Why was Victorian Childhood Brutally Short? (Children of the Slums Documentary)
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- Опубліковано 24 вер 2022
- Victorian childhood was savage and short. But why? Children were soon dragged into the drudgery of hard work on the streets to earn money, or worse still the abyss - crime, and a brutal life. Today, you will hear a documentary account about the bleak future of children in the slums and about how little but a struggle to survive was the hopeless future that awaited them in life.
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My grandmother was used for child labor. She made very little money. Her spine was scarred from picking up heavy loads. I like the true story on this show with historical pictures.
That sounds terrible. In which country did she live?
@@FactFeast my danish grandfather lost his parents when He was 6. he was sent to different farms . Had to work and sleeped in the stables with the horses. No christmas. No birthdays. He eøwas the kindest man I ever known
@@lindalund9621 oh that’s heartbreaking. Poor him. 😔
My grandma also worked young, she was 6 working picking cotton in the USA in Missouri, which she hated
I love how Queen Victoria was ALWAYS scandalised. The woman thought everything was scandalous. Maybe she should have been scandalised over the fact that her country was carried by the severely poor and ill children. Oh, but it wouldn’t worry her because she was “upper class” .I’ve never been so happy that my ancestors were convicts or poor free settlers of Australia. Away from the huge “class” divide.
Well said.
Zebra Warrior Strong -- My family came from Sicily, Germany, Lithuania, and Ireland. They fled to America, changed their names, and became US citizens. They didn't have 2 pennies to rub together, and some of them committed crimes in America, but they had no choice to do so.
However, they busted their backs in order to give their kids a better life. So, what are your thoughts about Queen Elizabeth II passing away??
We are on our way back to those days. Thanks to the likes of MP Jacob rees Mogg. Long hours poverty wages unscrupulous bosses and landlords. My father and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, "in living memory" were brought up in grinding poverty. Yet all served, "in action," in two world wars, for a better world.
I agree. I’m so glad that we threw their tea into the harbor and got rid of the monarchy.
The Royal family gained a lot of their wealth off the backs of poor laborers.
The sun never set on the British Empire and Queen Victoria could care less about the poor in London, much less in places like Ireland.
Charles Dickens and Jack London exposed the truth, but Ireland was ten times worse, especially during the famine years.
Britain had reduced Ireland to a vassal state with few rights, while Britain took a lot of the food and resources out of their country.
Read the newspaper accounts from that time.
Conditions were unbelievable.
@@henryjohnfacey8213 you took the words out my mouth frightening .
As a child born in 1895 during the victorian era I can confirm that this is absolutely correct fact 🏭
Unfortunately still happening today. Parents love their children and I'm sure they did back then. UK system society broken and it is always the poor that get the blame looked down on and treated with utter contempt! Rich get richer while poor children go hungry and it's 2022 UK.
We've got it good compared to back then though. At least we ain't sticking kids up chimneys and under looms
America too! Rich get richer; poor get poorer
And the poor voting it in sadly, especially in this last election 😢
6 year old children aren't working in factories, every child also has the opportunity to go to school. Get a grip.
Yes we are not going forward we are going Backwards and yes this is 2022 and not 1852
As a boy 3 score and 10 ago rickets,polio and scarlet fever where common,I went to isolation with scarlet fever and it was common to have friends with one skinny leg due to polio. Sadly today it's said rickets is on the increase partly because children no longer go out to play and get vitamin D from the sun,there time is inside on the internet. interesting video Sir.
That really was terrible for children. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
No baby jabs and poison chem in uk dw damages the digestive same as baby jabs is the cause of most health disorders uks disgrace health care is a big part of this
And here we are again...
