Paper dolls have been popular for centuries, with elaborate, boxed, hand-made sets sold in the 19th century, to bound books which were printed and sold in later years.

Rich Victorian kids would have real, porcelain dolls in addition to paper craft cut out dolls. A dolls house was almost standard in the nursery of wealthier children.

Once paper dolls began to be manufactured, even poorer children in Victorian times could benefit from having something inexpensive to play with, in the rare times they might have time or money to spend, outside of their work day.

Free Cut-Out Paper Doll Template

These quotes passed on from generation to generation. Many of these quotes and/or metaphors are still used in many households on a regular basis and others are relics of a time and era which has taken its place in the past.

Technically, the Victorian period spans from 1837 to 1901. Others place the Victorian period within the passages of the great reform bills in 1832 and 1867. The period was marked by great change, chaos, prosperity for some with poverty and misery for others. It was a time of great inventiveness but also a time of great upheaval. Advice and quotes were always at hand, whether one belonged in the upper or lower classes.

Quotes and Advice to Daughters in Victorian Times

* Least said soonest mended.
* Eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves.
* A secret is only a secret when you don’t tell anyone.
* Protect yourself from other people’s bad manners by a conspicuous display of your own good ones.
* If you can’t say something nice about someone don’t say anything at all.
* Elbows off the table, hands in laps.
* Don’t start until your mother is served.
* Eat your greens or you will get warts.
* How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.
* Don’t make mountains out of molehills.
* Brush your hair one hundred times before bed.
* Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

They were seldom discussed, except if there was the bother of finding a replacement. Mr. Munby’s notice of and interest in a lowly scullery maid was therefore very unusual. This is what he said as he observed a scullery maid or perhaps 15 years of age, at work:

“She stood at the sink behind a wooden dresser backed with choppers and stained with blood and grease, upon which were piles of copper and saucepans that she had to scour, piles of dirty dishes that she had to wash. Her frock, her cap, her face and arms were more or less wet,soiled, perspiring and her apron was a filthy piece of sacking, wet and tied round her with a cord. The den where she wrought was low, damp,ill-smelling; windowless, lighted by a flaring gas-jet and, full in view, she had on one side a larder hung with raw meat, on the other a common urinal; besides the man ugly, dirty implements around her”.

The excerpt provides us with an interesting glimpse into the daily life of the scullery maid. Occupying the lowest place among the servants, a Victorian scullery maid was almost a slave, receiving a poor wage and her food. Working hours were long and gruelling – a scullery maid would sometimes work for 16 hours a day or even longer if there was entertaining going on in the family.

Victorian ladies saw little of their children, who were passed from nurse to nanny to governess (girls) or sent to school (boys). Children did not even eat with their parents – they ate in the nursery with the nanny. These arrangements freed the Lady of the House to engage an abundance of leisure pursuits popular in Victorian times.

Victorian Scrap-Booking

Scrap-booking today has become a lucrative industry. However, the hobby is not a new one – scrapbooks were kept in Victorian times as prized family possessions, to be passed down from generation to generation and enormous care was taken in arranging the pages artistically. Scrap books were elaborately leather bound with clasps and brass locks or decoratively bound.

Many a genteel young lady would fill her scrapbook with notes, memorabilia, cards, letters, pressed flowers, sketches, drawings and watercolor paintings. Scrap-booking was considered the ideal occupation for rainy days, with children encouraged to fill pages with notes and drawings.

Adults, usually women, would write or copy pages of poetry and use pretty paper or thicker, good quality paper for paintings and sketches.

Victorian Needlework

A major indoor Victorian occupation was needlework, not mending but netting purses and embroidering pen cases and other decorative work, although some Ladies would run up shifts and shirts for the poor. The types of needlework included embroidery on linen, silk and velvet, tapestry, cross-stitch, tatting, lace work, netting, trimmings such as tassels, appliqué work and sewing of monograms on household linen.

Girls were encouraged to perfect basic sewing stitches such as running stitch (being the easiest stitch to teach young children), back-stitching, hemming and over-sewing (commonly called seaming).

Embroidery in Victorian Times

Regularity and straightness of the line were to be perfected before more complicated stitches were tried, such as smocking and embroidery on fabric. Later, complicated samplers would be embroidered before advancing on to complicated stitches as flat and raised satin stitching.

Beautiful embroidery upon white materials such as linen would be a goal for the young lady, such work becoming a family heirloom to be passed onto the next generation.

Intricate needlework and embroidery has not died out in modern times, but in many cases is considered more of a hobby than the necessary skill of the past.

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.

Money Advice on Debt, and Personal Budgeting that Victorians Loved

Consider some of these wise proverbs and sayings, many of which were penned hundreds of years ago and which are just as applicable today as they were back then.

Saving Money and Personal Budgeting

On budgeting carefully and not investing hastily: — Proverbs 21:5: “Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough.” Today’s English Version.

On seeking advice before making decisions: “There is a frustrating of plans where there is no confidential talk.” —Proverbs 15:22

On having a definite plan and avoiding impulse buying: “The shrewd one considers his steps.”— Proverbs 14:15

Keeping money in its place: “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” — Proverbs 30:8

Expressions and Quotes regarding Finances in Victorian Times

• Neither a borrower or a lender be.
• When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window.
• Spend not where you may save; spare not where you must spend.
• Worth has been underrated ever since wealth was overvalued.
• The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
• Do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
• All that glitters is not gold.

