Victorian times The Victorian times mean Victoria rules

Victorian times The Victorian times mean Victoria rules. The time when Queen Victoria [ was on the throne. She ruled for 64 years. She was the longest reigning monic until Wednesday 9 September 2015

• Who were the Victorians? The Victorian age in British history is named after Queen Victoria, who was Britain's queen from 1837 until 1901. What was life like for Victorian children? There were big differences in homes, schools, toys and entertainments. No TV, no computers, no central heating, no cars (until the last few years of Victoria's reign). No air travel - unless you went up in a balloon! Many children went to work, not to school. Welcome to the Victorian world. It's time to find out how children (your great-great-grandparents perhaps!) lived more than a hundred years ago.

Queen Victoria was the only child of prince Edward[duke of Kent] and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Sax Coburg Sallfeld. She was born in Kensington Palace London. At the age of 21, Victoria married her cousin, Albert of Saxe. Coburg Gotha, a German Prince. They married on the 10 th February 1840 at the Chapel Royal in St. James's Palace. Victoria had nine children, 40 grand-children and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered all over Europe. Most of Queen Victoria's children married into other royal families of Europe.

The Work House Before 1834, poor people were looked after by buying food and clothing from money collected from land owners and other wealthy people. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, ensured that no able-bodied person could get poor relief unless they went to live in special workhouses. The idea was that the poor were helped to support themselves. Workhouses were where poor people who had no job or home lived. They earned their keep by doing jobs in the workhouse. Also in the workhouses were orphaned (children without parents) and abandoned children, the physically and mentally sick, the disabled, the elderly and unmarried mothers. They had to work for their food and accommodation. This is a picture of a work house.

: • A workhouse provided: • a place to live • a place to work and earn money • free medical care, • food • clothes • free education for children and training for a job. But it was still terrible.

Here is a view of workhouse rooms

Why were workhouses feared by the poor and old? The government, terrified of encouraging 'idlers' (lazy people), made sure that people feared the workhouse and would do anything to keep out of it. What were workhouses like? Women, children and men had different living and working areas in the workhouse, so families were split up. To make things even worse they could be punished if they even tried to speak to one another! The education the children received did not include the two most important skills of all, reading and writing, which were needed to get a good job. This meant that everyone looked the same and everyone outside knew they were poor and lived in the workhouse The poor were made to wear a uniform. Upon entering the workhouse, the poor were stripped and bathed The food was tasteless and was the same day after day. The young and old as well as men and women were made to work hard, often doing unpleasant jobs. Children could also find themselves 'hired out' (sold) to work in factories or mines.

They where put into seven groups: • • Men infirm through age or illness Women infirm through age or illness Able-bodied men over 15 years Able-bodied women over 15 years Boys between 7 and 15 Girls between 7 and 15 Children under the age of 7 The seven groups were to be kept totally separated at all times. Married couples, even the elderly, were to be kept apart at all costs. Each of the seven classes was supposed to have its own exercise yard. This meant that the old, ill, insane, slightly unbalanced and fit were kept together both day and night with no form of diversion.

• Fun at home • Victorians made their own entertainment at home. They had no radio or TV. They enjoyed singing, and a rich family would sing around the piano, while poorer families enjoyed tunes on a pipe or a fiddle. Families played card games and board games, and acted out charades. At birthday parties, a special treat was a magic lantern show. An oil or gas lamp sent a beam of light through a glass lens and onto a screen, to show enlarged images, perhaps of wild animals or a story told in pictures.

Time Line • • • 1819 -Queen Victoria 1830 -first steam railway 1837 -Victoria becomes Queen 1838 -firt photograph taken 1842 –first mine act 1843 –the first Christmas card 1846 -potato famine 1853 –the war begins 1872 -the first soccer FA cup final is played 1878 –the first light bulb was invented 1891 –free schools for children 1901 -Queen Victoria dies

• Why such big families? • Many women had lots of babies. Child-bearing could be dangerous, and many women died in childbirth. Many babies also died, from childhood diseases. Queen Victoria had nine children. Her children were called Edward, Alfred, Arthur, Leopold, Victoria, Alice, Helena, Louise and Beatrice. The royal family became a model for other families.

• Nanny in the nursery • 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 woman called a nanny. She took them for walks in the park or to the zoo. Some rich children saw their parents only in the morning and evening, and were looked after mostly by their nanny and by other servants. Most Victorians thought children should be 'seen and not heard'. • The person who looked after the children was called a nanny

• Slum children • Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in cityslums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play except alleys and yards. Many children had to work, while others were too sick and hungry to play. Yet most poor children still managed to make some fun.

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