Yes definitely
How life has changed. A very informative video from original sources. The life of children and their impact upon society was very different in Victorian England. In 1800, one in three died before the age of five (329 deaths before the age of five per 1,000 children). By 1900 it was just over one in five (228 per 1,000). By comparison, in 2020, only one child in 4 from 1,000 died before the age of five. Parents and people did not form the loving attachments then that they do now because the chances of child mortality before the age of were, in 1900, 57 times greater than today. Consequently, the lives of children were valued less which allowed for their mistreatment, virtually as slaves within the economy, until the mid 19th. century. What is amazing is that the children, however, continued to dance and enjoy life while they could despite their poverty. That's a lesson for today.
Well said! Thank you for this.
Don't you feel we're going back to those days ,slowly but surely if the economy keeps on the way it is .we have school children who are eating nothing all day ,food banks that are struggling to supply food
I believe they were referred to as littles, and treated as if they were just small adults, and were expected to behave as such. There was no concept of ‘teen agers’ or similar youthful privileges or folly. Perhaps the wealthier classes had different expectations.
Even now in many countries children has terrible conditions
@@lindalund9621 for sure
In Ireland until 1966, there was no free secondary education. Working Class children left school to get jobs. My father's family had 6 children and my mother's had 8 children. All of them left school at 13 to find jobs. The education system in Ireland is set so that the 6th class is when primary school ends. Secondary school is 5 years broken down into 2 cycles of 3 years and 2 years. All of my aunts and uncles and my parents started working full-time at age 13. This was during the 1940's until the 1960's. All the wages were handed over and an allowance was given. Legally as minors aged under 21, the wages earned belonged to the father. Imagine working 40+ hours a week for pocket money. Working class experiences are the same everywhere.
People had different attitudes then the actor Claude Raines was an East End cockney and nine of his twelve siblings died of starvation probably before the age of 5. He got into the theatre and somehow made his way up until 1914 he was making a comfortable living as an actor in New York. Nevertheless he returned to London and joined the army eventually being commissioned and losing the sight of an eye in a gas attack. Considering his background most people today will find his patriotism almost incredible.
I was raised in the 60s & 70s. Got a summer job at 14. left home at 15 and got pregnant married by 16. I was forever employed at that point.
Married at 16??
So was my mother, still is to my dad!
Me too, married at 16 child at 17, but didn't have second child until the 1st was 10. The nurse at the hospital when I had my first said see you next year! As I left.
You weren't gainfully employed ie earned no money.
Another fantastic slice of historic misery that really puts modern claims of poverty into perspective and as an added bonus, more excerpts from Jack London's great book "The People Of The Abyss". Thank you.
You're welcome! I really appreciate your comment.
Yeah right meanwhile 2022 children goes to school hungry and child diseases on the increase in the UK.
Fascinating content as always, thanks. Jack London’s book “ People of the Abyss” is well worth reading and the kindle version is very affordable.
Cheers! Glad you enjoyed.
London's book "People of the Abyss" It's incredibile... 😢
Much better to read Jacob Riiss book How the Other Half Luves
After watching this video, one might wonder why so many of these very poor families in Victorian England had so many kids, in spite of not being able to properly care for them. But these people actually had their reasons for having a lot of kids, strange as it may seem. Back then, children were not viewed as luxuries, except perhaps by very wealthy families, but in a way, necessities. The more kids you had if you were poor, the more potential wage-earners you had. Also, the childhood mortality rate was EXTREMELY high. Many kids died of illness that are preventable and easily curable today, and injuries from tragic accidents were also common. Many parents, even wealthy ones, didn't dare to hope that they would be able to raise every single child born to them, to adulthood. So therefore, the more kids you had, the better the chances that at least SOME of them would make it to adulthood. However, it is still tragic that, in spite of the economic boom that brought peace and prosperity to Great Britain, so many kids still had to grow up without basic necessities like enough food to eat and adequate clothing, and sometimes they didn't even have a decent roof over their heads if they were orphaned (or kicked out by their parents), and they had to fend for themselves on the street!
There was no contraception back then and woman didn't get to say no to their partners advances. Also abortion was illegal and usually killed women.
