There  are  a  number  of  trades  in  Birmingham  for  which  the  home-  labour  of  women  and  children  is  employed.  Twopence  an  hour  may  be  earned  by  a  woman  assisted  by  one  or  two  children  in  sewing  the  chains  on  the  leather  for  soldiers’  chin-straps. At  wrapping  up  hairpins  in  paper,  ten  to  the  paper,  with  […]

Among  these  was  John  Barton.  His  parents  had  suffered,  his  mother  had  died  from  absolute  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  He  himself  was  a  good,  steady  workman,  and,  as  such,  pretty  certain  of  steady  employment.  But  he  spent  all  he  got  with  the  confidence  (you  may  also  call  it  improvi­dence)  of  one  who  was  […]

The  term  “compromise”  is  an  early  arrival  in  any  study  of  Victorian  England.  The  society  of  these  years  (the  1850s)  represents  a  series  of  com­promises.  There  were  of  course  many  protests  against  this  society,  but  dur­ing  this  decade  no  really  important  changes  were  made:  these  came  later.  The  principle  of  “Live  and  let  live”  was  […]

Because  of  the  famous  scenes  in  ‘Oliver  Twist’,  there  is  a  popular  tendency  to  see  Dickens  as  a  critic  of  the  ‘bastilles’  of  the  New  Poor  Law  of  1834,  There  are  several  descrip­tions  of  the  workhouses  in  Dickens’s  writings,  and  in  these  the  element  of  satire  gives  way  to  a  deeper  social  criticism.  Here  there  […]

In  town  or  country  mansions,  newly  built  or  old,  there  was  usually  a  central  block  with  wings  at  each  side.  One  wing  with  kitchen,  pantries,  laundry,  storerooms,  servants’  hall,  housekeeper’s  room  and  servants’  bed­rooms,  the  other  for  the  children  and  their  retainers,  with  necessary  night  and  day  nurseries,  schoolrooms,  governess’s  room,  rooms  for  the  upper  […]

The  stronghold  of  Chartism,  as  of  Trade  Unionism,  lay  in  the  indus­trial  North,  but  its  origin  was  among  the  Radical  artisans  of London.  The  soil  of London,  with  the  proximity  of  Parliament,  the  relative  prosperity  of  its  artisans,  many  of  whom  were  employed  in  the  luxury  trades,  and  their  habits  of  political  discussion  rather  than  political  action,  […]

Charles  Dickens’s  household  was  not  alone  in  its  love  of  amateur  the­atricals  which,  along  with  shadow  and  puppet  plays,  were  popular  with  most  families  in  the  middle-class  homes;  while,  outside,  the  streets  teemed  with  every  kind  of  entertainment  from  muffin  men  to  chimney-sweepers,  lamplighters  to  shoeblacks,  gipsies  selling  brushes,  and  the  hurdy-gurdy  man  with  his  […]

Very few people in Europe realised that a new epoch was beginning when the French Estates-General met at Ver­sailleson May 5th, 1789. Before long the Third Estate found itself in violent con­flict with the Crown and the aristocracy and was forced along the path of revolutionary struggle. In this it received strong support from the […]

Hunger and hatred — these were the forces that made Chartism a mass movement of the British working class. The new machines flung men out of work by thousands, and sent them to struggle wildly for jobs, at any wage the employ­er would offer and under any conditions of over-work. Hours of labour in the […]

Not so many years ago every schoolboy used to be taught Kipling’s poem of “Big Steamers”. To the question “Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers?” the answer came: ‘“We are going to fetch you your bread and your butter, Your beef, pork and mutton, eggs, apples and cheese … We fetch […]