Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Department of English
and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Eva Mokrá

Social classes and Attitudes in Victorian

England
Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M.Litt.

2009
 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently,
using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..
Author’s signature

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I would like to thank PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M.Litt. for kindly supervising my thesis.

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Table of Contents
I. Introduction 6

II. Victorian England 8

II.1 Political reforms 8

II.2 Working and Living Conditions 11

II.3 Education 12

II.4 The End of the Century 13

III. Upper and Middle Classes 14

III.1 The Growth of Towns 14

III.2 Division of the Classes 15

III.3 Economic Conditions 16

III.4 Education 18

III.5 Religion and Morality 20

III.6 Virtues and Family 21

III.7 Women’s Conditions 22

IV. Working Classes 25

IV.1 Division of the Classes 25

IV.2 Education 26

IV.3 Working Conditions 27

IV.4 Women’s and Children’s Labour 29

IV.5 Living Conditions 31

V. The Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli 34

V.1 The Chartist Movement 34

V.2 The Two Nations 35

V.3 The Poor 36

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 V.4 The Rich 38

VI. Conclusion 40

VII. Works Cited 43

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 I. Introduction

In this thesis I focus on the various social classes during the period of Victorian

England; these are the upper classes, the middle classes and the working classes. My

aim is not only to explore the social division and strata of English society during the

nineteenth century, but also to describe the conditions of all the classes mentioned. I

focus on the areas that underwent some important changes, and how these changes

affected the lives of the English people of different social standing during this era.

Britain experienced an enormous expansion of wealth, and the distinctive fact about this

period is undoubtedly the rise of the middle classes. However the poorer sections of

society faced harsh working and living conditions that were bettering only gradually. I

discuss the norms, values and attitudes of Victorian society and their strength

throughout the social spectrum, namely the attitudes towards religion and family life,

education and women.

To analyze the situation of Victorian England I use materials from various authors.

Some of them, for instance Cheyney, experienced the era themselves, and some of

them, for instance Young and Adams, compiled their accounts in the second half of the

twentieth century, using contemporary articles and reports or interviews with people

who lived at the end of the era. Other sources include articles on particular issues

concerning the lives of the middle and working classes, such as family life and child

labour. In addition, the findings of my thesis are illustrated on a novel by Benjamin

Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845). The novel is concerned with the working

conditions and the relationship between the upper and the working classes. I expect that

Disraeli’s text will provide some interesting examples, as his political experience and

social concern were both significant.

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 The thesis consists of four main chapters. Victorian England deals with the

historical background of the political reforms of the era and their consequences for the

respective classes. The facts and dates mentioned in this part are taken from the texts by

Edward P. Cheyney and David Thomson. The following main chapter explores the

upper and middle classes. Here I focus on both their common attitudes and the areas

where their demands and ambitions were different. Next I examine the working classes

and attempt to show how their lives changed due to the reforms which affected their

working conditions and everyday lives. The last major chapter is an analysis of

Disraeli’s novel. It describes the conditions of the working classes, and partly of the

upper classes as well, at the beginning of the Victoria’s reign. I present Disraeli’s views

on Victorian society and in particular, its negative aspects. Finally, I conclude my

thesis, pointing out significant findings.

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 II. Victorian England

The nineteenth century in England is mainly remembered as the era of Victorians

even though Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne in 1837. But, as L.C.B. Seaman

points out, many of the so-called ‘Victorians’ were already in their fifties or sixties at

the time of the beginning of Victoria’s reign, and others were born in the last decades of

the century, thus taking their Victorian values and virtues into the twentieth century (4-

5).

Generally, the nineteenth century has its great importance in the history of England.

It was an era of extensive reforms, the accumulation of wealth and a very expansive

imperial policy. Even though Europe experienced numerous revolutions in various

countries, Britain was able to prevent the radical thoughts from taking any aggressive

and threatening shape and therefore became a model of constitutional government to

other countries, and gained a position of a supreme Power in the world.

The Victorian era in particular saw the peak of “…British power, prestige and

prosperity…” (Thomson 222). In the middle of the century, Britain enjoyed a great

amount of wealth coming from its trading and financial activities; it also successfully

managed to govern its vast Empire and the welfare of the people was increasing

together with the welfare of the nation. However, on a closer look, many problems

emerged from the new circumstances, such as the shift of population, the formation of

new towns, and the new structure of society. The most important problems that needed

to be solved were the extension of the ballot, working conditions and unemployment,

living conditions, crime, health and education.

II.1 Political Reforms

After Waterloo in 1815, political parties were still dominated by the aristocracy and

the gentry of England and Parliament could hardly be considered a representative body

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of the population because only most well-to-do farmers and landowners in the country

had the right to vote. This was due to the prevailing eighteenth-century theory that “…it

is property and not people which ought to be represented in Parliament” (Thomson 22).

Since the agrarian and industrial revolutions were already in process, the structure of

society was changing rapidly. The huge number of people working and living in the

country was gradually replaced by machines, small landowners were defeated by the

wealthy ones, and a lot of agrarian labourers were forced to seek jobs in the new

factories, mills and mines.

Fortunately, England in the 1820s was “…on the brink of an era of prosperity and

greatness…” (Thomson 32) and new middle classes emerged, acquiring their wealth

from trade and finance. These classes helped to fill the gap between the old aristocracy

and the working classes, and they soon began to demand their right to decide on their

representatives in Parliament. This goal was fulfilled in 1832 when the Reform Bill was

finally passed in the House of Lords, giving the right to vote to independent farmers and

other well-to-do inhabitants and shifting thus the control of Parliament from the

aristocracy to the middle classes.

Even though the Reform Bill of 1832 still excluded the working classes, it was the

first great victory of the new classes and “…the first step towards the attainment of self-

government by the whole mass of the English people” (Cheyney 628). The next step

was taken by the working classes themselves. From the early nineteenth century they

formed trade unions and other similar associations, which was then reflected for

instance in the Cooperative and Chartist movements. These movements generally failed

to survive, but the trade unions grew steadily and gathered strength to negotiate with the

employers. They also awakened the workers’ awareness of their working and living

conditions and the goal they should fight for. After the Factory laws, the working hours

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were shortened and also the working conditions improved. The working classes rose in

position and the politicians had to admit that the existing system of representation in

Parliament was not sufficient. The outcome was the Reform Bill of 1867 that granted

the right to vote to almost every man in towns and to all farming and landowning

classes in the country.

Overall, two thirds of the men of England could vote, except for the farm labourers

who did not meet the requirement of owning a piece of land of a particular value. As

Edward P. Cheyney points out: “For the first time in English history parliament was

under the control of the mass of the people” (659). The extension of the ballot in the

nineteenth century was completed with the two Reform Bills of 1884 and 1885 that

extended the vote to agricultural workers.