@@cursiverain6261 Contraception was there but I don't know how many were able to use it.And women were conditioned to please their husbands whenever.I don't think childhood as we know it 'Jim'really began b4 the C20.Poor children had to work from an early age Rich ones had to conform to social niceties & marry well & at a young age in many circumstances.
This occurred un the United States as well.
There was no contraception, no sexual education, high risk of assault...
Poor folk don't want to be poor & live in bad neighborhoods not then ... not now; being poor does not mean they have no character & turn out bad. Many bad rich folk out there too ... in the news every day. This is true about the more children one has the harder housing is to find ... then & now. Those children in your illustrations/photographs are so cute in their period clothing; the caps on the boys & the pinafore/s dresses on the girls. TY FF
There is so much character and life in some of the photos and illustrations. Even in the slums, there was entertainment and time for the children to dance. It's a shame that this time was fleeting.
This is my ancestry!
I had a grand aunt, aunt Daisy who was 100 when she died & was a lovely old girl who ended up in service. She died over 35 years ago & remembered *"Jack the Ripper"* in the Eastend. I think she was born slightly after the killings but she says the mums used to terrify the kids into behaving themselves by invoking his name!
My grandad owned *The Star of the East* pub on the Commercial Rd. in Poplar. He was a boy with the girls & my grandma used to post a big dog outside the barmaids (who lived on the premises) quarters to stop my grandad getting in there! 😄
My grandad was an amazing fella, very kind & gentle but I think he must have had a major edge to him as running a pub in the Eastend wasn't a job for snowflakes!
I watch one of your videos when I want to remember where am I and what I have.
I'm glad the videos help with this niche.
My great grandmother worked in a brick yard at the age of 8.
what on earth could an 8 year old do? poor child.
My heart breaks for these kids
Excellent content, as always!
Much appreciated! Thanks for being a regular viewer.
God Victorian childhood must've sucked! Diseases and work accidents totally sucked. Thanks for the video! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Hard times for most children. Poor diet, risk of disease and out to work at an early age.
@@FactFeast Jeez, am I glad people like Charles Dickens blew the whistle against child labor in those days. It wasn't an immediate solution, but at least harsh child labor was becoming a thing of the past towards the end of the 19th century, almost to the 20th.
I love your videos…the commentary always sounds like an early version of a Grauniad columnist sending in his copy before flying down to his Tuscan villa for the weekend.
An interesting analogy!
@@FactFeast I didn’t mean you! I mean when you quote contemporary commentators who seem to use such excessively flowery language in their horror and outrage that I have to suspect it to be the earliest recorded form of virtue signalling.
I love your channel I learn a lot you tell the stories well😊. I can actually understand you keep up the good work 😜
Thank you! It's nice of you to write😃
Well, for one thing you weren’t considered a ‘child’ well into your 20’s. I picked berries when I was 12. You want to know what kind of horrors this abuse produced? Someone who realized she didn’t need permission to buy stuff. OMG! 5 year olds at my house weeded flower beds as well. Funny…..we didn’t need surgery and therapy throughout our childhoods
I find these so beautiful and dark.
Thanks F.F.👍❤️
Always a pleasure! Thank you for watching.
Well done. Very well done.
Many thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed watching.
This doesn't even begin to describe how repulsive Victorians were to children
Thank You. Always. ❤❤
I’m glad you find value in watching. It’s much appreciated 🙂
If you were born poor you had no hope of an education. Which meant no hope of a well paying job. So you stayed poor, How depressing.
These are very good episodes! 👏💕
So glad you find them of value. Thank you!
Thanks for the vid!
Thank you too!!
You're acting is so wonderful! Once again, many of these children were sent to work as child labour on Canadian farms. Unfortunately, Canadian sociefy then had disdain for these children and treater them terribly. My Great Grandfather was one of them.
A harsh childhood. Thank you for your comment.
Tho I've missed alot on this channel its still one of my favorites thank u fact feast for yet another great video
You're always welcome here! Thanks for coming back.
