How did the poor fare in Victorian England?
The children who went into service at an early age to do gruelling physical work were actually considered very fortunate. Their clothes and food would be provided and a meagre, miserly wage would be paid, which was expected to be sent home in most cases.
Most children from poor households would be expected to earn their keep or contribute to household expenses from the age of 10, sometimes younger.
Factories employed young boys to crawl beneath and into machinery – to repair or clean spaces which were too large for adults. The day was as long as it would be for an adult – no time for play, leisure or learning. Children were considered a replaceable resource so conditions were often unregulated and unsafe. If a child died on the job it was not considered a huge loss.
Coal mines used children to open and close ventilating doors. Until the middle of the 1800’s, children as young as five would often work up to 12 hours a day underground, often barefoot. Young children worked as chimney sweeps or cleaners.
Street children turned to crime and were often “protected”, that is, given a bed in some hovel in exchange for pickpocketing and stealing food off carts and out of markets. Parents sometimes turned their children into the street as they were unable to take care of them. Poverty and disease took their toll.
