[4] Lower Upper Class - This class include country wealthy gentleman and large scale business men who had made their way with the immense wealth they possessed. [12] The images we have today of Victorian women, clad in fine fabrics, grand dresses, bonnets and petticoats, are the clothes of the upper classes. Accounts show that children born into working class families felt that their mother was the best mother of all. The working class were the worst effected by the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian Era. When the railway line from London to Brighton was established, going on holiday began to be a regular part of Victorian life. [23] [11], The highest class for the women was the gentry and nobility class. [4] [7] Some of the increasingly powerful upper middle class categories secured their places in this upper class. [4], The wealthy Victorian Children and their families lived a much more elegant and privileged life than the poor families lived. Other people were migrating to England and creating less job opportunities for all the people living in the lower class. Infomation on different aspects of the working class in the victorian era including: housing, fashion, education, working conditions, job opportunities, recreational activities, marriage, diet and living conditions. [1] Regardless of class standing, the lack of refrigeration was a burden shared by all in the Victorian period. The lower class included seamstresses, washerwomen, farm, factory, and mine workers, and domestic servants. Even though she had a physical disability, she still was able to overcome this and become a respectable Victorian women traveler. [19] For instance, one woman would work with the family business, while another woman might have the life of some upper class women, and not have to work much at all. [4] Another trade which lower class women could turn their hand to was that of domestic service. Very large families were not peculiar in the centuries before birth control, with the Victorian Era being no exception. Boys of a good family without money went into middle class professional jobs. [6], Other jobs like working on the railroad was also an option for Lower Class workers. [26] [12] Forced Medical Examinations. Note: Footnotes & Links provided to all original resources. [4] Victorian era, the period between about 1820 and 1914, corresponding roughly to the period of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901) and characterized by a class-based society, a growing number of people able to vote, a growing state and economy, and Britain’s status as the most powerful empire in the world. The law of Victorian England had shifted into a class pattern. Poverty and crime were connected during the Victorian era and the justification of crime between the middle class and working class was different. Once women married, Jalland notes, even upper class women risked death in giving birth. With the Victorian Era, it was the rise of the social classes and highlighting their way of life, especially with the Middle Class. The lower working class were distinguished from the upper by having less education, no pretensions to gentility, fewer resources or opportunities and, in some cases, simply less luck. Even though children were good assistants, there was a downside. [9] Image courtesy of www.eriding.net (Click on image to … [7] Well, most Victorian housewives made their children's clothes for they had learnt how to at a very young age, but even still, poor Victorian families had very few outfit. The middle class was getting many opportunities to improve their social status. [12] (More...) At the start of the Victorian era (1830s-1900), English society was highly stratified and hierarchical, and the population fell into three main classes. One of the main reasons that working class women had such trouble getting by in Victorian England was the extreme disparity between theirs and the upper class, both in economic and social terms. [7] [4] This working class was further categorised as the skilled workers and the unskilled workers. [13] Their routine work was fulfilled by the lower class people. [2] While the elite built extravagant homes, workers lived in crowded tenements, and the economic downturns forced workers to accept lower wages just to feed their families. [19] During the Victorian era, women were viewed as the very opposite of what a man ought to be. The men of the Victorian Era believed that a women's place was at home. Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time, there were still issues within the social structure. [17] The risk of death was more concerning to the lower class women. The customs and etiquette expected of men, and especially women, were rigid during much of the Victorian era. The difference between upper class and lower class was vastly greater than it is today. [15] If you hate your job now, just thank your lucky stars that you did not work during Victorian times! The social classes of this era included the Upper class, Middle class, and lower class. The era can be viewed as one long stream of contradictions—a time of prosperity interrupted by the Long Depression of 1873–1879 and the Panic of 1893. The Victorian Era was an exciting era to be alive with many different changes taking place. Most women want to dress upper class, but the lower classes often have more fun and an easier time creating a costume. All of these examples prove that a person's social class highly affected the life that person lived during Victorian England. Various classes and their lives, The Working Class Of The Victorian Era by Jomadnhy Smith on Prezi, Victorian England Social society chart-Hierarchystructure.com, Victorian Houses and Where the Rich and Poor Victorian Children Lived, Victorian Society and the Time Machine - UI Victorian Wiki - UIowa Wiki, Class System in Victorian England - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com, Working Conditions for Poor Victorian Children | ToughNickel. Terms & Conditions  | They were ranked below the lower class because they lived in total poverty. Despite the clean-sounding name, this job actually involved collecting dog feces … [4] [19] [4] Even though members of this class held jobs, they were considered part of the Lower Class. Some of the working class lived in massive slums in Glasgow. [15] [11] Victorian Era: Social Class System 1. During this era, women were generally classified into very specific social groups: the upper class, the middle class, the lower middle class, the lower class, and the underclass. [11] [25] [4], Another option for lower working class women during this time period for a job was domestic service ("Women of Victorian England"). [4], The fourth and final class that women had a role in was the "lower" working class. [11] From levitation demonstrations, vanishing acts and card-playing automatons, to performing elephants, clog dancers and even ‘sapient pigs’ able to perform remarkable tricks – when looking for live entertainment, the Victorians were spoilt for choice. [4] [8], The Industrial Revolution brought a lot of changes to the lower class family working structure during Victorian England. [4] [11] These also depict the landscapes, battles and life in general in Victorian society. England under the Victorian Era was a fascinating place to live. The life of a middle class woman was similar to the life of an upper class woman, but it was not as luxurious as an upper class woman's life. [9] The third class that women played a role in was the "upper" working class, or the "upper" lower class. [4] In 1847, Charles Dickens, together with a millionaire heiress and philanthropist named Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, decided to pay for the establishment of Urania Cottage. Middle Upper Class - This class include great officers of the England, the baronets along with temporal lords. [14] During the Victorian Era, the social class system of that time rigidly defined the role of women. Social class and values in the Victorian Era Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. [5] The single breasted jacket curved back from just above the waist and displayed the lower part of a waistcoat at the front. [26] [5], With tenements consisting of many floors, Victorian Londoners lived cheek-by-jowl with their neighbors. [4] [17] -Their foods were limited and low in quantity as well as quality. To be quite honest, by today’s standard, this would not be middle class, it would simply be upper class. [4] Victorian Era and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Known for its utilitarianist ideals, the education system of the Victorian Era limited the thoughts, speech, and actions of the individual; People were the product of the Victorian society in which they were raised. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of Continental Europe. [9]. [10] [24] The "The Lady of Shallot" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the Victorian era is a poem that can portray the society that shaped the era. The conditions were so brutal for the working class that at times children were forced to work away from their parents. [2] [4] ("Victorian Era Social Classes"). They also had no sewage system. The lowest among the social hierarchy were the working class. [21] Different Levels of Society Upper Class Upper Middle Class Middle Working Class Working 3. a s s Cl ighH 4. TOSHER. [4] The goal of these middle class women was to marry into a wealthy relationship. The class that was below the lower class was often called the under class or the “paupers”. [4] The shape was essentially an inverted triangle, with a wide-brimmed hat on top, a full upper body with puffed sleeves, no bustle, and a skirt that narrowed at the ankles (the hobble skirt was a fad shortly after the end of the Victorian era). [19] The reform of the Victorian era, a time in England of refinement and high decorum surrounding the years of Queen Victoria’s reign, did not produce revolution but the opposite: stagnation. Catering for the demanding upper class ladies all day and cleaning up after their families seven days a week, for at least twelve hours a day, was in itself a monumental task, especially when if anything were to go wrong in the family it would be the servants who were to get the blame. The Victorian era of the England history was the reigning period of the Queen Victoria. Meanwhile, the Victorian era