To the comments wondering why the poor just kept having children. The was no contraception back then, abortion was illegal and killed many women. Also women didn't get a to choose if they where intimate with their partner.
Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed the documentary.
Been behind, playing catch-up!
Welcome back!
Just love your storys
Thank you so much!
It's sad how the children had to live with ignorant parents that kept having children and couldn't take care of the ones they already had, I am glad times changed
There’s so much wrong with this statement that I barely know where to start.
You all love to condemn the poor, can’t help yourselves
Um, what?
Beyond abstinence and the unreliable pull-out method there was no real contraception. You're assuming they had they same degree of understanding as we do now.
How's it ignorance when most people didn't have an education. There was no contraception. Abortion was illegal as well as deadly and women didn't get to say no to their partner? Who's the ignorant one? 🤔
Thank you
You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to watch the documentary.
What an interesting account.many thanks
You're welcome! Great to know you found value watching.
@9:50, re the "one day in the country", there was an attitude that if treats like this were given, or (eg) special meals like Christmas were supplied, it would make the poor realise what they'd been missing, and what their life could be. They this became dissatisfied and more unhappy, likely to turn to dishonesty rather than being content to be essentially slave labour.
I don't know how prevalent or sincere the attitude was but definitely some wealthy people believed showing the poor any kindness or glimpses of what life could be if only workers were paid even close to a liveable wage was actually a cruel unkindness.
It also un-Christian because everybody was supposed to be grateful for the situation into which G-d had placed them. To want better, or even worse, to demand or expect better meant you were denying G-d's wisdom.
ETA it was also believed such charity would also lead to people becoming Unionised and actually *demanding* worker's rights. And that would never do!
Reading about the History of Labor in the U$A, things were similar in the coal mines and New England spinning mills, and canneries, before they passed the child labor act. Although it seems more brutal in London. Too bad they had so many babies but perhaps birth control was not available then.
Its always available! If you know you cannot feed another, stop having sex!
It never occurred to the men to try to avoid impregnating women. They had condoms back then. They understood the pull out method and they knew where babies came from but didn't feel obligated to prevent unwanted pregnancies. They continued to pressure their wives and girlfriends and then happily sat back as women and girls bore the brunt of the burden and were shamed for it too. Not much has changed, actually.
Also, in the United States, children were slaves and after slavery, worked as sharecroppers in the American south. Sad.
@@elizabethponce316 The poor people in Victorian times could not afford condoms, also they were also made of sheep gut and had to be soaked for hours before using them! I doubt if many men would have used the withdrawal method, they wanted their pleasure. I doubt if many of the men actually knew how to prevent pregnancy, most of the poor population had no education, they could not read or write very well.
This was a very interesting and informative video! I can’t help but wonder if people understood back then that having more and more children all of the time was significantly contributing to their constant struggle to live in an environment conducive to raising a healthy and well provisioned family? Surely, they knew it was not ideal to do so and surely some method of contraception was somewhat effective. It’s very sad to hear about their struggles; particularly for the children. It was totally not their fault that they had parents who were too dull and ignorant to stop reproducing in order to decrease their financial obligations. I hope all of these children found a course of action to come out of poverty and live a happy, healthy life. I know that they’re not alive any longer, so may they all rest in perfect peace. 🙏✝️🕊🌹
I would think there were several factors influencing large families, the main one being lack of contraception. Also, a desire to increase the household budget. Jack London mentioned that the first child of a family is poorly fed, but as that child grows to working age, earns money and begins contributing to the household budget, then subsequent children receive more food than the eldest did at the same stage of life. I assume this influenced the budget for rent, heating and sundries in the same way. This is what he experienced, though perhaps his observations were not universal.
Being pregnant wasn’t really a choice back in the day, if you’re young and fertile it’s happening. Sex was probably one of the best past times
Attitude not changed much has it! 2022 English attitude towards people who have children to get social housing and benefits are not worthy of existence. Victorian attitude's towards the poor is still very much alive in the UK.
