Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her father died shortly after her birth and she became heir to the throne because the three uncles who were

ahead of her in succession - George IV, Frederick Duke of York, and William IV - had no legitimate children who survived.

Warm-hearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting; educated by a governess at home, she was a natural diarist and kept a regular journal throughout her life. On William IV's death in 1837, she became Queen at the age of 18.

Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.

In the early part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Both men taught her much about how to be a ruler in a 'constitutional monarchy' where the

monarch had very few powers but could use much influence.

Albert took an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry; the project for which he is best remembered was the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which helped to establish the South Kensington museums complex in London.

Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other Royal families of Europe.

Edward VII (born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie of Russia. Arthur, Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia.

Leopold, Duke of Albany (born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Important Dates in Victoria's Life 1.Victoria's coronation.2. Victoria married Albert.3. Prince Albert died.4. Victoria became Empress of India.5. Victoria's Golden Jubilee (50 years)6. Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (60 years)7. Victoria died.

All children go to schoolMany children in early Victorian England never went to school at all and more than half of them grew up unable even to read or write. Although some did go to Sunday schools which were run by churches. Children from rich families were luckier than poor children. Nannies looked after them, and they had toys and books. A governess would  teach the children at home. Then, when the boys were old enough, they were sent away to a public school such as Eton or Rugby. The daughters were kept at home and taught singing, piano playing and sewing. Slowly, things changed for poorer children too. By the end of the Victorian age all children under 12 had to go to school. Now everybody could learn how to read and write, and how to count properly.

Schools There were several kinds of school for poorer children. The youngest might go to a "Dame" school, run by a local woman in a room of her house. The older ones went to a day school. Other schools were organised by churches and charities. Among these were the "ragged" schools which were for orphans and very poor children.   School room The school could be quite a grim building. The rooms were warmed by a single stove or open fire. The walls of a Victorian schoolroom were quite bare, except perhaps for an embroidered text. Curtains were used to divide the schoolhouse into classrooms. The shouts of several classes competed as they were taught side by side. There was little fresh air  because the windows were built high in the walls, to stop pupils looking outside and being distracted from their work. Many schools were built in the Victorian era, between 1837 and 1901. In the country you would see barns being converted into schoolrooms. Increasing numbers of children began to attend, and they became more and more crowded. But because school managers didn’t like to spend money on repairs, buildings were allowed to rot and broken equipment was not replaced.

Upper & Middle Class Families Families were very important to Victorians. They were usually large, in 1870 the average family had five or six children. Most upper and middle class families lived in big, comfortable houses. Each member of the family had its own place and children were taught to "know their place". The Father The father was the head of the household. He was often strict and was obeyed by all without question. The children were taught to respect their father and always spoke politely to him calling him "Sir". Very few children would dare to be cheeky to their father or answer him back. When he wanted a little peace and quiet he would retire to his study and the rest of the family were not allowed to enter without his special permission. The Mother The mother would often spend her time planning dinner parties, visiting her dressmaker or calling on friends, she did not do jobs like washing clothes or cooking and cleaning. Both "papa and mama saw the upbringing of their children as an important responsibility. They believed a child must be taught the difference between right and wrong if he was to grow into a good and thoughtful adult. If a child did something wrong he would be punished for his own good. "Spare the rod and spoil the child" was a saying Victorians firmly believed in.   The Children Most days middle class children saw very little of their parents. The children in a middle class family would spend most of their time in the nursery and would be brought up by their nanny. Victorian children were expected to rise early, because lying in bed was thought to be lazy and sinful. The nanny would-be paid about £25 a year to wash, dress and watch over them, amuse them, dose them, take them out and teach them how to behave. Some would only see their parents once a day. In the evening, clean and tidy the children were allowed downstairs for an hour before they went to bed. Some mothers taught their children to read and write and sometimes fathers taught their sons Latin. As the children grew older, tutors and governesses were often employed and boys were sometimes sent away to school When the children grew up, only the boys were expected to work, the daughters stayed at home with their mother. They were expected only to marry as soon as possible. The Servants All households except the very poorest had servants to do their day to day work. The cook and the butler were the most important. The butler answered the front door and waited on the family. The cook was responsible for shopping for food and running the kitchen, she would often be helped by kitchen and scullery maids. Housemaids cleaned the rooms and footmen did the heavy work.     People would come from the country to work as servants in the town houses. These jobs were popular because they gave them somewhere to live and clothes. On average they earned about £50 a year. Often they spent their working lives with the same household. Poor / Working Class Families For poorer families their greatest fear was ending up in the workhouse, where thousands of homeless and penniless families were forced to live. If your family was taken into the workhouse you would  be split up dressed in uniform and have your hair cut short. This could happen to a family if father were taken ill and unable to work.     Lots of children in poor families died of diseases like scarlet fever, measles, polio and TB which are curable today. These were spread by foul drinking water, open drains and lack of proper toilets. In overcrowded rooms if one person caught a disease it spread quickly through the rest.

