Peter Hepplewhite - Thomas Crapper, Corsets, and Cruel Britannia: A Grim History of the Vexing Victorians!

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hepplewhite, Peter.

Thomas Crapper, corsets, and the cruel Britannia: a grim history of the vexing Victorians! / by Peter Hepplewhite.

p. cm. (Awfully ancient)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4824-3133-9 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-4824-3136-0 (6 pack)

ISBN 978-1-4824-3134-6 (library binding)

1. Great Britain History Victoria, 1837-1901 Juvenile literature. 2. Great Britain Social life and customs 19th century Juvenile literature. I. Hepplewhite, Peter.

II. Title.

DA550.H47 2016

941.081d23

Published in 2016 by

Gareth Stevens Publishing

111 East 14th Street, Suite 349 New York, NY 10003

Copyright Wayland /Gareth Stevens 2016

Senior editor: Julia Adams

Illustrator: Tom Morgan-Jones

Designer: Rocket Design (East Anglia) Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except by reviewer.

Manufactured in the United States of America

CPSIA compliance information: Batch #CS15GS.

For further information contact Gareth Stevens, New York, New York at 1-800-542-2595.

Ever suffered from smelly curtains? Turn to to find out more...

The Victorian era was the age of steam, but it was also the age of coal, mega-loads of it, and theres no fire without smoke (or something like that). Turn to for the smoky facts!

Fancy a pie? - Yes please! How about one made with sparrows?

Contents

Fried mouse medicine - page

Vexing Victorians

Chilling Childhood

Cruel Schools

Wearying Work

Killer Coal

Horrific Houses

Rotten Railways

Horrible Hospitals and Dirty Doctors

Thomas Crapper and Troubled Toilets

Foul Food

Killer Corsets and Mad Makeup

Cruel Britannia: Wicked Wars

Fine Funerals

Glossary

More Information

Index

VEXING VICTORIANS

Jubilee Joy

In 1897, the Victorians went wild for Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Queen Vic had reigned for 60 incredible years and people were already calling the 19th century the Victorian era!

Britain was nicknamed the workshop of the world, with trade worth 1.5 billion ($2.27 billion) in 1901, and a global empire of 410 million people. BUT this came at a cost...

American author Mark Twain visited London for the Jubilee celebrations and wrote:

The world has moved farther ahead since the Queen was born than it moved in the last 2000 years put together.

Cor blimey, gov!

Its the rich what get the gravy And the poor what get the blame Its the same the whole world over, Aint that a blooming shame!

Victorian Music Hall Song, about 1890

He was right. The Victorians were the first to face many of the problems of the modern world, and sometimes this made life really, really, really tough for ordinary folks.

Troubling times

Victorian Britain was deeply unfair: most of the nations wealth was owned by just 5 percent of the people, while 40 percent were bitterly poor.

The population in Britain exploded from 10.5 million in 1801 to 38 million in 1901. London became the first megacity with 7 million people by 1901.

In 1851, for the first time anywhere in the world, more people lived in towns than in the countryside. But the booming cities were full of smoke-choked slums, with no sewers and piles of poop everywhere! One in five babies died before they were a year old and killer diseases ran riot. Doctors didnt help almost half the patients who had an operation died from infections.

Victorian cities were choking with stinky smoke from factories and houses.

VERY VEXING VICTORIANS

Workhouse scandal

Many poor people were sent to workhouses. In Andover, they were so badly fed they started eating bones that had been brought in to make fertilizer.

Mr. Wakely: What work were you employed at in the workhouse?

Charles Lewis: I was employed in breaking bones.

Mr. Wakely: Did you ever see men gnaw anything from these bones?

Charles Lewis: I have seen them eat the marrow out of these bones.

Report to Parliament, 1846

Chilling
Childhood

Cor blimey, gov!

A folk cure for whooping cough: feed your baby fried mouse. No, this isnt ancient Egypt this is Britain 150 years ago!

Being born a Victorian was a killer. One out of every 10 new moms died giving birth or from infections within a few weeks of having a baby. And where did the infections come from? The dirty hands of the doctor or midwife who helped deliver the baby.

The first doctor who worked this out was Ignaz Semmelweis in Vienna. In 1847, he ordered his students to wash their hands in calcium chloride before examining new mothers and their babies. The death rate fell from 30 moms in 100 to three in 100! And what was his reward? Ignaz was fired for having stupid ideas!

VERY VEXING VICTORIANS

Baby beware: your milk will make you sick!

Victorian baby bottles had cute names like My Little Pet, but the designs were a disaster. Rubber tubes and teats were attached to curved glass bottles. None of these parts could be cleaned properly, so the health-endangering bacteria blossomed.

Baby, be careful

Babies didnt have a great time either. One in every five died before they were a year old from an onslaught of evils. Many caught childhood diseases such as measles or scarlet fever, while others died from eating poor quality food or drinking infected water. Tummy bugs that caused diarrhea, and lung infections such as bronchitis, were the biggest causes of death.

Intoxicated infants

Most Victorians knew little about bringing up babies and ill-treated them through ignorance.

Busy mothers doped infants with opium-based drugs to make them sleepy. These tinctures were sold over the counter and had comforting names such as Streets Infant Quietness; but if the dose was wrong, little Albert or Alice never woke up.

Other babies were drugged so often they couldnt eat properly and wasted away from malnutrition. And how about this rotten recipe for weaning babies: soggy bread, water, sugar, molasses, and milk? Very nourishing!