Also, people who were forced to work
for low wages in harmful conditions.
often had children who easily starved.
or sickened and were soon diseased or
deceased---- infant + child life spans for
(barely) working people was much higher
than for business + landowning classes
parents. The poor needed spare children.
@Crystal Long “I can’t help but wonder if people understood back then that having more and more children all of the time was significantly contributing to their constant struggle to live in an environment conducive to raising a healthy and well provisioned family?” (“more and more children all of the time”) - these words display a breathtaking lack of understanding, empathy - or grammar, in fact!
Allow me to play Devil’s Advocate.
Contraception? What was that for the poor but celibacy or the very fallible “withdrawal method” …. There was no form of contraception widely available.
There was no advice or help for a woman whose torment it became to endure pregnancy after pregnancy until her wretched, worn body laid on a mortuary slab. Leaving her children Motherless, often Fatherless also.
There were no dreams of a better life for the poor. Those who would dare to dream had long since lost their ability to do so, being born and growing up in horrendous squalor and deprivation.
Middle, Upper, Aristocratic Families fared so much better, with a dozen children or more riding the gravy train driven by their increasingly prosperous parents.
Better by far, that the more affluent members of society showed a sense of moral decorum and abstention, thus halving the size of their family. And, as philanthropists donating time and money for the purpose of bettering the lives of downtrodden working class people. Those very same people upon whose backs the British Empire was founded!
Nothing has changed much
No nothing as changed
While the middle and upper classes lived affluent lives the poor working classes lived lives of pure drudgery , poverty and hardship . A Great Britain for the rich , not so great for the poor .
Same now days
Poverty, neglect, poor nutrition, poor sanitation, low vitamin D, no immunization, poor heating, no antibiotics.
How are you doing sir thank you for your wonderful cultural documentary channel as always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s victorian era life of children at slums due to poor living conditions infants morality was very high in slums about 1 in 4 children died before they became one year old . Diss houses , poverty tourism ( slumming ) . Victorian children at slums would be to made to go to work at very young age as unbelievable sometimes even aged 4 or 5 years old they worked very hard for long hours every day.in 1800s many people lived in slums housing were often old run down buildings were in bad conditions rooms were small and was no insulation often cold in winter and hot in summer. Often whole family live in one room or two rooms, of these houses also no indoor pluming had to use outdoor toilet bathes many people would kind wash with water from dirty sewage rats rubbish slums housing was dangerous unhealthy many people died from diseases like tuberculosis and cholera . Young boys work as chimney sweeps or clean streets of horse manure girls turn to prostitution as young age at 12 . Rate of crimes, violence were very high in slums. Many young people turned to crime to avoid workhouses . Between 1830 and 1860 half of defendants tried at famous old Bailey were aged 20 or under .
Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you got something useful from watching the documentary.
We think life is tough for us today? They were so overcrowded back then. We would be killing each other if we had to live like they did back then
The old women of old time past must have had the most terrible growing up life pity on ther souls ..
Omgsh!!😢 Well if I think about it, the movie “ It’s a Wonderful Life “ has George ( James Stewards character) working as a child/ prepubescent.😢
This is where we are heading to. In the words of french president Macron: "The days of abundance will end"
every child in England should demand reparations
As a brazilian, english is my second language, i would suggest toning down the elaborate sentences maybe? I would make it easier to follow along.. i reccon is for giving a more accurate sense of the time.. still thank for for the great video!
Thanks for your comment! Good to know you enjoyed.
Even though these series is set in the 1800s, still today, should a parent or both are alcoholics or drug addicts or mental illness without treatment, this happens today as the child suffers. Hopefully though the authorities do intervene but sometimes these children slip through the system.
All this while the monarchy are living the life of Reilly the people in Britain are sheep
Yes definitely
The poor urchins didn't look anything like those fresh clean girls in their bright white sundresses at 10:00. Not hardly. They had one set of dirty ragged clothes. Those dancing girls aren't representative of anything in this video.
