Victorian Age

1. The Industrial Revolution changed Britain from small rural towns into a land of cities and factories. Men women and children worked in factories and in coal mines. The owners were rich the workers were poor.

1.1. In The Victorian Times particular in our local area, energy came from buring coal. Coal was as important to Victorians as oil is to us today. Our local area had a lot of coal, deep in rocks beneath the ground and this would have been where lots of people in our area including children would have worked during the Victorain Era.

1.2. Life in our area would have been children of my age working in the coal mines or factories under very poor and dangerous conditions for very little money. In 1842, Parliament stopped women and children under 10 years old from working underground.

2. Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse during the Victorian Age. She was famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War (1854-56). She changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well respected medical profession.

3. During this period factory made toys went on sale such as tin and clockwork toys. Rich children had more toys to choose from.

4. Named after Queen Victoria who was Britain's Queen from 1837 - 1901

5. Britain ruled the British Empire. Trade with the British Empire (such as India, Canada, Jamaica) helped make Britain rich.

5.1. In Victorian Classrooms children could easily find the countries of the Empire on a map because they were coloured pink or red.

6. Families were usually large, in 1870 many families had five or six children. Children were taught to "know their place" and "be seen and not heard". They often called their fathers 'Sir'.