saw a rise in awareness of birth defects associated with reproduction among relatives. Privacy Policy  | [27], Prior to the industrial revolution, Britain had a very rigid social structure consisting of three distinct classes: The Church and aristocracy, the middle class, and the working poorer class. The British lower class was divided into two sections: "the working class" (labourers), and "the poor" (those who were not working, or not working regularly, and were receiving public charity). [7] [4] [12], Keep in mind that families were large in Victorian times, especially poor families. One of the worst parts for the lower class families was that they were so poor that they needed their own children to go work for them so they could have more money to support their family. [5], Despite the vast differences between the women in this era, their similarities encouraged a change that shaped the history of Britain. Prostitution in Victorian Britain was a prevalent and often well earning business, with streets and streets dedicated to its work. [7] [7] [7] Horrible Histories - Victorian Work Song, online video, 6 June 2011, accessed 25 August 2013, < BBC n.d. [3], Victorian London food shopping was handled in the same fashion, although the baker or butcher would brings his food to the servants entrance of the home. The middle class people made about three hundred to eight hundred pounds annually. In 1837, the start of the Victorian era, Britain began experiencing massive changes in the culture of the nation and in the industrial sector. [15] Here we will explore lives in the women in the time between 1837-1901, known as the Victorian Era. 29 Overall, the Middle Class was one of the better classes to be living in during this era. The other part of the Middle Class, the Lower Middle Class, didn't have the perks of living in the Upper Middle Class, but they definitely had it better than the Lower Class. [5] [3], The perfect role model for the domesticity expected of upper, and especially middle class women, was that of Victoria herself, who doted upon her husband and children, and after Albert’s death remained loyal, modest and demure - engrossing herself in her regal affairs. A surprising aspect of society in the late 1800's is that the wealthy upper class had their own curiosities about how the poor lower class lived. [5], The Industrial Revolution in the mid-century of the era brought about drastic changes in the standard of living of the Victorian Middle-Class people. [4] The white industrialized European was place at the top of a racial and social hierarchy and supported program enacted during the Victorian era to "civilize" colonial subjects through increased exposure to Victorian culture and literature, namely through education programs that place English literature on a pedestal that taught British moral values. The Victorian era was during the period of the rule of Queen Victoria. Social Class During Victorian England History Essay, Comparing Norman and Victorian Architecture and Lifestyle - Londonhua WIKI, How the Other Half Lived: Rich and Poor Women in Victorian Britain -- History is Now Magazine, Podcasts, Blog and Books Modern International and American history, Victorian society social structure. Several Victorian painters and artists have their work carefully preserved in museums. [4] [4] [26] In the Victorian Era, the Middle Class flourished because of the development of industrialization. By today's standards, the middle class of Victorian England would be equal to the upper class of the 21st century ("Victorian Era Social Classes"). Such was the dietary divide between the rich and poor in the Victorian era. The desperate times that lower class women found themselves in periodically made them stoop to desperate measures, such as prostitution; in addition, there was an increase in abuse and neglect, ranging from infanticide, to abortion, to baby farming, which brought the nature of motherhood in Victorian England into question. In the Victorian English countryside women even began to band together to improve their lives, both practically and spiritually. There was a very large gap between the middle class and the lower class. Some of the workers during Victorian England, that would be equal in skill to another person in their class, would both be doing the same job, but one might prosper, while the other might not do well at all. There are lots of memoirs written by people who grew up in the Victorian era saying how closely they associated with their servants when they were children and how remote they felt from their own parents. [5] The lowest among the social hierarchy were the working class. The lower class included people who did physical labor and were either paid hourly or daily. Women also began to enjoy accompanying their husbands on their hunting trips, once they realized that it was only for the upper class, and while hunting, there was no mingling between the upper class and the lower and working classes. [15] The poor or lower class of the Victorian era had a very rough life. [14] [13], They built their own social groups, and they participated in much as the same sports as the upper class such as cricket, lawn tennis, and croquet (Johnson). During this time, the middle class was pushing for an increase for recognized holidays by their employers. Of those marrying for the first time between 1850 and 1899, the average age was a little under 26 for men and a little over 24 for women. [2] Recreational Activities The people of the working class were usually busy but when they did have time their recreational activities would have included: - bowling - fruit and vegetable shows - flower shows - meeting of trades and friendly societies - drinking in public houses - trading items for income at a pawn shops - and occasionally, attended the theatre but having bought cheap seats. Cousin marriages remained popular among the upper class, however. [1], Like the middle class, the lower class was a very large class and was very populated. [4] As an age of reformation, the mass populous of the Victorian era can be classified as ordinary people in extraordinary times, yet it is this extraordinary element which defines them. A person's social class during Victorian England determined many things during his or her lifetime, including education, medical treatment, and jobs. [3] [11] The Victorian Era in Britain was dominated by the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Introduction The Victorian Era is a remarkable time in history with the blooming industries, growing population, and a major turnaround in the fashion world. The layout of the social classes was also influenced by the industrial era since those working the hard manual labor jobs were part of the Lower Class. [20] [2], While 'upper' working class women rented shops, the 'lower' hawked on the streets and beaches. Most people in the Middle Class usually stayed there for a while since it was too risky to quit their job, lose their income, and potentially fall into the Lower Class. - Proper weekday education was unavailable to them as it was so expensive. It was the lowest of the three main classes during the Victorian Era and was by far the worst. [4] [11] [19] [20] [2], Jop Opportunities - 30-40 per cent of women from working class families contributed significantly to household incomes in the mid-Victorian years. Many of the upper class men and women alike would disguise themselves in lower class clothing and head to the slums for a night or two to indulge in the guilty pleasures that could be found in the streets and boarding houses of the slums. [15] There was almost a negligible change in the lower class though and this class still remained shut from the royal England’s political processes. [4] [3], Many people considered the rich to be middle class if they did not have anything to do with royalty. Charles Dickens Tried To Save Fallen Women. Victorian London had a huge network of over-worked sewers under the city, washing away the effluence of the crowded metropolis. PURE FINDER. [15] Some of the most frequent customers at brothels were young men in the military. Conditions for the working class were poor as they had no social security. Victorian fashion comprises the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly 1830s to 1900s (decade). The farmers, who were in the lower class during Victorian England, thought that it was good to have the education of his daughter polished up a little bit. During that period many things flourished such as the school and political or religious movements. [5] Ritual and … [17] [3] The lower class included seamstresses, washerwomen, farm, factory, and mine workers, and domestic servants. [4] What they ate were the following: -mulligatawny soup(onions, celery, carrots, chicken broth, rice, and chicken) -carrots -fruit -celery Lower Class Homes The Lower Class Jobs Lower class jobs didnt pay well minimum was 20 to 30 shilling per week. In the working class home, mothers gave birth to their children at home with a mid-wife rather than a doctor. [4] [7], Some of the men in the working class thought that if the women were given a holiday from the factory, they were not to use it do go out and have fun, but they were supposed to stay home and do work around the house and do the chores that they were unable to do during the week. This quickly made them into the lower class citizens as there were very few jobs that they were capable of finding at this time. Victorian 1840s-1850s Blouses 1850s, the woman on the right is wearing a white blouse with voluminous sleeves. [19] [3] As easy as it is to romanticize this period, especially given the push toward arts, a more gentile and sentimentalized way of life, and the stirrings of a more liberal type of politics, we must also remember the vast divides in lifestyle, and gender and class equality. In her latest article, Georgie Broad reflects on the life of women in Victorian Britain. This was the highest social class of the Victorian England social hierarchy. [11] Factories opened up creating new jobs for the Lower Class and provided supplies for many. During the Victorian era, for the most part, women never traveled alone. PURE FINDER. This class remained aloof to the political progress of the country and was hostile to the other two classes. [2] History of Working Class Mothers in Victorian England, The Victorian Honor Code | The Art of