However, all these bills were meant to apply only to men and until 1872 there was

no secret ballot. The question of women’s suffrage had been discussed since the

beginning of the nineteenth century, even though it was not a prominent one. The first

women’s suffrage society was then established in 1857 and soon other societies and

leagues followed. In 1888 universal suffrage was introduced in the newly created

Country and Parish Councils. This meant that women could take part in deciding over

the local interests, such as education, public health, the poor, etc., but they were

completely excluded from influencing the national policy in Parliamentary elections.

This status did not change until the first half of the twentieth century.

The question of secret ballot was discussed even more than women’s suffrage.

David Thomson quotes Sydney Smith who claimed that “open voting was more

dignified than the secretive protection of men who, if they had not courage enough to

proclaim their vote publicly, were not fit to vote at all…”(130). Open voting might

prove a man to be dignified and worth having the right to vote in Victorian standards,

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but it usually put a lot of the workers under pressure from their employers over their

choice. This pressure ended in 1872 by introducing the secret ballot. From the point of

view of the Parliamentary elections, the nineteenth century was on one hand an era of

electoral reforms which enabled almost all the male workers in England to vote by

secret ballot for their representatives in the House of Commons. On the other hand, the

House of Lords still included only hereditary noblemen, bishops and prominent men

raised to the peerage by the king, i.e. the lords who did not represent the people and

their opinion but who decided serious matters concerned with the people.

II.2 Working and living conditions

The working conditions in the nineteenth century were a great concern, especially

for the working classes. Having a job was the main goal of a worker, even more

important if he had a family to support. This goal was hard to pursue in times of

depression, for example during the great depression in 1879 or in the 1860s, the period

of the Civil war in the United States of America. During the war, the American southern

ports were blocked and, as a consequence, a lot of the workers in the cotton mills in

England lost their jobs. In times of peace, the sureness of having a job was not absolute

either, and, in addition, the workers’ wives were afraid that the family might lose its

breadwinner. Safety rules and regulations were not in existence in that era and injuries

and deaths were common causes of a manless family falling under the line of poverty.

At those times, wages in general were very low and women’s wages were half of the

men’s wages. Supporting a family of two adults and three or more children was thus a

very difficult task. The result was that not only women, but also children were forced to

work from a very early age.

As the strength of the trade unions rose together with the workers’ suffrage, various

laws restricting the labour of children were adopted. The Factory Act of 1833 appointed

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factory inspectors whose duty was to investigate the situation of child labour in

factories. The Act also prohibited the labour of children below nine years of age and

restricted the labour of children up to eighteen years of age. However, this Act applied

only to the textile industry, and other acts had to be passed later to restrict the child

labour in all other sorts of industries.

Another important matter concerning the working classes was the living conditions.

New factory towns attracted a lot of agricultural labourers from the country as a

potentional place of employment. Towns thus grew rapidly and their population faced

new problems. The society was not accustomed to such a situation so there were no

institutions to handle it. The centres of the towns, without sanitation and sufficient water

supply and too many people living at one place quickly turned into slums. People often

lived in dirty, damp and overcrowded houses and diseases with fatal consequences were

frequent.

After a cholera epidemic in 1830, the Central Board of Health was established in

London. It helped to reveal the conditions of the workingmen in towns, but people

focused on the ballot and working conditions rather than on their health. The poor in

particular lived in very bad conditions and if they managed to earn some money, it was

needed to buy food. In general, the inhabitants of towns were not much willing to spend

money on extra sanitary inspectors and so on. Therefore, the acts related to the health

reforms came into existence much later in the century than the Factory Acts or Reform

Bills.

II.3 Education

Even less attention was paid to education. During the most of the century, schooling

was available only to wealthy classes and it consisted mainly of the Classics, i.e. Greek

and Latin. The classical studies were believed to shape the gentleman’s mind and

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character. The new middle classes had to provide their own schools because the old

universities, Oxford and Cambridge, were not willing to incorporate practical training

into their curriculum. The working classes had almost no chance of getting any

education at all. It was much better for a working-class family if the children did some

small jobs than if they went to school that had to be paid for. Finally, the Education Act

was passed in 1870 and it “…legislated for the provision of a school within the reach of

every child in the country” (Reader 101). The necessity of having at least elementary

education was acknowledged and within the last three decades of the century,

politicians had to admit that more attention should be paid to the secondary and tertiary

education.

II.4 The end of the century

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the position of Britain in the world was

beginning to decline. Even though Britain tried to maintain its role as the country

preserving the balance of power, a role it played for the whole century as the supreme

Power in the world, by 1871 the political map of Europe had already transformed. New

German and Italian Empires emerged and, together with the USA, at the turn of the

nineteenth and the twentieth century, they became the rivals of Britain in the fields of

trade, finance, army and navy. Britain was at the end of an era of economic expansion

and prosperity, and it had to find new ways of maintaining the peace in Europe. Because

of the alliance of Germany, Italy and Austria, Britain needed to find some allies to

balance the situation in European foreign affairs and it therefore joined France and

Russia. All the efforts failed and the two camps got thus involved in the war in 1914.

The nineteenth century in English history, much of which equals the era of Victorian

England, was full of changes on political, economic, and social grounds alike. The

Reform Bills throughout the century extended the franchise from the wealthy

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landowners to the middle classes and then, gradually, to the working classes, including

the landless farm labourers. In this way, the control of the House of Commons shifted

from the old landed gentry to the mass of the people. The economic strength of Britain

increased, the country became very rich and the wealth of the people increased as well.

This progress slowed down towards the end of the century by the appearance of the new

rivals, but Britain was still able to remain one of the great powers in the world. Social

conditions changed as well. The trade unions succeeded in assuring shortened working

hours and better working conditions. New facilities related to education and public

health were established and the middle classes filled the gap between the wealthy

landowners and poor workers and provided the county with men with professional

skills. All in all, the Victorian era was a period of reform, and every person from

whichever class had to fight for their rights and find a way to adjust to the new structure

of society.

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 III. Upper and Middle Classes

On the one hand, hard work and effort, competition and self-help. On the other

hand, moral responsibility, religious observance, this could sometimes take the form of

Puritanism, and a family as a sign of a respectable life. All these are normally connected

with the Victorian way of life, but in fact these virtues and attitudes equalled the way of

life of the middle classes during the Victorian period. The members of the upper classes

shared some of these virtues, such as religious observance and respectable family-life,

but the idea of self-help, competition and hard work was exclusively a middle-class

notion.

