What was life like in England in the 1800s?
Housing for the poor was quite inadequate–some in distant parts of England were still living in caves. Farm workers when young lived in the farm house, and after marriage in damp insantiary hovels built by their employers as cheaply as possible. Working class housing in the industrial cities was such a public health danger that Disraeli’s Tory government authorized local town councils to build decent rented accommodation for them. Virtually all the middle class had live-in servants and needed houses big enough for this. The wealthy had houses in the country large enough to accommodate all the friends they would invite for weekend parties, and spare houses in central London for the social season (read the novels of Anthony Trollope). Pets were so common that a law was introduced in the 1870s imposing licencing on dog ownership to control rabies. Pet roosters were bred for the very popular support of cockfighting until this was outlawed in 1842, because many workers would take unauthori
Almost every aspect of life was drastically different for the rich and the poor. For instance, rich children generally attended boarding schools, and on vacation did activities like picnics, staging plays, etc. Poor children largely worked in factories or mines, often working 7 days a week. Horseback riding was an important means of travel for the wealthy, but rail developed fairly early in the 1800s, and by 1840 or so, a network of railroads covered most of England, and was far faster and more convenient for longer distances than horses or coaches. One major event that changed almost everyone’s lives was the development of sanitation. Increasing understanding of the links between germs, unsanitary conditions, and epidemic diseases led to creation of extensive plumbing systems, previously available only to the rich, built at public expense, and also rapidly increased life expectancy. Another event that had a major impact, although more in Ireland than England, was the Potato Famine. Th
