Children in Victorian Britain
Children in Victorian Britain
Introduction
“May I have some more?” The classic line from Oliver twist that everybody seems to know. It gives us an insight on what many Victorian children had to go through. But what else was there other than the well-known fact that children were sent to work at the measly age of 4? Other than children were better of seen than heard. In this I will describe to you the typical childhood that most children rich or poor lead from birth to school. Lets start with three little facts about children from the Victorian times:
1. There were big differences at homes of both the upper and the lower class, these include having no television, no computers, no cars, no hating and many more.
2. Children who were poor rarely went to school. Instead they worked to bring home money for their families.
3. More than 35% of all these children did not live past their fifth birthday.
And if you are still here after all these things said then read on… if you dare.
Surviving the First Few Years
Baby Farmers Lets face it, at some point or another in our lives we hear a baby crying and think to ourselves, Why are babies so smelly, noisy and expensive. 140 years ago some parents thought the same thing, and they decided to deal with it by sending their kids to a ‘Baby Farm’. A baby-farmer is a woman who would offer to look after your children for you. For only five to ten pounds and you would never see your children again. Of course now person would raise a child for five pounds, instead the babies were neglected. In fact the more babies that died the more money they would make and save. In fact a written description of one of these babies was that it was
“Scarcely a bit of flesh on the bones. It could only be recognized by the hair. It did not cry, being much to weak for that. It was scarcely human; I mean that it looked more like a monkey than a child. It was a shadow.” In the end however many baby farmers were caught then hanged in
Introduction
“May I have some more?” The classic line from Oliver twist that everybody seems to know. It gives us an insight on what many Victorian children had to go through. But what else was there other than the well-known fact that children were sent to work at the measly age of 4? Other than children were better of seen than heard. In this I will describe to you the typical childhood that most children rich or poor lead from birth to school. Lets start with three little facts about children from the Victorian times:
1. There were big differences at homes of both the upper and the lower class, these include having no television, no computers, no cars, no hating and many more.
2. Children who were poor rarely went to school. Instead they worked to bring home money for their families.
3. More than 35% of all these children did not live past their fifth birthday.
And if you are still here after all these things said then read on… if you dare.
Surviving the First Few Years
Baby Farmers Lets face it, at some point or another in our lives we hear a baby crying and think to ourselves, Why are babies so smelly, noisy and expensive. 140 years ago some parents thought the same thing, and they decided to deal with it by sending their kids to a ‘Baby Farm’. A baby-farmer is a woman who would offer to look after your children for you. For only five to ten pounds and you would never see your children again. Of course now person would raise a child for five pounds, instead the babies were neglected. In fact the more babies that died the more money they would make and save. In fact a written description of one of these babies was that it was
“Scarcely a bit of flesh on the bones. It could only be recognized by the hair. It did not cry, being much to weak for that. It was scarcely human; I mean that it looked more like a monkey than a child. It was a shadow.” In the end however many baby farmers were caught then hanged in