Victorian Era Childhood

Although the Victorian Era was known for its economic growth, the truth behind the hardships that children faced in order to survive were heartbreaking. With Queen Victoria’s sixty-four-year reign, England’s population doubled, having more money than ever before (Glencoe 907/Glencoe 916). However, with this growth, became the struggle of raising children. The “probability of becoming abandoned became greater because the work doubled for the single parent in trying to sustain the family” (Nierendorf).

Victorians believed in the value of work, being known as “the workshop of the world” (Glencoe 907). A quarter of the world’s population were living in Great Britain at this time (Glencoe 907). Due to the overwhelming amount of people, there tended to be large families involved as well (Glencoe 912). Some would go to say that a couple would have up to twelve children in order to help with the technological and economic growth at the time (Glencoe 912/Victorian Children).

With the children, you were either born in a wealthy or poor home where you could eventually be turned into an orphan. Wealthy children were raised by nannies, who usually were older women who never married. The nannies were told how to educate the children, along with learning new mannerisms. Although the wealthy had it better off than the poor, the affection from their parents was absent. As Winston Churchill once said, he would “count the times he had been hugged by his mother” as a child (Victorian