Living in the Industrial Era

Charles Dickens

• Stories described the living and working conditions during this time.

• Had to quit school at 12 and go to work in a factory.• Father, mother, and younger brothers and sisters were

sent to debtors’ prison until family could pay their bills.• Charles was so shocked by the rough, hard life of

London’s streets he spent the rest of his life writing about it.

• Novels by Dickens - Hard Times, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Hard TimesThe story of rich and poor people living in “Coketown,” a

sooty, cramped industrial English city where the poor workers and their children were mistreated and abused. It was based on an actual English city in 1850.

Charles DickensOliver Twist

This story is about young Oliver who is forced to live in London’s streets among criminals and gangs. Also based on real life.

Charles Dickens

A Christmas CarolA story about how important it is to share with those less

fortunate. Dickens hoped his readers would learn this lesson – and not just at Christmas.

Charles Dickens

• Thanks in part to his writings, social reformers began working to improve living and working conditions for the poor.

Benjamin Disraeli

• Social reformer• Twice elected prime minister of Great Britain• Helped pass laws that benefited the working class• Was concerned about the gap between the rich and the

poor. He wondered how they would get along in such a divided nation.

“Private” Choices

• Historians learn about an era by studying how people furnished their homes, what they ate, where and how they traveled, when and where they organized social events, and what games they played.

• These activities reflect personal choices about how they

spent their time and money.

Upper Class

• Servants to cook and clean and take care of their household’s needs.

• Hired someone to manage their finances.• Lots of free time – spent hunting on horseback, breeding

racehorses, visiting neighbors, going to dances or traveling.

Capitalist

• Worked hard to manage affairs and would try to invest profits to make more money.

• Lived comfortably/may be involved in politics• May not be happy but could afford a few luxury items

Middle Class

• Shopkeepers, lawyer, doctors, craftsman• Worked hard, kept regular hours, may have servants,

could be your own boss, did not work under the same pressure of the factory workers

• Free time spent pursuing a hobby or reading• Could afford candles and coal• Traveled by train, took walks by the sea, meet regularly

with friends at the tavern.

Working Poor

• 80% of the population• Did not have time for amusement/worried about putting

food on the table and roof over their head• Children did not go to school they went to work and

helped support the family• Religion provided comfort, consolation, and sense of

community/church often helped during troubled times (death in the family or illness)

• Hobbies – making toys or crochet• Tavern – gambling, singing, dancing, socializing

Working Poor

Working Poor

• Fortune teller• Carnivals, circus acts, and traveling exhibitions• Zoos and public parks• Riversides or public park• Boxing, wrestling• Soccer and rugby• In America two new sports were popular baseball and

basketball

Crime and Punishment

• Stealing became an option for those who could not provide for their families

• Begging, drunkenness and drug addiction were common• Modern police date from this period• Take the biggest gamble and leave the town possible the

continent• Many of our ancestors may have came to America

during this time