III.1 The Growth of Towns

During the last decades of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the

nineteenth century, the main consequence of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of

the middle classes. Their life soon began to be identified with the life of towns and they

became associated with trade and commerce. They also began to take the position of

public opinion and their identity “…was defined principally in moral and political

terms” (Gunn 34). The towns grew and a new town-bred population emerged.

In the eyes of the labourers in the country, towns represented their chance to find a

better-paid job and get away from the wretched life as an agricultural labourer. They

began to move to towns and new social problems emerged. First of all, such a huge

number of people were suddenly seeking accommodation at one place that many of

them had to live in overcrowded rooms. Then there were problems with health and

crime; towns were not planned and there were no institutions to keep the order and

cleanliness. Therefore, towns soon became the cradles of diseases and the middle

classes began to leave the town centres and build houses further in the country. G. M.

Young describes such a movement of wealthy classes in London:

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 The employers were purring into the country; their officials followed them into

the suburbs; the better workman lived in the better streets; the mixed multitude of

labour, native or Irish, was huddled in slums and cellars, sometimes newly run up

by speculative builders, sometimes, like the labyrinth round Soho and Seven

Dials, deserted tenements of the upper classes. (22)

The greatest development of suburbanism as a way of a middle-class life came with

the expansion of railways. People were able to live further form the town centre and the

physical separation of the classes in towns deepened (Reader 68). The working classes

and the poor stayed in the town centres, the middle classes developed their own close-

knit communities in the suburbs and the upper classes stayed in their country estates.

III.2 Division of the classes

However, the boundary between the classes was not that clear. As people

accumulated more and more wealth, new groups of various professions claimed higher

social position. The ‘landed gentry’, according to W. J. Reader, ranged from the untitled

owners of small estates to the great ducal families and there was certainly a difference

of wealth of the respective groups (18). All of the wealthy members of gentry used their

property and respect coming form their position to enjoy a great amount of

independence. Reader characterised the possibilities of a gentleman as follows: “Within

the limits of the law, his income and his own conscience, he could do pretty much as he

liked” (18). The middle classes included much wider spectrum of people, including

bankers and merchants, lawyers, doctors, factory owners and, due to the developing

local government and expansion of industry, some new professions, such as clerks,

technicians, engineers and accountants.

Reader also states that “…the Land, the Church and Parliament, all were caught up

and held together in an intricate web of family relationships which outsiders found hard

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to penetrate…” (29-30). The social position of the upper classes was seen as prestigious

and the new middle classes wanted to acquire the same respectable position. They had

already equalled their wealth and this was regarded as the justification for gaining social

standing and political power. These claims were nevertheless not seen as rightful by the

upper classes. From the view of the gentry, “’Trade’ in general, unless profitable

enough to provide an income comparable with that from a landed estate, was no

occupation for a gentleman…” (Reader 127). From this reason, “…a new patriciate out

of the upper levels of the middle class emerged-mixed of birth, wealth and education”

(Young 88). In the second half of the century, medical and legal education became

based on examinations and these professions began to be regarded more respectable

than the shopkeepers and traders.

III.3 Economic conditions

The political and economic claims of the middle classes were almost completely

fulfilled. They managed to secure their political power by the Reform Act of 1832 and,

at the beginning of Victoria’s reign, the middle classes began to demand the

abandonment of the protectionist policy. England suffered from numerous tariffs

imposed on various goods imported into the country, mainly the Corn Laws. These

duties on the imported wheat were aimed “…to preserve the abnormally high profits of

the Napoleonic war-years and to safeguard farmers from the consequences of their

wartime euphoria” (Wells). But, according to Cheyney, the Corn Laws “…prevented its

[wheat’s] importation and therefore kept the price of food high” (617). The Anti-Corn-

Law League was established in London in 1838 and its mainly middle-class members

started a campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws, distributing pamphlets and

organising public meetings. This League gathered strength over a short period of time

and became a powerful political force in the early 1840s. In 1845 the potato blight

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struck Ireland and, since potatoes were the staple Irish diet, people suffered from

starvation and a big number of emigrants left the country for the United States and the

British colonies. The Irish famine gave the last impulse to the discussion of the repeal of

the import duties on grain. The Corn Laws were repealed in the following year, making

the prices of wheat, and consequently bread as well, cheaper.

The repeal of the Corn Laws marked the beginning of the introduction of free trade

and Liberalism into the English politics. By ensuring their political power in 1832, the

middle classes used this power to ensure policy that would suit their interests and needs

(see Loftus 1). The free trade movement began in the years following 1815 and

“[t]hrough the agitation, the principles of free-trade liberalism were implanted deeply in

the middle classes and in large sections of the labouring classes too” (Thomson 80).

The central principle of the middle classes thus became the competition and they

were “…striving to establish a society based on merit rather than on one’s birth” (Loftus

1). Individual effort and hard work were the basis of the middle-class belief that any

man can succeed in the world regardless of his origins. This notion was, however, not

shared by the upper classes that regarded it as an attack to the old-established social

system in which every man knew his place. Reader claims that the middle classes

respected the old system so they did not become revolutionaries as in other countries

across Europe, but they nevertheless wanted to fit into the system once it was modified

(114). Liberalism was linked to the economic success during the most of the Victorian

era and in the middle of the century, Britain thus became ‘the workshop of the world’

making London the economic capital of it. To illustrate the prosperity of the country,

Thomson stated that “…by 1870 the foreign trade of the United Kingdom was more

than that of France, Germany, and Italy together, and nearly four times that of the

United States” (100).

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 The climax of prosperity was represented by the Great Exhibition in 1851 that took

place in the magnificent Crystal Palace in London. The Exhibition presented the

achievements in manufacture, arts, commerce and agriculture from all over the world

and it was a great success paying all its expenses and even leaving a surplus. It was

visited by more than six million people and it made the general public aware and

interested in the progress in science, arts and many other areas.

The focus on competition and interest in knowledge were demonstrated in many

books but the most influential was probably Self-Help by Samuel Smiles, published in

1859. Smiles fostered the middle-class notion that “…individuals were responsible for

their own future: men had the same characteristics and potentialities that could be

maximised through hard work, perseverance, thrift, prudence and self-reliance” (Loftus

2). Both Donna Loftus and Anne Baltz Rodrick stress that self-improvement became the

basis of middle-class morality and that these ideas emphasised the individual’s merit

and morality rather than his birth and wealth. Rodrick defines two types of improvers;

the first type is ‘a heroic autodidact’ who learns by himself and by his improvement

adds to the overall improvement of the nation; the second type is a member of a mutual

improvement society where a young man could acquire gentlemanly behaviour.

