Did Victorians Care

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria’s reign 1837-1901

Marked the beginning of the modern age in England

Advances made in engineering, medicine, discovery, and science, in turn made Britain the World’s workshop

What happen in the 19th century

The image of the 19th century as a period of great opportunity for men of energy and skill is one that has been long establish.

in the past, historians have argued that middle-class.

But the middle-class people became more aware of the conditions in which the poor worked and lived.

They become more scared

Middle Class

The middle class really came to the fore in Victorian England

What distinguished middle class people from the aristocracy was that they did not have titles, though they might be very rich, therefore, they were not aristocracy

The aristocracy looked down on anyone “in trade” regardless of whether that person owned a large company and was richer than any aristocrat

A junior clerk in a city firm might have earned less than

The workhouse

Before the Victorians period, each parish had dto look after its own poor.

No one could leave their own parish to seek wor elsewhere without the written permission of the local Justice of the Peace.

Those who could not work were give small sums of money

People who were fit to work were given either ‘indoor relief’ or ‘outdoor relief’

Middle class men

Middle class men did mental or “clean” work.

Men who practiced a profession were naturally middle class; doctors, lawyers, architects, etc, were middle class

Some people made further distinctions and classed head teacher, journalist, shopkeepers is low middle class, but generally these and clerks counted as middle class

Most middle class people earned a salary, monthly or annually

But the working class who earned weekly wages

Middle class woman

Middle class women whose husband’s were shopkeeper's might work in the family business

But if the woman is married, she did not work and that is part of the rule

The only suitable work for a single middle class single woman was a governess schoolmistress, or lady’s companion

If a woman is married all of her property will become her husband property

The wife could not make a will, buy property, or sign a contract

She had no right to any money.

Married Woman’s Property in 1870 altered their position somewhat, although it was not until the late the twentieth century that it was made illegal.