Manliness, Reframing the Victorians: The Dietary Divide Between the Rich and Poor in the Victorian Era, Victorian Class System In The Picture Of Dorian Gray - English Resource, How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate and Died, The Life of Domestic Servants in Victorian England, Bram Stokers Dracula: a Struggle to Maintain Victorian Upper and Middle Class - 1836 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries, Victorian Transportation Reason, Romanticism, and Revolution, Victorian Child and Working Class Family - 1876 Victorian England, 10 of the Worst Jobs in the Victorian Era | Mental Floss, Victorian Era in British Literature: The Division Between the Lower and Upper Class, Victorian Age Class Distinctions - Speech and Clothing, Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England by K. S. Inglis, 1963 | Online Research Library: Questia, Social class and values in the Victorian Era. [4], The women in the working class had almost no leisure time because the men and total control of their money to spend, and they often spent it, and the women were rarely allowed to participate in leisure activities outside of their household (Johnson). Outline of Marriage in the Victorian Era In the Victorian era, marriage was not as romanticized or fairytale-like as depicted in many novels of the time. In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. [26] Oftentimes, a working class mother would not be able to keep her family afloat, which would subsequently result in the issuing of several new laws prohibiting violence towards children. [4] Here, Anna Maria Barry highlights five fascinating 19th-century performers who had a lasting influence on the world of show business [4], Sometimes women would be put into this class from the upper class, after the death of a father or brother and they had to starting working for their money again ("Women of Victorian England"). The Lower Middle Class in Britain ed. [16], Chapter 16 is based in the East end of London which during the Victorian Era was occupied mainly by the lower and middle class. In the early part of the period, Victorian families were large and nuclear, typically composed of two generations, parents and children. Throughout the Victorian Era, there were four main social classes. Middle class women can almost be considered guides to the lower class women. [26] [2] [2] Neck-line Bertha is the low shoulder neck-line worn by women during the Victorian Era. Steam-powered cotton factories enabled Victorian Britain to produce more than half the world's supply of cotton. During the Victorian Era women struggled to fulfill their desires and men encountered women to get only what was necessary for the household, trying to escape from responsibility they go onto the direction that their impulse takes them, however not for long, after a dream of having what they long for they still have to face reality of being a wife and mother. A girl in the lower class, from ages 12 to 18, was paid 20 pounds; a girl in the middle class, of the same ages, was paid 100 pounds; and a girl of the upper class, 12 years old, was paid 400 pounds per job. The lower middle class people made about one hundred and fifty to three hundred pound annually. In the Victorian era women were to get married to a man of the same or a better social status, be good wives, and be a mother to her husband's children. Victorian Respectability and the battle for refinement and civilization; Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period as Seen by Artists, Writers, and Modern Historians; Women's Social and Economic Status: Class and Occupation [15] Few eras in history can evoke such ideas of contrast between the lives of different people as that of the Victorian era of 1837-1901 in Britain. The upper class was like a royal class which was a lot different from the middle and lower class, which was roughly based of the income you had. At A Glance: The poor or lower class of the Victorian era had a very rough life. This carriage was only owned by wealthy upper class gentlemen and being the equivalent to today’s sports car, dignified ladies of status did not ride in them (Crank). [15] - They were allowed to choose who they married. Photograph showing a man dressed in work clothes. [12] [23], During the Victorian Era, those in the middle class pushed back against the idea that the right to vote and to hold government office were reserved for the owners of major acreage. At the start of the Victorian era (1830s-1900), English society was highly stratified and hierarchical, and the population fell into three main classes. [4] [16] The Victorian era saw the advancements of the industrial revolution, such as new agricultural methods (which improved the quantity and quality of food) and the development of the railway system. This can be seen in the USA rigidly defined the role of in... And 19th century in the middle class population was the highest social class system during time! The Higher Level middle class - these were high in terms of salaries and social status as to! Era provided a very successful time in Victorian times class – this include people from royal and! 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