III.4 Education

An important part of the upper- and middle-class life was education. For the upper

classes, it represented a means of getting valuable acquaintances and acquiring

gentlemanly behaviour. For the middle classes, having a secondary and tertiary

education was a way to climb up the social ladder and to obtain a professional status.

Therefore, the two groups had completely different ideas about what should a

curriculum consist of and what should be the outcome of spending years at school and

university.

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 Traditionally, education in general was designated for the wealthy classes and

restricted to boys only. Since the school fees were high, only sons of the gentry and the

wealthy middle classes could afford to attend a grammar school where the two groups

would mix together and the middle-class sons could socialise with the upper classes.

The grammar schools were strictly restricted to a classical curriculum, and after their

decline, public schools took on their tradition and maintained it through the Victorian

era. Reader refers to these schools as “self- governing republic[s]” (20), that used a

monitorial system in which senior boys were responsible for the outdoor activities and

the social life. The outdoor activities became very prestigious, but the focus still lay on

the classical training, i.e. Latin and Greek which could take up to 17 out of 22 school

hours, which meant that the boys left the school with almost no practical knowledge

(see Reader 21-22). Reader nevertheless claims that “…most upper-class boys were not

sent to a public school to become scholars, but to become reasonably well-educated men

of the world, to meet other boys of their own kind and to develop ‘character’” (22).

An upper-class boy would then continue to study at one of the universities, either

Oxford or Cambridge. Their curriculum also mainly consisted of the classics, but new

subjects such as science were added during the century. Reader says that the life at the

universities was “…partly a prolongation of public school life…” (22), consisting of

gambling, dinners and other forms of entertainment; and Young adds that “…the career

of the passman was little more than the prolongation of his school days without the

discipline” (94). Universities at that time reflected the class distinctions; for example,

“…the tuft [and] the golden tassel on the cap, survived until 1870 at Oxford as a mark

of noble birth” (Young 94).

As the middle classes became more powerful over the nineteenth century, they

began to demand a different type of education. The classical curriculum was not

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sufficient to prepare a man for a professional career or trade. The middle classes thus

established their own new private and proprietary schools. As Reader claims, the private

schools were profit-making organisations and corruption was therefore common. The

proprietary schools were based on the principles of self-help and their purpose was to

educate rather than to make profit (122). These schools offered new modern subjects

that perfectly suited the middle-class desire for practical education. Reader further

describes that the practice for a middle-class boy was to be at school until the age of

sixteen and then learn family business. Reader assumes that the greatest aim was to seek

a professional occupation, such as a lawyer, doctor or engineer, since these began to

depend on one’s ability after the introduction of qualifying exams (125). Regardless of

the type of school and its pupils, most of the schools were based on religious teaching.

Both Oxford and Cambridge was Anglican and the highest purpose of education was to

learn religious morals and follow the religious doctrines.

III.5 Religion and Morality

Religion played an important part in the lives of the upper and middle classes during

the nineteenth century. In the first half of the century in particular, people were

extremely religious and the first generation of Victorians led austere lives following the

puritan doctrines of the Church. The various religious groups, mainly Evangelicals and

Wesleyans, affected the way the middle classes lived, worked and had their families.

Both Young and Thomson emphasise the importance of Evangelicalism and its

influence on Victorian morality. Evangelicalism supported the “…obsessive belief in

work, in seriousness of behaviour, in respectability and the idea of self-help…”

(Seaman 6). At the beginning of Victoria’s reign, the upper and middle classes strictly

observed the Sunday, when only some decorous games could be played and no work

could be done; and the “…Bible reading in the home was as popular as sermonizing in

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church” (Thomson 107). Sexual morality was another marker of the influence of

religion. Sexual contacts were allowed within the marriage only and sexual pleasure

was seen as sinful (see Reader 141). Nevertheless, prostitution flourished, the clients

being mostly the wealthy men, and it was regarded as a necessary evil. Young states

that religion was strongest among the inhabitants of the country and the old towns while

the new manufacturing towns inhabited by the working classes mainly, were left almost

untouched (64). Towards the end of the century, new scientific findings, e.g. Charles

Darwin’s book The Origin of Species, challenged the position of the traditional religion

and by the 1870s, the second generation of Victorians lost the interest in religion and

started to lead more joyful and entertaining lives.

III.6 Virtues and Family

In spite of the decline of religion, many virtues originally supported by the religious

teachings survived. People still valued “…piety, fidelity to the pledged word, good faith

in human relationships, charity…” (Thomson 229) and, as Seaman states, the “…all-

pervading belief in the moral imperatives of personal responsibility of duty, and of

living for something other than the satisfaction of the immediate needs of the self” (6).

All of this resulted in the numerous middle-class charitable organizations, help in

building libraries, hospitals and churches and in what Reader calls ‘paternalism’ (145-

6). This kind of help occurred in many firms and, according to Reader, took the form of

the “…intrusion into people’s private lives and an attempt to enforce middle-class ideas

of conduct…” (147). The employers secured various advantages for their employees,

such as better accommodation and a job for life, since the employers rarely dismissed

some of their people. On the other hand they also checked whether the employees are

properly dressed on Sundays or whether they give enough money to their wives to

support their families (see Reader 145-46).

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 Family was an important aspect of the upper- and middle-class moral life. Young

states that the Victorian family life was based on the patriarchal village family-

according to this scheme, the man worked, the woman took care of the house, food and

clothes, the children learnt the crafts from their father and the whole family went to the

church every Sunday (20). During the century, the middle-class houses began to

represent the ideal domestic morality and the family was closely associated with virtue

and respectable life (see Young 152). Melisa Klimaszewski describes how could be the

upper- and middle-class households and their morality threatened. She discusses the

phenomenon of wet nurses-that is “...women hired from the working classes to

breastfeed infants of the middle and upper classes when their own mothers were unable,

unwilling, or uninterested in performing the task themselves” (323). Klimaszewski

claims that since the lower classes were believed to be inferior and naturally immoral,

even more immoral if the wet nurse was a single mother, the question was whether there

was a possibility that the wet nurse might have had a bad influence on the baby and how

big the threat to the whole household was. The wet nurse played an important part in the

baby’s life, and the real mothers were afraid that they might be replaced by the wet

nurse because she performed the traditionally maternal function (342-3). In the last

quarter of the century, many factors, for example the expanding working possibilities

and the growing feminist movement, resulted in the separation of the family and work

life and “[t]he Respectable Family [was] shrinking” (Young 157).

III.7 Women’s conditions

During the century, women’s tasks were mainly to maintain the domestic morality and

to take care of the household, husband and children. For the upper- and middle-classes

women, this meant that they were expected to acquire certain accomplishments to

attract a suitable husband, such as dancing, drawing and singing. Then, after the

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marriage, they were supposed to run the household by giving orders and making sure

that everything is prepared properly by the servants, pleasing their husbands by

behaving accordingly, and upbringing children with the help of more or less nurses and

maids.