As the number of factories grew people from the countryside began to move into the towns looking for better paid work. The wages of a farm worker were very low and there were less jobs working on farms because of the invention and use of new machines such as threshers. Also thousands of new workers were needed to work machines in mills and foundries and the factory owners built houses for them. Cities filled to overflowing and London was particularly bad. At the start of the 19th Century about 1/5 of Britain’s population lived there, but by 1851 half the population of the country had set up home in London. London, like most cities, was not prepared for this great increase in people. People crowded into already crowded houses. Rooms were rented to whole families or perhaps several families. If there was no rooms to rent, people stayed in lodging houses.

Housing The worker's houses were usually near to the factories so that people could walk to work. They were built really quickly and cheaply. The houses were cheap, most had between 2-4 rooms - one or two rooms downstairs, and one or two rooms upstairs. Victorian families were big with 4 or 5 children. There was no running water or toilet. A whole street would have to share an outdoor pump and a couple of outside toilets. Most houses in the North of England were "back to backs" (built in double rows) with no windows at the front, no backyards and a sewer down the middle of the street. The houses were built crammed close together, with very narrow streets between them. Most of the houses were crowded with five or more people possibly crammed into a single room. Even the cellars were full.  Most of the new towns were dirty and unhealthy. The household rubbish was thrown out into the streets. Housing conditions like these were a perfect breeding grounds for diseases. More than 31,000 people died during an outbreak of cholera in 1832 and lots more were killed by typhus, smallpox and dysentery.

Pollution Chimneys, bridges and factory smoke blocked out most of the light in the towns. A layer of dirty smoke often covered the streets like a blanket. This came from the factories that used steam to power their machines. The steam was made by burning coal to heat water. Burning coal produces a lot of dirty, black smoke. Improvements Gradually, improvements for the poor were made. In 1848, Parliament passed laws that allowed city councils to clean up the streets. One of the first cities to become a healthier place was Birmingham. Proper sewers and drains were built. Land owners had to build houses to a set standard. Streets were paved and lighting was put up. Over time slums were knocked down and new houses built. However, these changes did not take place overnight. When slums were knocked down in 1875 the poor people had little choice but to move to another slum, making that one worse. Few could afford new housing.

