Victoria 2

Early Victorian period

In late years

How were Victorian Teachers?

The homes of the rich

• A wealthy family living in Durham City would probably have lived in a large house
• all their food would have been prepared by servants.
• The family would have used the rooms on the upper floors.
• Young children would have spent their days in a nursery where they were looked after by a nanny.
• As the children grew older they were tutored by governesses or tutors in their own home or sent to school.

The homes of the poor

• A poor Victorian family would have lived in a very small house with only a couple of rooms on each floor.

• The houses would share toilets and water, which they could get from a pump or a well.

• Open sewers ran along the streets in poor areas making them very smelly and unhealthy.

• Cooking was done on a fireplace in the kitchen - this would also have provided the main source of heating for the house so the family would have spent a lot of time in this room.

The role of servants

Over 1 million people were working as servants by the end of the 19th century (both adults and children).

The working day started at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning.

Women tasks: cooking, cleaning and attending to the needs of the family

Men tasks: running the stables, working in the gardens or working as a footman and butler

What did rich eat?

For rich were prepared and cooked by the servants in the kitchen.

A range and was served to the family in the dining room.

Breakfast tended to be a large meal and would have included ham, eggs, bacon, bread and fish, followed by a light lunch and afternoon tea

The Victorians were known for their desire to try new, exotic foods.

Ingredients and local dishes were imported from countries such as India and China.

Health and medicine for the rich

• Richer families lived in much cleaner and less crowded areas of the towns and cities.
• This not prevent families from falling ill.
• Wealthy families had a better standard of living
• Did not have to work in dangerous industries.

"Cleanliness if next to Godliness" Victorian saying

Health and medicine for the poor

The urban population grew very rapidly

Houses were built too quickly, too close together and without proper sewers or water supplies

Seeing a doctor or going to hospital was not free.

The poor went to the local chemist where they could buy medicine.

One popular treatment for both rich and poor people was the use of leeches.

Cholera and typhoid killed thousands of people

hospitals were very badly run and dirty

Because of anesthetic operations were less painful

What did rich Victorians wear?

• Rich women wore corsets under their dresses.
• It was fashionable to wear a crinoline under a skirt
• A bustle- an outfit consisted of many layers
• During the day women wore simpler dresses but might change into a smarter dress if they went out to call on friends.
• In the evening a lady would change for dinner, usually into a silk or satin gown.

The main outfit was the suit

Waistcoats were also worn, sometimes these were brightly patterned. Hats were worn outdoors. Wealthy men had different outfits for different activities, for example, hunting or going to the theatre

In the evening men changed into a dinner suit with a long frock coat and bow tie.

Children tended to wear miniature versions of adult clothes.

What did the poor Victorians wear?

• Poor families owned a very few everyday outfits
• Clothes had to be practical.
• Women wore caps and bonnets not just to be respectable but to keep hair from getting caught in machines and to fend off dirt and headlice.
• They were often made from wool or cotton in dark colours as this was cheaper and the dirt didn't show as much.
• Children wore clothes handed down from older family members.

Closer look to Victorian “trends” in fashion

Early Victorian Fashion

• 1836Large sleeves suddenly slimmed and a seam line dropped the shoulder of dresses. A tight fitting bodice was boned and slanted to emphasize the waist. Cartridge pleats at the waist created volume in the skirt without adding bulk to the waist.
• In the 1840s, extra flounces were added to skirts and women wore a short over-skirt in day dressing. Skirts widened as the hourglass silhouette became the popular look, and women took to wearing layers of petticoats. Bodices took on a V shape and the shoulder dropped more.

Make up and Hair

• Women's hair was generally worn long, caught up in a chignon or bun. In the 1840s, ringlets of curls hung on either side of the head. In the 1870s, women drew up the side hair but let it hang in long, loose curls in back.
• Crimping became popular in the early 1870s.
• Women wore false hair pieces and extensions as well as artificial flowers, false leaves, and beaded butterflies often combined into intricate and beautiful headpieces.
• Make up was mostly worn by theater people.

The Victorian Corset

• A corset is an undergarment set with strips of whalebone, later replaced by steel.
• Though criticized as unhealthy, and certainly uncomfortable, corsets were a fashion staple throughout the 19th century granting women social status, respectability, and the idealized figure of youth.

Mid-Victorian Crinolines and Hoop Skirts

In the 1850s, the dome shaped skirt switched to tapered skirts that flared at the waist.

The crinoline was introduced to add volume to skirts

Crinoline was a heavy, stiff fabric made of woven horsehair that was expensive, and impossible to clean.

Late Victorian - The Bustle

• A bustle is a pad that emphasized the posterior. Used in the late 1700s
• The ideal female form featured narrow, slope shoulders, wide hips, and a tiny waist.
• the bustle was a rectangular or crescent shaped pad made of horse hair or down filled woven wire mesh.
• By 1867, Worth's over-skirt caught on and combined with a bustle created an entirely new look.
• 1875 saw skirts slimmed down with the skirt low and close to the body, often, but not always, with a bustle.
• The bustle came back in a big way in the 1880s but the ludicrous style fell out of favor and by 1887, was greatly reduced in size. The 1890s saw some fullness at the rear, but the bustle was on its way out.

Victorian Gothic

The Victorians embraced the Gothic style in a way that had not been the case since the Middle Ages. Gothic first of all became the style for church building

The Victorian architects liked to make their churches into 'ideal' Gothic buildings, vaulted in stone or brick, and adorned with sculptures, murals, and beautiful tiling

A number of Victorian architects liked to break the unwritten rules of medieval Gothic architecture, often making their buildings more elaborate, more individualistic than their medieval models.

Yet another approach was to take Gothic motifs such as plate tracery, lancet windows, and openings flanked with slender shafts, and add a virtuous blend of brick and stone to produce a uniquely Victorian kind of Gothic.

Victorian classical

Many Victorian country houses are classical in style – Witley Court is a memorable example. Classical was a style that could also work for offices and buildings such as libraries.

Architecture for industry and commerce

• The Victorians built more factories, warehouses, offices, and shops than anyone had done before.
• There are factories that adopt a version of the classical style, with pilasters and pediments and columns – though these are as often built in brick as the stone of more traditional classicism.
• There are other factories that adopt a Gothic style with pointed arches and windows, sometimes using stone and even when using brick sometimes extraordinarily ornate. Brick-walled buildings often had an iron framework, the bricks being used as cladding and not bearing the weight of the structure. Sometimes, the outer skin of the building was mainly glass, creating buildings that anticipated the architecture of the 20th century.

From hospitals to schools

improve the life of the people by providing public services. The Victorians built countless hospitals, put up facilities such as concert halls and memorial halls.

Colours used

The colors used would be different for each site of the house. In the case of city and towns, a light color scheme was evaded because of the pollution.

Also, colors used were dependent upon their accessibility

Wallpaper designs

The wallpapers had floral patterns with the red, blue and green background having overprinted shades of tan and cream was seen. But in the 19th century, rich earth tenor having leaf and flowers on them were generally seen in all the houses.

Printed paper was used on the ceilings and fabric on the chairs was such that it matched the color on the walls.