We'll soon be there again at the rate we're going !
Broad Marsh Nottingham all over again .
Poor things...the question is, how did britain go from destitutes to spoilt brats in only 100 years ?
After listening to several videos I draw many similarities to today ????? Idk smh
Young Hitler spotted. 10:38
Why do you think big business is behind the anti-abortion groups. With women out of the workforce and siin to lose the right to vote as well, and too many children.....the big businesses get....cheap labor.
Don’t be silly.
Please get a life!
Could you imagine kids doing that now
No, not at all.
Is there an app?
These days, when people and politicians complain of poverty, take a good look and remember this was Britain..
SAD.HORRIBLE EXISTENCE 😢 5:01
How cheap life is.
England has done to her children as England has done to the world God save the Queen from hell
The short answer? Capıtalısm.
Not really, but in a way yes.
Short answer, no contraception
I think that we all should be extremely lucky that we don't grow up during the Victorian Era; or, else, we would've hated every single second of it.
We owe a debt of gratitude to those children. Because of them, there are strict child labor laws in most countries. No child should EVER be forced into working dangerous positions.
Countries, that have a high poor and low income, SHOULD implement laws in regards to how many children they should have, because I had seen a documentary, and what angered me is that there was a mother from India, and she complained about not having enough money to support her 9 kids. One of her children needed to get nutrition, and that child looked like she was pounding at death's door because she was so extremely thin, but the mother and father were healthy looking. It SHOULD be the other way around. A mother SHOULD go without, and allow her kids to eat.
What about the father? Should he not be the one to sacrifice more of his nutrition as he is not carrying children in his body or giving them milk from his body and he is the one irresponsibly ejaculating into her to create these children?
la misere mine misery
And where were the people of means? Why didn't they "adopt" just one family each and try to help?
That would take away their money and resources! These people were the workforce making them wealthy!
There were many philanthropists, who built houses, churches, schools etc for their workers, not all were greedy .
@@carolewynn9407 Rowntree housing estates comes to mind. Also the CO-OP built house for the working classes(although this may have been in the early 20th Century.)
Last part of my research sadly child abuse exploitation was very common in slums . Diss houses were cheap run down hotels were often in bad conditions by end of 1900s around 1000 doss houses in London used word hotel loosely as often beds were in old warehouses or factories some of beds in doss houses became known as four penny coffins wooden box costs four pence per night to sleep in , Doss houses open around 8 pm kick residents out at 10 am next day cost few pennies per night filled with vagrants beggars.many of London homeless many Victorians living in slums were drunks lazy poor life choices, hard working trying their best to provide for their families get better life but they are unlucky. In 1870s 1880s same poverty tourism ( slumming) some wealthy Victorians under cover began to visit slums after dark even pay to stay in doss houses for fun many gentlemen would tell tales to their wealthy friends about unsavory people they met their brushes with violences or death slumming became popular tourism business type of poverty tourism may have strated in bad taste leads to more middle class and rich Victorians encountering harsh realities of living in slums growth in campaigning for better living conditions for poorer people in society thank you for giving us chance to read learn new information we appreciate your efforts as foreigners subscribers as overseas students want to increase our cultural level improve our English language as well happy Halloween stay safe blessed good luck to you your family friends.
When britain was too poor to attract immigrants
Ah, the deserving and undeserving poor... 😐
Exactly how, why, what, when, where & each VEGAN saved the day a long time ago. Call it what you want but it is all about food & drink solely in the first place. Gardening a farm being what it is..
This is proof of deviancy widespread. Proof of corruption/violence/perversion.
Thanks to vaccine...
This narration is ridiculous.
I’m almost sorry but white child slaves gives me a certain comfort in my heart💖✨
They existed everywhere if that's gonna make you feel better. They exist now too so you can be happy🙏🙏
Why?
Aye why?
What an abhorrent remark.
What a disgusting racial comment!