Many factory workers were children. They worked long hours and were often treated badly by the supervisors or overseers. Sometimes the children started work as young as four or five years old. A young child could not earn much, but even a few pence would be enough to buy food.Coal Mines The coal mines were dangerous places where roofs sometimes caved in, explosions happened and workers got all sorts of injuries. There were very few safety rules. Cutting and moving coal which machines do nowadays was done by men, women and children.     The younger children often worked as "trappers" who worked trap doors. They sat in a hole hollowed out for them and held a string which was fastened to the door. When they heard the coal wagons coming they had to open the door by pulling a string. This job was one of the easiest down the mine but it was very lonely and the place were they sat was usually damp and draughty.     Older children might be employed as "coal bearers" carrying loads of coal on their backs in big baskets. The Mines Act was passed by the Government in 1842 forbidding the employment of women and girls and all boys under the age of teen down mines. Later it became illegal for a boy under 12 to work down a mine. MillsWhile thousands of children worked down the mine, thousands of others worked in the cotton mills. The mill owners often took in orphans to their workhouses, they lived at the mill and were worked as hard as possible. They spent most of their working hours at the machines with little time for fresh air or exercise. Even part of Sunday was spent cleaning machines. There were some serious accidents, some children were scalped when their hair was caught in the machine, hands were crushed and some children were killed when they went to sleep and fell into the machine.Factories and Brick Works Children often worked long and gruelling hours in factories and had to carry out some hazardous jobs. In match factories children were employed to dip matches into a chemical called phosphorous. This phosphorous could cause their teeth to rot and some died from the effect of breathing it into their lungs. Chimney Sweeps Although in 1832 the use of boys for sweeping chimneys was forbidden by law, boys continued to be forced through the narrow winding passages of chimneys in large houses. When they first started at between five and ten years old, children suffered many cuts, grazes and bruises on their knees, elbows and thighs however after months of suffering their skin became hardened. Street Children Hordes of dirty, ragged children roamed the streets with no regular money and no home to got to. The children of the streets were often orphans with no-one to care for them. They stole or picked pockets to buy food and slept in outhouses or doorways. Charles Dickens wrote about these children in his book "Oliver Twist".     Some street children did jobs to earn money. They could work as crossing-sweepers, sweeping a way through the mud and horse dung of the main paths to make way for ladies and gentlemen. Others sold lace, flowers, matches or muffins etc out in the streets.Country Children Poor families who lived in the countryside were also forced to send their children out to work. Seven and eight year olds could work as bird scarers,out in the fields from four in the morning until seven at night. Older ones worked in gangs as casual labourers. Changes for the better It took time for the government to decide that working children ought to be protected by laws as many people did not see anything wrong with the idea of children earning their keep. They also believed that people should be left alone to help themselves and not expect others to protect or keep them. They felt children had a right to send their children out to work. People such as Lord Shaftsbury and Sir Robert Peel worked hard to persuade the public that it was wrong for children to suffer health problems and to miss out on schooling due to work.

By the second half of Queen Victoria's reign, most people earned more money and worked shorter hours than ever before. This meant that for the first time, ordinary people had enough spare time to enjoy sports and other pastimes, and to go to the seaside for holidays.   Nursery Toys The younger children of well off families had lots of beautiful toys in their nurseries. The favourite was the rocking horse which was made from wood and painted brightly. Girls also enjoyed playing with their dolls' houses, furniture for these could be bought and changed with times and fashions. Victorian dolls were probably the most beautiful ones made. Their heads and shoulders were made of wax or china with bodies made of stuffed calico or wood. Most dolls were dressed as adults with beautiful clothes  made from satin, taffeta or lace. A poor girl would long for a doll like this which she would only see in shop windows, She would never be able to afford one but might have a rag doll instead. Boys would play with their tin or lead soldiers. Later in the century as the railways developed across the country clockwork trains became popular. Older children Often older children would play with toy theatres. The plays they would perform would take up a lot of their time and money. First they had to buy a stage which would be made of wood and cardboard with a row of tin footlights with oil burning wicks along the front. Sheets of characters and scenes would cost a penny plain and two pence ready coloured.    Girls might spend their spare time sewing. They practised their stitches by embroidering letters of the alphabet, texts or complex pictures within a fancy border. These pieces of embroidery were called samplers.     Reading was a popular pastime, many books written during the victorian era are still enjoyed today. 

Outdoor games These changed with the seasons, children played with hoops, balls or tops. They also played marbles or alleys.