Basically, upper- and middle-class women had little opportunity to alter this

scheme. The prevailing opinion was that “…women were naturally subservient to

men… [and that] they were weaker in body and mind and generally in most ways

inferior” (Reader 8). Reader also claims that women in the Victorian era were therefore

protected, and not exploited as they were in the earlier times (8-9). Women were thus

withheld the same education as men and their schooling consisted mainly of private

tutorship by a governess or specialists in music, painting etc. From this reason, women

of the wealthy classes were completely dependent on their families and, consequently,

husbands for support.

If a woman remained unmarried, which was not unusual, the only respectable option

was to stay with the family. Other options were nevertheless possible. Mainly women

from the lower layers of the middle classes became governesses and teachers in order to

be able to live independently. The life of a governess was a hard one. Since a woman in

general was not supposed to work, the job was then regarded as inferior and the

woman’s social status dropped towards the position of a servant (Wells).

Another possibility was to emigrate into one of the British colonies. Janet C. Myers

describes the emigration as the immediate solution for women who stayed single due to

the preponderance of men in the English population at that time, or due to the lack of

proper education and employment (Myers 129). Myers states that the Female Middle

Class Emigration Society was established in 1862 in order to help unmarried women to

prepare for the emigration, mainly to Australia and New Zealand (Myers 129).

24
 In the last decades of the century, the new inventions of telephone and typewriter

offered new opportunities for women’s work and, generally, a new era of thinking

started. Women were able to get better education than fifty years ago and the feminist

movement began to gather strength. They also managed to settle birth control as a

respectable part of a woman’s life and prepared the path for future feminists to secure

equal rights with men in the areas of education, work and life in general.

25
 IV. Working Classes

As Seaman states, some people regard the Victorian period as an era of prosperity,

progress and wealth, but other people equal this period “…with the exploitation of the

working class…” (1). Even though the franchise was widened during the century, it

applied only to the property owners or, later on, to the tenants of property of some

particular value, and most of the working classes did not meet this qualification.

Therefore, the working classes lacked the power and strength to defend their own rights

and “…were helplessly exposed to every kind of abuse” (Thomson 37). The main areas

of concern were education and working and living conditions, including the

accommodation, health and family issues.

IV.1 Division of the classes

The essential factor determining the workmen’s position was whether they knew

some craft or not. Reader differentiates between ‘the comfortable working class’ and the

poor; the comfortable working class being the skilled craftsmen and the poor being the

unskilled labourers without regular employment (73, 92).Carol Adams marks the skilled

workers as ‘the upper working class’ and the unskilled as ‘the lower working class’.

Regardless of the labels used, both authors divide the workingmen into the unskilled

and skilled, suggesting that the thin line between the poverty and the relatively

comfortable living depended on the acquirement of some craft, as stressed by Reader

(72). Adams focuses on the lives of the working classes in the last three decades of the

nineteenth century and she thus provides the comparison of the conditions of the

working classes between the beginning and the end of the Victorian era. According to

her, the working classes, i.e. both skilled and unskilled workers, formed two thirds of

the population in the 1880s, whereas the remaining one third included all the middle and

upper classes (13).

26
IV.2 Education

One of the troublesome areas in the lives of the working classes was education. As

was already discussed earlier, the middle classes regarded education as a valuable part

of a man’s life, through which he could attain a higher status in the social structure and

become a respectable member of society. The working classes had a different view. A

working-class family living just above the poverty line needed almost every person

capable of performing some kind of work to contribute to the family income. Therefore,

during most of the century working-class children did not attend school, but helped at

home and, when they grew older, went to work in the fields or in factories and mines.

As Adams describes, in the last decades of the century, girls were mainly employed

at home to help their mothers with various tasks such as washing, cleaning and taking

care of younger children, and sometimes, even after the Education Act of 1870, they

had to stay at home and help their mothers instead of going to school (25-26). She also

claims that this situation was seen as unavoidable, as opposed to boys missing classes

(54). This claim is valid in view of the general Victorian notion that women did not

needed as much education as men, and it was thus considered necessary if they could

not attend school regularly.

A similar approach was used regarding the subjects that were taught at the Board

Schools. These were local state schools established after the Education Act of 1870, and

their main purpose was to give at least some elementary education to all children in

England. Board schools were mostly attended by children from the working-class

background, and even from the poorest families after the school attendance was made

compulsory in 1880 and free in 1891. Adams further states that the classes were

overcrowded, children were unordered, and their parents saw it as a waste of time,

because the curriculum consisted mainly of learning by heart only (42-43). At the

27
beginning of school attendance, both girls and boys were taught together, and the main

subjects were reading, writing and arithmetic. They were then separated, and girls began

to learn how to cook, sew and do the laundry, and other subjects connected with the

management of the household. Adams nevertheless claims that these subjects were for

the most part completely useless, since most of the families did not possess many of the

tools necessary to perform those activities, for example crockery and oven (46). Boys

were, on the other hand, taught more arithmetic, and many practical subjects were

introduced in the 1890s, such as carpentry, shoemaking, physics and chemistry (Adams

47). Working-class children gained the opportunity to obtain basic knowledge towards

the end of the century, but, as Adams notes, they had practically no access to secondary

and tertiary education; this changed only at the beginning of the twentieth century when

the first state secondary schools were established (62).

IV.3 Working conditions

Another area of a great concern in the lives of the working classes was the working

conditions. As mentioned in the second chapter, workers faced harsh conditions in their

work places, and the working classes lacked their own representation that would have

ensured their rights. Workers were therefore forced to work very long hours. According

to Adams, even towards the end of the century, the basic working week was about sixty

hours, i.e. “…eleven hours a day plus a half-day on Saturday” (69). She also claims that

there were “…few regulations about safety, working conditions and sufficient work

breaks.” (69), and that government was concerned with the labour of women and

children rather than with men’s conditions at work.

