Thread: Life of English children in second half of 19-th century.Pics

Here is set of interesting photos which show life of English poor in second half of 19-th and perhaps beginning of 20-th century.
The entire forum is in German lang., but photos are self-descriptive and have English subtitles.
Über Armut und viktorianische Kinderkriminelle

Yes it's quite interesting, and especially so from the foreign perspective of it being a German site. It seems to be examing the cultural conditions that meant life was so very different for children back then as opposed to what it is now. I think there are some key differences certainly in the way children of that era were treated as I will allude to in a moment, but also I think from the pictures we can see a reflection of some of the hardships faced by the poor of that time in general not just the children.

First off it must be noted that the lives of children from this period certainly were not all the same. The divides between the social classes in Victorian England were very different indeed. From many of the pictures we can see that most of the children portrayed appear to be from poor or working class backgrounds, their lives at this time would have certainly been very different from that of working class children today. Children of this class then were expected to work, and they weren't held in the same protective revere in which we currectly adopt. This meant things like health & safety legislation just didn't exist as such children could not only be exploited and forced to work long hours but also often had to put up with working in dangerous conditions. Also they were simply expected to put up with the hardship, they were not listened to, their opinions and voices carried little weight.

But anyone thinking back then that poor people didn't love their children would be wrong, this was most definately not the case, life was tough and children were raised and expected to be strong so that they could not only help support their families but also so they could cope with and face the realities of a future spent in poverty. The class divide was very strong during this time with very little social mobility, which pretty much mean't if you were born in poverty then would could expect to die thusly so as intermingling between the classes did occasionaly happen but was frowned upon and rarely ended well.

Also it was necessary to be able to aford to pay if you wanted to send your children to school in the Victorian era, which again meant most of the poor children recieved little by way of a formal education and would thus be futher disadvantaged.
In general attitudes were that adults were more valuable and worthy than children as they'd survived into adulthood, pretty much the same system of respect currently still in use around the world in many aspects of adult daily life that seniority commands more respect was still being applied to children in the same way during this period. It was seen as normal, everything in Victorian Britain was ordered and everybody new their place, either though age with children and young adults, through seniority at work or through social standing right through to the class that someone was born into.

How many of these kids had little education, were sent to work as kids and ended up penniless in the workhouse in total humiliation?
How many were sent to face the German machine gunners in WW1?
I don't see any poor and unhealthy kids these days. They all seem too well fed and dressed and entertained.
There has probably never been a better time for kids than today.

Originally Posted by ox

I don't see any poor and unhealthy kids these days. They all seem too well fed and dressed and entertained.
.

Maybe you're not looking in the right places but they exist - very poor and very unhealthy.

Originally Posted by LuciDreaming

Originally Posted by ox

I don't see any poor and unhealthy kids these days. They all seem too well fed and dressed and entertained.
.

Maybe you're not looking in the right places but they exist - very poor and very unhealthy.

There are, alas, still areas of deprivation in Britain today, but I would hope not quite as bad as the late 19th century. But also it's been reported that many children in the UK are being fed from food banks, apparantly there are now over a million people relying on them to survive, something which most definately our government should be ashamed of.

Originally Posted by Ascended

[something which most definately our government should be ashamed of.

We elected the government, so it is our shame.

Originally Posted by John Galt

Originally Posted by Ascended

[something which most definately our government should be ashamed of.

We elected the government, so it is our shame.

True and I indeed accept my fair share of the blame, but at the same time well they didn't actually put that in their manifesto, "Vote for us and we'll make a million people dependant on food banks". If they had then I would've voted differently.

-

We elected the government, so it is our shame.

An extract from the webpage mentioned:

"Kinder arbeiteten genau wie die Erwachsenen, erst 1847 wurde ein Gesetz erlassen, das Kinder "nur" zehn Stunden am Tag arbeiteten durften und erst 1874 wurde es Kindern unter zehn Jahren verboten, in Fabriken zu arbeiten. Davor kamen unzählige Kinder in Fabriken zu Tode, aber auch in Kohlminen und bei der Arbeit als Schornsteinfeger, bei der sie, weil sie dafür klein genug waren, in die Kaminschächte klettern mussten.
Nun stellen wir uns also vor, ein Kind wird in einen solchen Londoner Slum hereingeboren, lernt von Kleinauf, dass das Leben grausam sein kann und verliert vielleicht sogar noch seine Eltern an Krankheit, Unfälle oder durch andere damals oft gegebene Umstände."

Translation:

"Children worked exactly like the adults, only in 1847 a law was passed, the children "only" ten hours a day and were allowed to work only in 1874 it was banned children under ten years of working in factories. Prior to countless children in factories came to death, but also in coal mines and at work as a chimney sweep, in which they, because they were small enough for it, had to climb into the flues.
Now let us imagine, then, a child is born in entering such a London slum, learning days of childhood, that life can be cruel and perhaps even loses his parents to illness, accident or other circumstances was often given."

When my kids complain about minor chores and say they are too young to do work, I will show them these pics. Our kids have it way TOO easy now. But as it was pointed out there are still places in the world where kids have it still that bad. I spent a year in Pakistan as a civilian and we saw plenty of it there. You didn't even have to search for it, just look outside.

Children of the Corn. 6 th picture from the top.
Bald one is kinda creepy... What happened to that girl holding the baskets head?!

Third picture down from the top: Prosties?

9th picture from the top: The work these boys are doing is holding that rock down. It's actually a meteorite that wants to get back into space.