  Sport became extremely popular in Victorian times. Traditional sports like football, cricket and boxing had been played for centuries but now they were given proper rules for the first time. The first Football Association (FA) Cup was played in 1871. This was when many football clubs were set up, ones like Aston Villa and Everton were set up by churches to attract more people to come to church. Others like Arsenal were set up by employers. Football was meant to keep people healthy and to encourage a sense of fair play. It wasn't that successful and free kicks (1877) and penalty kicks (1891) had to be brought in to clamp down on foul play.English and Australian teams played their first cricket Test Match in England in 1880. W.G. Grace was among the players. The organised matches drew large crowds and watching sport became a hobby.   Croquet & Lawn Tennis Croquet was introduced in England in 1856 and was probably brought to America in the early 1860’s. It was considered particularly suitable for women since it required considerable skills but not too much strength or technique. (Victorians believed women were deficient in both!). Although croquet was never a popular men’s game, it had both social and economic advantages: men and women could play together, and it required little equipment and no special clothing.  Lawn tennis was another popular sport for middle-class women. At first proper tennis evolved patting the ball back and forth, without keeping score, but, players were soon caught up in the competitive spirit of the game, finding it an excellent method of exercise and a useful mental and physical outlet. More active than croquet or archery  tennis also appealed to men. By the 1880’s it had become the rage in fashionable summer resorts, and magazines devoted space to the proper clothes to wear while playing.

Cycling This became very popular. The safety bicycle was brought out in 1885 and was the cheapest way to travel. People who lived in town would ride out into the countryside on their bicycles.

"The clothes make the man" is a phrase that could have been coined during the Victorian period. Victorian clothes were very much a symbol of who you were, what you did for a living, and how much money was in your bank account.

For Men and WomanFor the wealthy, silk stockings covered the legs. For the less wealthy, it was wool socks. Beachwear in Victorian times consisted of a costume which covered the entire body with yards of material. There were exceptions though - arms could be bare from the elbows down. Ladies had to have their legs completely covered. This was either done by wearing black stockings or, later in the century, pants. Men were able to show their shins. Bathing bonnets were worn by both. Good quality leather shoes could always be made-to-order, but by 1850 manufactured shoes were available for purchase. Shoes were now made for the 'proper' feet. Etiquette played its part in Victorian clothing. It was considered 'good etiquette' to dress appropriately to ones age, and position in society. To own an umbrella was a social-scale barometer. The wealthy owned their own bumbershoots, while the general public would rent an umbrella if the weather turned wet. Victorian dress was not complete without a walking stick, or cane. Some canes contained compartments which were useful for holding vials of perfume. Victorian fashion did include eyeglasses, But, they were strictly for looks and not for the correction of vision. Often, if there were lenses in the frames, those lenses were removed and the empty frames would become part of the ensemble. Although the cloth for Victorian clothes was manufactured, ready-made outfits were unknown. Seamstresses and tailors were responsible for custom-made creations. Milliners, glovers, and hatters would help to complete the look. If the pocket-book didn't allow such individual attention, families would make their own Victorian clothes or find used garments. The poorer members of society would visit second-hand, even third and fourth-hand, shops for garments which still had some wear in them.