Due to the economic pressures, ordinary men and women had to start working from

a very early age, and their life expectancy varied according to the work performed and

the environment. Young provides a table of Expectation of Life at Birth at various

28
places in England (24). His table suggests that labourers living in the manufacturing

cities of northern England, for example Manchester and Liverpool, could reach only

seventeen years of age, while labourers living in the country, for example the counties

of Rutland and Wiltshire, could live up to thirty-eight years of age. The difference is

striking and it shows the different conditions of agricultural labourers and those of

factory workers. Both groups had to work long and hard, but the advantage of the

country was that the country labourer had space for a garden to support the family’s

diet. The accommodation was also better; labourers were often provided with cottages

consisting of two rooms, and Reader claims that however damp and dirty they might

have been, the overcrowding was not as bad as in the town slums (47). The major

advantage of the country was the possibility of living in a non-polluted environment;

one of the factors causing the mortality rates in towns being much higher. Factory

workers had to live in slums that were dreadfully overcrowded. Reader claims that the

poorest workers had to share the room with up to seven other people (80). Both Reader

and Adams describe factory work as monotonous and strictly controlled, so even at the

end of the century, factory workers had to follow rigid discipline and pay fees for

talking, reading, or using bad language during work (Adams 79).

In spite of all the disadvantages of factories and slums in towns, agricultural

labourers moved to towns in the search of higher wages and more permanent

employment. The life in the country was governed by the events of the agricultural year,

and apart from enlistment and emigration, moving to town was one of the means of

escaping from the country (Reader 50-52). The best possibility for the country

inhabitants was to go into the domestic service. Since the middle classes rose in position

and wealth, the demand for the domestic servants increased as well. As Reader

describes, a domestic servant had to work hard and often longer hours than factory

29
workers, but wages were higher and the servant was well fed, clothed and housed (50).

Adams states that in the 1880s and 1890s the domestic service was still the most

common occupation for working-class women and the second most common occupation

for men. She also states that the domestic service was seen as a good training for

marriage, and it was regarded as a respectable occupation since the servants worked

under supervision in a respectable house (84).

IV.4 Women’s and children’s labour

It is obvious that women and children from the working-class families had to work

in order to ensure the family’s survival. In the country, the whole family had to work in

the fields, but even though men’s conditions were not in focus, the necessity of women

working in the fields was seen as “a disgrace to the county” (Reader 49). Adams notes

that it was regarded as immoral and indecent for women to work together with men,

because, for example, they tucked their skirts up and urinated in front of the men (71).

That was unacceptable according to the middle-class religious views of the period, so,

as Adams points out, when the new farming machinery appeared towards the end of the

century and the increased import of food reduced the number of jobs in agriculture,

women were thus the first to be dismissed (72). A similar situation was found in towns.

Adams states that the practice of women working in heavy and dirty jobs was strongly

criticized, but she also claims that women fought against restrictions on their heavy

work because otherwise they would have to work in lower-paid jobs (73-75). The

problem of child labour was one of the most important ones concerning the working

conditions of the working classes. This problem involved mainly the factory work.

David Cody quotes from a parliamentary report that children started to work as early as

at four years of age; it was in the cases of the poorest working-class families who

needed their children to work in order to help supporting the family (1). Adams claims

30
that girls from thirteen years of age were often forced into prostitution and boys had to

steal (33). A parliamentary inquiry into the child labour was implemented in 1832 and

its report helped to initiate the Factory Act of 1833. Its provisions were already

described; this Act was one of the first achievements in restricting the child labour in

textile industry.

However, the Factory Act of 1833 was often violated. The four factory inspectors,

who were appointed by this Act to investigate the conditions of children in the textile

industry, reported that even though the work of children below nine years of age was

banned, the required age certificates were often falsified so that younger children could

work. The conditions in factories were terrible. Children had to start working at half

past five in the morning and stop at eight or nine in the evening (Simkin: Working

Hours). John Simkin provides an interview with Elizabeth Bentley, one of the child

workers from the 1830s. Elizabeth said that she had to work in a room full of dust and

that it caused her serious problems with her lungs and made her consequently unfit for

factory work. She also said that she had to work from the early morning till late in the

evening and that breaks were not sufficient (Simkin: Elizabeth Bentley).

A doctor’s survey led by Lord Ashley in 1836 reported that “ten hours is the utmost

quantity of labour which can be endured by the children” without damaging effects on

their health (Simkin: Working Hours). Simkin also mentions later interviews with

doctors who were familiar with the conditions in the factories across England (Simkin:

Physical Deformities). Their accounts affirmed that monotonous movements were the

cause of numerous deformities of children’s bodies. According to their reports,

children’s bones were still soft and therefore liable to bend in any direction if exposed

to a long-lasting position. For example, the continuous standing had damaging effects

on feet, ankles and knees that would turn inwards. Women had, in addition, problems

31
with their pelvis pressing inwards; this caused further problems when women became

pregnant, because the pregnancy could sometimes result in the death of the child. Other

major Factory Acts included the Act of 1847, which legislated a ten-hour working day,

and the Act of 1891, which raised the minimum age for working children to eleven.

Even though the trade unions had to secure the workers’ legal position towards the

end of the century, for example by the Employers and Workmen Act of 1875 that

“…recognized in its entirety the freedom of contract and the right of collective

bargaining…” (Young 123), the working classes began to improve their situation in the

second half of the century in comparison with what they experienced at the beginning of

the Victorian era. The decline in agricultural jobs was balanced by the emergence of

new jobs in offices and large shopping stores. The overall position of the working

classes improved, but other major social reforms had to be postponed into the twentieth

century.

IV.5 Living conditions

The last area of concern was the living conditions of the working classes, especially

in towns. As described, workers had to live in overcrowded slums. Because of the huge

number of people and bad water supply, the poorest workers often lived in damp and

dirty rooms, and epidemics of all sorts were frequent. The unhealthy living conditions

and little medical knowledge were the causes of a high mortality rate: Adams states that

in the 1880s, “three out of four people died under the age of forty” and that “one in

every four babies died in its first year” (170). Epidemics were very common at schools

that were attended by the children from the lower layers of working classes. According

to Adams, their bad housing and diet and neglected hygiene weakened their health; and

tuberculosis, scarlet fever, small pox and measles caused the most child-deaths (173).

32
 In the second half of the century, the difference between the poor and the upper

working classes became sharper. Adams claims that even though the general idea

towards the end of the century was that drinking was the main cause of the working-

class poverty, drinking was widely spread rather among the poor (194). The life of the

lowest classes was very hard and it was this group that was most affected by the

problem of child labour. Reader further adds that “it was from amongst the very poor

that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the prisons came” (73). The life of

the upper working classes bettered mainly after the restriction of the working hours in

the second half of the century. Even though the working hours were still long, workers

had at least some free time on Saturdays and a free day on Sunday to develop some kind

of leisure activities. Reader states that after 1860s organized games became popular

instead of the cruel hobbies such as cock-fighting and bull-baiting (107-08). However,

most of the leisure activities, including pubs and fairs, were only for men. Adams

claims that at the end of the Victorian era “… [w]omen were far more restricted in

where they could go and what they could do” (193). This had its origins in the general

idea of the time that women were supposed to bring up the children and take care of the

household, while men were supposed to work and earn enough money to support the

whole family. The women themselves were nevertheless more and more challenging

these claims and, consequently, new feminist movement emerged during the second half

of the century that would later secure equal rights for women.

