What did people do for leisure in Victorian times?
Victorian life could be busy but Victorians liked to make good use of their leisure time by playing games and sports and going on day trips and holidays. The ways in which people could entertain themselves varied depending on whether they were rich or poor, male or female.
What was life like in the Victorian times?
Rich people could afford lots of treats like holidays, fancy clothes, and even telephones when they were invented. Poor people – even children – had to work hard in factories, mines or workhouses. They didn’t get paid very much money. By the end of the Victorian era, all children could go to school for free.
What did Victorian children sell on the streets?
They sold middle class Victorians everything from toys, shrimp and even the old clothes of smallpox victims.
What was life like for a Victorian street child?
| Children from working class families | Children from rich families |
|---|---|
| had few luxuries. ate poor food worked long hours lived in damp, filthy conditions. Many children died of disease. | usually well fed, clean and well clothed. didn’t need to work went on holidays had expensive toys had pets such as ponies. |
What did the Victorians do for entertainment?
Sole Entertainment Charades, dancing, singing, fireworks and piano sing songs made for a very lively night in the Victorian household. Patriotic songs like ‘Rule Britannia’ and comical songs like the ‘Policeman’ were very much enjoyed.
What did Victorian families do for entertainment?
Families spent many hours at home in the drawing room, where they received guests and gathered to play music, read, enjoy games, and talk. The working class saw games and entertainment as a way of escaping their repetitive routine of continuous hard work.
What were the Victorians famous for?
It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform and social change, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph.
What did poor Victorians do for fun?
Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Children would save their pocket money to buy marbles, a spinning top, skipping ropes, kites or cheap wooden toys. Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles.
What jobs did the Victorians do?
What Jobs Did Victorian Children Perform?
| Coal mines | Laundry for pay |
|---|---|
| Chimney Sweep | Sweated Trades |
| Factory Worker | Matchmaking |
| Scare the birds from the fields | Pottery Making |
| Farm Worker | Textile Mill |
What jobs were available in the Victorian times?
Jobs In The Victorian Era: A to Z
- Ashman. Dustman, or Refuse Collector.
- Beadsman. A person employed to pray for his employer, or the inhabitant of an almshouse, poorhouse or hospital.
- Claker. A magician or astrologer.
- Dog Whipper.
- Expressman.
- Faker.
- Groundsel & Chickweed Seller.
- Hoggard.
What did people do for entertainment in the Victorian era?
Aimed at the working class, each issue cost a penny to buy. Middle-class families often read aloud to each other from well-known, but respectable, novels. In an age before television, Victorians relied on indoor games for their entertainment.
What was the street like in the Victorian era?
As such streets were lawless places – there weren’t even policemen until the 1830s and even then they were few and far between. People would do whatever they could to scrape together money to feed their families, and if that meant climbing into a sewer or picking a pocket – well, that was better than starving, and so what if you did break the law?
What did people do on the streets of London?
From break dancing to planking to guerrilla gardening, the modern city street offers us a variety of wacky ways to amuse ourselves. But if modern pastimes seem off the wall, you should hear about those available on the streets of Victorian London.
What did children do in the Victorian era?
Children brought up in the cities had different forms of entertainment than the country-bred children. In cities, children were permitted to play only after the household work was done. Most of them had to play indoors until the time some adult was free to take them outside.