Throughout the era, Victorian fashion changed dramatically. Skirts went from straight to being spread over large hoops. At the end of the era, the hoop disappeared from view and it was back to slimmer skirts, although now sporting a bustle. Sleeves made different fashion statements, also. Slim sleeves gave way to "leg omitting" sleeves by the end of Queen Victoria's reign. Head gear was a style all its own. From large lavishly decorated hats, covered with feathers and flowers, the close-fitting bonnet was soon the need-to-have garment. Not that these were any plainer - feathers, lace, and flowers would still be used for decoration. There was a constant, though; the corset. The design throughout the era would change, but the initial purpose never varied. To wear Victorian dress, it was necessary to have a cinched-in waist. For younger ladies, having a waist in inches the same as your age was the goal. Seventeen years old? That meant you would strive for a seventeen inch waist. Older ladies were allowed more leeway. The baring of the shoulder and upper part of the chest was strictly for evening apparel, and most usually this style was worn by upper and middle class ladies. Working-class women were more modest. Because of the exposure of flesh to cool air, shawls joined the Victorian costume. Satins, silks, and heavy velvets for the older generation were the norm. For younger society ladies who were on the look-out for "a good catch", the lighter the material, the better. Fragile gauze dresses, covered with bows or flowers, were made to catch a prospective husband's eye. On average, these dresses were worn only once or twice... and then thrown away! Middle-class women bought either garments, or ready-made clothes, with the idea that they would last. If necessary, the garment would at some point be cut-down so that it could be worn by children. For the well-dressed female tradesman (aka "monger"), a bright silk scarf would be worn around the neck, and a flower-strewn bonnet would adorn the head. Brightly polished boots would be proudly shown beneath a many petticoat skirt, which just reached to the ankles.

"Victorian dress didn't go in for such radical changes with men. But coat lengths did vary over time and the cinching of the waist (yes, men would wear a type of corset) gave way to the ease-of-breathing loose jacket. Men's fashion history can be traced via the style of trousers. Early in Queen Victoria's reign, legs were covered in tight form-fitting cloth. This appearance soon changed to a looser tubular style. Straight slacks, with a crease in front and back, were common by the end of the century. The elegant dress-coat for the day slowly gave way to a long frock coat, usually black. The dress coat did continue to make appearances, though. 'White tie and tails' was the formal eveningwear for gentleman, the 'tails' being the former daytime coat. Games and cycling were the major catalysts for any change in male Victorian clothes. By the late 1800's, knickers were introduced and a more casual style was adopted for daytime wear. Plaids and checks were seen more often, although most often in the country. Like his female counterpart, a male monger would wear a bright silk scarf around his neck. Atop his head would be a closely fitting cap which completely covered his hair. A long waistcoat and seamed trousers would complete his Victorian costume, ending with the sight

The lives lead by Victorian children varied widely depending on the social standing and financial position of their parents: The Royal ChildrenQueen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children. Their care was of paramount importance so they had nurses, doctors, household servants, tutors, and governors to take care of their every need. Their clothing was of the finest quality, they learned etiquette, their slightest sniffle was investigated and good food was a daily staple. Days were filled with lessons, but there was time for play and leisure activities. Their homes had spacious rooms, filled with furniture and toys. Beds had clean linen, and play things would be scattered about. The Well To DoThe lifestyle of Victoria and Albert's children was similar to the lifestyle all Victorian Children of the upper and middle class enjoyed. Wants were taken care of almost immediately. Girls honed their home-making skills while boys would learn either estate management or financial procedures. Dances and other group gatherings would happen on a regular basis. "Well to do" Victorian Children enjoyed travel, with either trips to the seaside or to The Continent. Pocket change was available for any small personal purchases. Victorian toys for these children were expensive. Rocking horses with real hair and doll's houses full of beautiful furniture would occupy young girls for hours. Wax dolls and elegant tea sets would often be set up in a corner of the bedroom. Boys would have elaborate train sets. Toy soldiers and marbles would be scattered about the floor. Checker boards and chess sets could be easily reached. The Down and OutOn the other side of the coin, poverty was a way of life for many Victorian children. There often wasn't the time or energy for play. Food was whatever could be found, scraped together, or stolen. Starvation and cold were facts of life. Clothing most often came from trash barrels, or was purchased with whatever few coins a person had on hand. Sniffles would be allowed to grow into colds. Ill health was often cured only by death as the poor could not afford medical care. Although perhaps not played with often, Victorian toys were available for a bit of joy. Boys would use yo-yo's, tin soldiers, and toy drums. Marbles were popular. Girls would make their own dolls from bits of rags and buttons. These dolls would be loved just as much as the wax dolls available to the wealthier little girls. A hopscotch game could be held at a moment's notice. If toys couldn't be found, rolling a hoop down the street would use any energy which was left over from a day of work. Games of hide-and-seek and Blindman's Bluff would be enjoyed by groups of children. Working for a WageChildren were expected to help supplement the family budget and were sent to work quite young. These weren't gentile jobs, they were manual labour paying extremely low wages. Factories employed the young to crawl beneath huge machinery - into spaces which adults were too large to enter. Long hours of drudgery would be the order of the day, often starting before dawn and continuing after dark. Conditions were unsafe. Children who crawled beneath working machines were often killed. Coal mines wanted 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. If not employed in a business, youngsters would roam the streets looking for work. Being a messenger was a 'clean' job, as was selling flowers. Others would polish shoes, sweep front steps, or become chimney sweeps. Some poorer Victorian children found that criminal activities made their lives easier. Pickpockets were everywhere. Snatching food off food-vendor's carts and quickly running away was often the only method of getting something to eat. The HomeBeing without shelter, or parents, wasn't unusual. Parents were often unable to support their offspring. These children would be turned out into the streets to fend for themselves. Child abuse was a common occurrence, so many children would just run away. If there was shelter, it was often in a tenement. These buildings would be filled with people of all ages, most often sharing single rooms. Disease was prevalent in these slum conditions due to the populations of fleas and rats. Sanitation was unheard of, and running water was a luxury few could experience. Water would come from an outside ditch. It was normal for these to be filled with raw sewage and dead animals. By the late 1800's, it was widely felt that something needed to be done to help the poor. Homes were opened to help the youngsters who were roaming the streets. Laws governing the employment of children went onto the statute books. However, nothing happened quickly. Although a start had been made, the lifestyle of destitute Victorian children did not see any major improvement until the early 1900's