The Victorian era was an important period for the working classes. It took a long

time, but they managed to gain suffrage, gather enough strength to establish trade

unions and thus secure better working and living conditions. These achievements were

however just the beginning of a long struggle for further social reforms in the twentieth

century, but the era of Victorian England laid the essential foundations.

33
 V. Benjamin Disraeli and His Two Nations

Benjamin Disraeli was a high-ranked politician; however he was also a writer and a

brilliant critic of his time. In his novel Sybil, or The Two Nations, first published in

1845, he managed to describe the conditions of the vast number of workers as well as

the life and machinations of the wealthy classes. He portrayed the turbulent years of

uprisings and demonstrations of the 1840s, beginning in 1839 when the workers’

demands and discontent resulted in the Chartist movement. According to him,

Victoria’s succession to the throne represented the beginning of a new era and possible

changes both to the Poor and the Rich. Disraeli claimed that “[e]ven the poor begin to

hope, the old, wholesome superstition that the sovereign can exercise power, still

lingers; and the suffering multitude are fain to believe that its remedial character may be

about to be revealed in their instance” (35).

V.1 The Chartist Movement

Disraeli’s narrative was set on the background of the events of the 1840s, when the

disillusionment with the Reform Act of 1832 created a powerful Chartist movement.

The demands of the workers depicted in the story are based on the People’s Charter

from 1837 that declared the six points for further reform: these were

...universal suffrage, newly elected parliament every year, vote by secret ballot,

abolition of the property qualification required of members of Parliament,

payment of members of the House of Commons, and the division of the country

into electoral districts each of which should contain the same number of

inhabitants. (Cheyney 635)

Disraeli described two forms of the movement: the first one was portrayed by

Walter Gerard, and the second one by the Hell-cats. Walter Gerard advocated meetings,

petitions and the moral force. He thus at first became the leader of the Chartists in the

34
north, and his orator’s skill helped attract thousands of people to his ideas. In addition,

his friend Morley stressed the importance of having workers’ representatives in

Parliament to obtain their rights. As Gerard claimed, working people were degraded

nearly to brutes and they lived in worse conditions than before (148). Therefore, he

managed to get enormous popularity in his district, but when Parliament had refused to

consider the demands of the National Convention, the other form of the movement

superseded.

The Hell-Cats was a group of armed men that used violence instead of peaceful

methods such as petitions. At the end of the novel, Disraeli described how the Hell-Cats

were roused to action by a single man who led them and enabled them to destroy and

ravage the countryside and the Mowbray Castle. The fact that the mob demanded

mainly food and wine suggests that they did not have any higher political aspirations.

This lack of political goals and ambitions among the mass of the people can be seen as

one of the main reasons for the overall failure of the Chartist movement towards the end

of the 1840s.

V.2 The Two Nations

The central theme in Disraeli’s text is the notion of the two nations. Disraeli

characterized these two nations through the words of Stephen Morley:

Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as

ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in

different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different

breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not

governed by the same laws. (58)

For Disraeli, these two nations, who lived in two completely different worlds, were

the Rich and the Poor. The numerous differences made it impossible for any member of

35
either nation to interfere into the other, or as Sybil said when she revealed Egremont’s

real identity and descent: “the gulf is impassable” (211).

V.3 The Poor

The world of the Poor was illustrated in many ways. The main concerns were the

accommodation, the working conditions and the family life. Disraeli examined the

living conditions both in the town and in the country. The rural town of Marney was

contrasted with its beautiful landscape, “…surrounded by meadows and gardens, and

backed by lofty hills, undulating and richly wooded…” (46). On the other hand, the

town was formed by “…narrow and crowded lanes…” of cottages that were in

dilapidated condition (46). Disraeli stated that the cottages were either old or badly built

and that they looked “…as if they could scarcely hold together” (46). He then

continued with the description of the surroundings of the cottages, where there were

“…open drains full of animal and vegetable refuse, decomposing into disease…” (46).

He also gave the description of the town of Mowbray that consisted of the quiet and

clean districts of the wealthy classes and of the noisy industrious part inhabited by the

working people (74-75). This part of the town lacked broad streets and squares, but it

was full of chimneys and “…barrack-looking buildings that rose in all directions…”

(75). He also mentioned the cellars as the last option to live in, since the move to a

cellar meant that the family had little money to gain better accommodation. This was

illustrated on the situation of Warner, the weaver’s family. Warner did not have a

regular job and had no money left to pay the rent, or even feed his children who had to

go to bed without a supper (102).

The country accommodation was represented by Walter Gerard’s cottage. It was

recently built, it had large windows and a garden attached to it, and it was situated near

a river (115). However this cottage was claimed to be the work of Mr. Trafford, a

36
wealthy factory owner and a philanthropist who took good care of his employees.

Therefore, Mr. Gerard’s dwelling was probably not the prototypical cottage of a worker

living in the country; nevertheless the advantage of beautiful and healthy environment

with more space is indubitable.

The working conditions, especially in factories and mines, are given a lot of

attention in the novel explored. Mr. Trafford, mentioned above, was portrayed as a man

who was concerned with the conditions of his employees, and who was aware of the

fact that a well-housed, well-fed and decently clothed worker is more efficient than one

who is starving and living in a dirty, damp cottage (157). However, most of the factory

owners were not as benevolent, and the descriptions of the conditions in the town-

factories provide a different view. For instance, the nail-workshop of the Bishop of

Wodgate was several stories high and in a so dilapidated condition, that “…one could

look down through the graping and rotten planks…” (153). The workers had to work

ceaselessly under the supervision of the owner, and even the owner’s two five-year-old

sons had to work there. This leads to the problem of the labour of youths and children,

which was well illustrated on the district of mines. Disraeli claimed that trees and

shrubs were unknown in this region, and that the young men and women were hard to

distinguish from one another since “…neither their raiment nor their language indicates

the difference…” (121). He also claimed that children not older than four or five years

of age began their work in the mines as the first and left as the last, working “…in

darkness and in solitude…” (121).

The family life of the working people is also portrayed at some points; the most

important aspects described are the tommy shops and drinking. The tommy shop of

Master Joseph was a place where the women came daily to get at least some food. The

scene of the opening of the shop illustrates the oppression and horror that the women

37
had to face (see 136). Master Joseph was slightly above the level of the working people

of the town and he used his position to exploit them by raising the prices as he wished.

