on the edges of the cities, where there were parks, fields and cleaner air The father was the head of the family, wife, children and servants were expected to obey him. Rich families had large houses, with a special room for children called the nursery. This was often at the top of the house. In the nursery younger children ate, played and slept. They were looked after by a nanny. She spent all her days with another’s children. Some children saw their parents only in the morning and evening, because most Victorians thought children should be 'seen and not heard'.