victorian society in the black country

Victorian Society in the Black Country.

WORK

The Earl of Dudley. Upper class.

Managers, Shopkeepers, preachers, and teachers. Middle class.

Working class work (jobs).• Chain makers. (skilled)• Boiler makers. (skilled)• Lock smiths. (skilled)• Coal miners. (semi skilled)• Nail makers. (semi skilled)• Boatmen (bargees). (semi skilled)• Labourers. (unskilled)

Boiler, anchor and chains.

Chain maker.

Forge. Steam hammer.

Anchors

Locksmith

Brass screws, nuts, bolts etc.

Nail maker’s workshop

Cobbler

Coal mine.

Coal miner.

Homes

What to look for in homes?

• Number of bedrooms.• How many people lived here?• Do they have a parlour?• Furniture – upholstered or plain wood? • Decoration – wallpaper or limewash? Tin or

brass? Pictures on walls? • Lighting – gas or candles?

Chain maker’s house

Parlour.

Fireplace in the parlour

Bessie’s kitchen

The range was for cooking and heating.

Fuel

Bath time.

Earth closet. Bucket and chuck it!Middle class people had flush

toilets.

Wash house.Water boiled in a copper. Clothes

washed in the dolly tub. Mangle for

getting water out of clothes

Scrubbing the clothes using a washboard.

Mine clerk’s house.Lower middle class.

Parlour

Range.

Pantry

Bedroom.

Pitt’s cottage. Wash house and scullery

Living area.

Bedroom

Back yard for growing vegetables and maybe keeping chickens and pigs.

Back to back house.One up and one down.

Bedroom. Toll House.

Leisure

Leisure. The Pub.

Why was the Pub so important to the community?

• It was probably warmer and brighter than many homes.• Social life.• A place to find work.• Public bar for the men.• Saloon bar for couples.

Back room parlour for meetings e.g. sports clubs, friendly societies (insurance).

• The Pub Landlady was an important person in peoples’ lives. She was very strict. Sometimes she supported wives whose husbands had mistreated them.

Back room of pub.

Leisure. The Fair.

Leisure. The Chapel.

Why was the Chapel so important to the community?

• Almost everyone went there (three times on Sundays).• Sunday School enabled children to learn to read and

write using the Bible.• Choir. Football team. Chapel outings in the summer.• You were baptised, married and buried by the Chapel.• The Chapel supported families who were in financial

trouble.

Methodist Chapel.

Shopping

General Store

Sweets, crockery and cotton underwear.

Drapery.Cotton and

linen.

Haberdashery.Needles,

thread, buttons etc.

Clogs and shoes.

Tea, coffee, sugar, flour, lentils etc.

Bacon slicer.

Hot water bottles, soap, treacle, OXO etc.

DAIRY. Milk, butter, cheese, eggs etc.

Hardware shop.

Hardware shop.

Cast iron pots and pans. Brushes.Potato

mashers. Rope.

Zinc buckets, churns, sieves.

Tin baths.Dolly tubs.

Tools.

Chemists

Medicines made to order.

Pawnbroker

Pawnbroker for when times were hard.

Sweet shop

Diet

Education

School.

• Education was compulsory after 1880.• Ages 5 to 10.• Three ‘R’s: Reading. Writing. Arithmetic.

Queuing for school.

Boys and girls separated.

Jezebels. (shameless women)

Writing on slates

Bell monitor.

Pounds, shillings and pence.

Ink pots for older children.

Rote learning.

E.g. chanting tables.

Teacher’s desk on a dais.

The cane.

Women

Banner of NFWW.

Women chain makers went on strike in

1910.

Transport

Horses.

Trams

Canal tunnel

Narrow boats (barges)

Towpath.

Steam locomotives for longer journeys.

Railway travel.

Gas light