Victorians lived well and generally even middle class families could afford a cook or a housemaid at least.  However, although fairly extravagant themselves, they expected servants to be frugal and make every penny count.

A Butler today

The Victorian butler held a position that was, for the most part, sought after in Victorian times.

The word butler originates from the French word Bouteillier which means ‘a bottle-bearer’. Originally this is what a butler was, a cup-bearer who eventually became the servant in charge of the wine cellar. Eventually more duties were added until the butler became the head of the male servants in large households in Victorian England.

Butler Duties in Victorian Times

Large households in the 18th and 19th centuries could expect to employ dozens of servants such as Butler, UnderButler, Housekeeper, Cook, Footman, Ladies Maid, Kitchen Maids, Scullery Maids, Chamber Maids, Housemaids, Coachman and Groom.

The Butler was responsible for the footman and other indoor menservants. Among other things and he would arrange the dinner table, announce dinner, carve joints of meat and serve wine. He would brew the servants’ beer and generally be in charge of the dining areas, cellars and pantries.

The Butler would sleep in his own quarters, usually a small but comfortable room. He was always dressed in a special uniform, different from the junior staff and he was expected to look neat and immaculately groomed at all times.

In Victorian times, Butlers could expect to earn around 40 pounds per annum and had all expenses cared for except for clothes. In addition, the butler was entitled to the ends of candles and entitled to one bottle of wine for every six opened. Butlers and Valets usually worked their way up through the ranks, aspiring to the position after a lengthy apprenticeship as footmen.

Butlers Today

Yes, the butler’s job still exists and is still sought after as a good job by many men. The butler’s job description in today’s world is not clearly defined. A butler these days is expected to be multi-talented and can expect to do everything from organizing other servants to being a household manager.

A butler may be referred to as a Personal Secretary, Household Manager, Estate Manager, Majordomo or Steward. Hotel Butlers are in demand in hotels and spas around the world.

Butler duties can include valeting of clothes, swimming pool maintenance, gardening duties and driving. Sometimes cooking skills are required. Butlers can be found working in palaces, yachts, stately homes as well as for busy corporate executives who do not have the time to manage their personal affairs. With new-found wealth in China, demand has surged for European trained butlers.

The life was gruelling and exhausting. Working hours could be up to 17 long each day, from 5.30 a.m. in the morning until 10.30 p.m. The work was endless and physically demanding.

Servants were seen as dispensable creatures, barely human, solely in existence for the comfort of the family and so health and safety issues for the servant were not considered the employer’s responsibility.

The issue of servants’ injuries was finally included in the Workman’s Compensation Act of 1907. Maids and cooks had to endure lack of fresh air, monotonous, long hours of work and accidents in the course of their work such as burns, falls and cuts.

Servants slept in the kitchen or in cupboards under the stairs or in attics. They were often forbidden to sing or laugh and had to remain as noiseless and invisible as possible.
If they came into contact with a member of the household, they were to keep quiet, avert their eyes and walk out of the room backwards. If anything was broken or damaged, the servant was made to pay and the sum would be deducted from their wages.

Victorian Scullery Maid

This was the lowest occupation of all, usually taken up by very young girls. The scullery maid’s day was filled with duties such as emptying and cleaning chamber pots, polishing brass work and silver, scrubbing the front stairs, washing dishes and scouring pots.

The Victorian scullery maid cleaned the kitchen floor as well as stoves, lit bedroom fires first thing in the morning, and carried heavy cans of warm water up the stairs for bathing, each load would weigh around 15kg. She would usually stumble into her bed in the attic, exhausted, at around 10.00 p.m. She would have her food and clothes provided for and earn a wage of between 10 to13 pounds per annum.

Victorian House Maid

The Victorian house maid came under the supervision of the Housekeeper and depending on the number of servants kept by the family, could fulfill a number of different positions such as chamber maid, parlour maid, in between maid (commonly known at the time as a tweeny), kitchen maid or laundry maid.

The work performed by these servants was back-breakingly strenuous and included duties such as changing linen, making up beds, dusting and cleaning bedrooms, cleaning out fireplaces, polishing grates, hauling coal up to the bedrooms and lighting fresh fires.

Other duties would include scrubbing floors on hands and knees, brushing carpets, beating rugs and cleaning and filling lamps each day. Laundry maids would typically soak loads of laundry, wash, rinse, wring out the washing and then iron the household’s laundry when dry. The Victorian house maid could expect a wage of between 15 to 20 pounds per annum, the tweeny earning the least.

Victorian House Maid

This was favourite among the Victorians, it is a rich and filling pudding still popular today, filled with candied fruit which was a beloved treat at the time. English puddings were generally warm and filling in the winter, served with custard or cream.

Ingredients:

• 125g (1 cup) sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 beaten eggs
• 125g (1 cup) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup sultanas (optional)
• 1 tablespoon candied peel
• ½ teaspoon ground mace
• 1 tablespoon milk and pinch of salt

Method:

1. Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Then fold in the egg mixture.
3. Add the raisins, sultanas, peel (finely chopped) and mace to the mixture and add a little milk if the mixture seems too stiff. Place the mixture into a greased pudding basin. Cover with a buttered greaseproof paper sheet and seal with silver foil. Steam the pudding for 1½ to 2 hours.
4. Serve, whilst still warm, with custard or cream.
   

   Victorian Images of Food