Victorian London

The poverty depicted by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol and many of his other novels is by no means an exaggeration of what life was like for many people living in towns and cities around Britain at the time. For many people, Victorian London was not a good place to live or work. During the 1800s there was a massive growth in the number of people being born in Britain, which, along with the fact that many people had left the country for the towns to try and find work, led to enormous overcrowding in urban areas. By 1851 half of the population of England was living in London.

The number of people living on the street increased dramatically as many could not afford housing, and those that could often found themselves living in crowded, unsanitary conditions. Houses were often shared by several families and most houses shared toilets and water pumps with many others on the same street.

Living conditions were dirty, smelly and most of all dangerous – disease was rife in overcrowded areas – and working conditions for those that could find work were often just as bad. In order to afford the bare essentials such as food and shelter, many poorer families were forced to send their children out to work. Children from the age of four worked as chimney sweeps (small children were in high demand for this job as they could fit up people’s chimneys more easily) and in mines. Most Victorian children had no access to any schooling.

With such poor conditions and lack of education, people began to recognise the need for change, and by the end of Queen Victoria’s reign improvements in legislation had been made. The 1842 Mines Act banned children under ten from working in mines, and the Elementary Education Act of 1872 raised standards in education.