Inmates were given a variety of work to perform, much of which was involved in running the workhouse. The women mostly did domestic jobs such as cleaning, or helping in the kitchen or laundry. Some

workhouses had workshops for sewing, spinning and weaving or other local trades. Others had their own vegetable gardens where the inmates worked to provide food for the workhouse.

In 1888, a report on the Macclesfield workhouse found that amongst the able-bodied females there were 21 washers, 22 sewers and knitters, 12 scrubbers, 12 assisting women, 4 in the kitchen, 4 in the nursery,

and 4 stocking darners. On the men's side were 2 joiners, 1 Slater, 1 upholsterer, 1 blacksmith, 3 assisting the porter the tramps, 6 men attending the boilers, 3 attending the stone-shed men, 4 whitewashers, 4 attending the pigs, 2 looking after sanitary matters, 1 regulating the coal supply, 18 potato peelers, 1

messenger, 26 ward men, 2 doorkeepers. There were also 12 boys at work in the tailor's shop. After 1834, the breaking of workhouse rules fell into two categories: Disorderly conduct, which could be punished by a withdrawal for food "luxuries" such as cheese or tea, or the more serious Refractory conduct, which could result in a period of solitary confinement. The workhouse dining hall was required to display a poster

The diet fed to workhouse inmates was often laid down in meticulous detail. For example, the workhouse rules for the parish of St John at Hackney in the 1750s stipulated a daily allowance of:

7 Ounces of Meat when dressed, without Bones, to every grown Person,2 Ounces of Butter,

4 Ounces of Cheese,1 Pound of Bread,

3 Pints of Beer

1. Who did queen Victoria marry?

a) George IV

b) Albert

c) William IV

2. What years did queen Victoria reign?

a) 1879 – 1907

b) 1846 – 1925

c) 1837 – 1901

3. What football teams were set up by Victorian churches?

a) Aston villa + Everton

b) Liverpool + Manchester united

c) Everton + Manchester united

4. What was a Victorian class room like?

a) Bright + colourful

b) Grim + bare

c) Empty + cold

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