2. Population doubled, -> huge demand for food, clothes and housing. The most powerful country in the world, The largest empire that had ever existed, Ruled a quarter of the world's population.
3. New factories and machines New towns The way people lived and worked changed. Railways.
4. Life in Victorian Times The quality of life depended on whether you were rich or poor.
16. Darwinism Evolution Survival of the Fittest Progress
Notas del editor
Large families Big, comfortable houses. Children were taught to "know their place". "Spare the rod and spoil the child" Brought up by their nanny Children rarely saw their parents. A 1-hour visit in the nursery each night ” Wet-nurse”
Population growth Urbanization
The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act -> workhouse. Strict with lots of rules. Husbands were separated from their wives, children taken from their parents.
1851 -> half the population lived in towns The towns -> work + higher wages than the countryside. The countryside -> healthier. A baby born in a large town with a population of more than 100,000 in the 1820s might expect to live to 35 - in the 1830s, -> 29. 1851, a boy born in inner Liverpool -> 26 years, countryside -> 57. Cholera and typhoid -> polluted water, Typhus -> lice, ‘ Summer diarrhoea' -> swarms of flies feeding on horse manure and human waste.
Children as young as 5 worked; Mines Factories Chimney sweeps Mills
Children were employed for 3 simple reasons : There were plenty of them in orphanages and they could be replaced easily if accidents occurred Cheaper than adults Small enough to crawl under machinery to tie up broken threads 1841 Mines Act - No child under the age of 10 to work underground. 1868 Agricultural Gangs Act - No child under the age of 8 to be employed in a gang of farm workers. 1874 Factory Act - No child under the age of 10 is to be employed in a factory. 1875 Climbing Boys Act - Illegal to send boys up chimneys.
Albert Turner: stealing watches and was sentenced to 14 days Hard Labour and 4 years in a reformatory Dennis Fairey age 10 Stealing A loaf of bread and a quantity of oranges apples and nuts 21 days H.L. and four years Reformatory School David Day, 11: Stealing 2 loaves of bread 21 days H.L. & 5 years in a Reformatory School Julia: stealing bread 14 days imprisonment and 5 years Reformatory Mary Ann Barber age 12 Stealing A hat one pair of boots: 1 month + 5 year reformatory
When a woman entered a room, it was considered rude for a man to offer his seat to her because the cushion might still be warm. People thought food digested better in the dark, so a dining room located in the basement was considered the best spot in which to eat. A glance into a bedroom was considered improper if viewed by a visitor, so bedrooms were located on the second floor. For a lady to show her ankles was considered very risqué!
Evolution is preferred to revolution, progress to stagnation, and survival of the fittest = an excuse to ignore the poorer people in society: argue that the poor have only themselves to blame for their poverty. In Britain, the Social Darwinists' racism becomes a way of justifying imperialism Because the Britons are the fittest race and so the likeliest to survive, they have the right to colonise the world. This attitude is particularly popularised by Darwin's cousin Francis Galton (1822-1911), who becomes a supporter of eugenics, which he defines as 'the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, whether physically or mentally'. These ideas eventually led to the euthanasia practised by the Nazis, including the Holocaust .