Concerning the drinking, Lord Marney said that the workmen “…only spend their

money in beer-shops. They are the curse of this country” (95). He was opposed by the

opinion that after a long day’ work, a poor man finds no proper home, because his wife

is either still at work, exhausted or ill and that it is impossible for the workers to have a

domestic life. Therefore, he seeks relief in the beer-shop (95). This assumption is

confirmed by the workers themselves, when one of them claims that “…what makes

[the people] drink but toil; working from five o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock at

night…” (76).

V.4 The Rich

The world of the Rich is portrayed mainly through various dinners, balls and

conversations. Disraeli described the splendid houses and dinner tables full of expensive

decorations and food. For instance, the ball at Deloraine House is portrayed as a

magnificent event in a Russian fashion and people talk mainly about their acquaintances

and politics. Disraeli also claimed the life of a wealthy boy to be easy and filed with

“…the enjoyment of every comfort and every luxury that refinement could devise and

wealth furnish.” (26). In connection with Lady Marney, Disraeli stated that even though

she was much more clever than her husband, “[s]he yielded without a struggle to the

arbitrary will and unreasonable caprice of a husband who was scarcely her equal in

intellect, and far her inferior in all the genial qualities of our nature…” (63).

At the end of his novel, Disraeli expressed a wish that the Youth might one day

become aware of all the reforms that were necessary. His wish was fulfilled, but almost

fifty years after he proposed these reforms.

38
 VI. Conclusion

Social distinctions have always been present in English society, and one can claim

that the nineteenth century witnessed even more significant division due to numerous

political, economic and social reforms that greatly affected the social structure of

England and the lives of the English people.

In the chapter called Victorian England, I described the general historical

background of the period and the political reforms in some detail. The middle classes

successfully acquired the political power by the Reform Act of 1832, and thus managed

to shift the power in Parliament from the aristocracy to themselves. Cheyney marks this

act as the first step towards democracy. The following Reform Act of 1867 enfranchised

all the landowning classes in the country and almost all men in towns. Agricultural

labourers were the poorest, since the wages in towns were generally much higher, and

they were thus enfranchised by the third Reform Act in 1884. This chapter also includes

the basic information on other areas, namely the working conditions, living conditions,

and education that are further developed and discussed in the following chapters.

The conditions and attitudes of the upper and middle classes form the main concern

in the next chapter. The nineteenth century experienced an enormous growth of towns.

Many problems emerged, including the high rates of mortality due to harsh living

conditions and limited medical knowledge, and the effort of the wealthy classes to

escape from this environment. Consequently, the upper classes left the towns for the

country, and the middle classes started to form suburban communities that were strictly

separated from the inhabitants of the slums in the centre. As both Reader and Young

stress, the middle classes desired to attain a higher social status and to become as

prestigious as the upper classes. Therefore, an upper-middle class emerged,

emphasizing wealth, birth and education as their assets, and including such professions

39
as lawyers and doctors. The educational system underwent many changes to suit the

needs of the middle classes, who demanded practical training instead of the classical

curriculum offered at institutions for the upper classes. The economic success and

prosperity of the middle classes were based on the strong religious consciousness and

belief in hard work and respectable family life, examples of the many Victorian values

firmly established in the upper and middle classes during the Victorian era. The only

area that was not fully reformed during the nineteenth century concerned the women’s

rights. Women were seen as inferior to men and they were thus dependent for the whole

of their lives on their families and husbands. Nevertheless, the middle classes

indubitably gained the most advantages of all the levels of society during the period in

question.

Finally, the working and living conditions of the working classes are discussed.

Disraeli provided his view of English society at the beginning of Victoria’s reign, while

Adams described the situation in the last three decades of the century. The working

conditions were reformed only slowly during the century, so Adams thus portrays more

or less the same problems as Disraeli or Reader who concentrated on the whole period

in general. Workers both in towns and the country were liable to almost any treatment,

and the working conditions in most of the industries were not regulated. The reforms

came gradually, beginning with the child labour in the textile industry by the Factory

Act of 1833. However, the process was slow and the working-class family was divided

by the need of every member of the family to work, including women and children. The

living conditions of the working classes were as bad as the working conditions. The

poorest people had to share rooms with other people and various diseases resulting from

overcrowding were common, the normal life span being from seventeen to forty, as

suggested by Young or Adams. The working classes had also worse access to education,

40
since the school fees were abolished as late as in 1891 and most children had to work

even after that, as claimed by Adams.

Benjamin Disraeli provides many powerful and dramatic illustrations in his Sybil, or

The Two Nations, portraying an enormous gap between the Rich and the Poor. They

experienced different upbringing, food and the way they spent their days. The Poor had

to ensure that their family had enough money to pay the rent and buy some food, due to

which the whole family had to work under dreadful conditions in factories and mines

for small wages. The Warner’s family is an example of such a situation. The father is

unemployed and the family is dependent on the work of the daughter. But when she

decides to leave to escape from the harsh conditions, the family is left with no money to

pay for the accommodation or even food for the children. Disraeli also describes the

children and young people who work in the mines. Women and men are hard to

distinguish and the women became coarse and dressed in the same way as men. Walter

Gerard’s accommodation and work at the Trafford’s factory is an example of

philanthropic efforts of the wealthier classes to better the conditions of their employees.

Such people were however scarce and most of the people did not have the luck. The

Rich were brought up in luxury and their interests were mainly socializing, sports and

politics. This is illustrated for example by the ball at the Deloraine House, where people

of the upper classes meet and spend the evening dancing and talking about other people

from their circles and the newest developments in Parliament.

Even though the working week was shortened in the second half of the century,

providing the workers with one and a half of free days, the major social improvements

were enacted at the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite the fact that the era of

Victorian England laid the foundations for these improvements, the same era could be

seen as the period of severe exploitation from the perspective of the working classes.

41
 VII. Works Cited

Adams, Carol. Ordinary Lives: A Hundred Years Ago. London: Virago, 1982

Cheyney, Edward P. A Short History of England. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1918.

Cody, David. “Child Labor”. The Victorian Web. 19 Feb 2001. University Scholars

Program. Accessed 5 Nov 2008. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist8.html>.

Disraeli, Benjamin. Sybil, or The Two Nations. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions

Limited, 1995.

Gunn, Simon. “Class, Identity and the Urban: the Middle Class in England, c. 1790-

1950”. Urban History. Vol. 31, Iss. 1(2004):29-47. Cambridge Journals Online.

Accessed 3 Dec 2008. <http://journals.cambridge.org >.

Klimaszewski, Melisa. “Examining the Wet Nurse: Breasts, Power, and Penetration in

Victorian England.” Women's Studies 35.4 (2006): 323-346. EBSCO. Acessed 3

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