Interview

+ Welcome to our show, Mr Township. Thanks a lot for being here.

- You’re welcome. Thanks for inviting me.

+ You are a historian and you said you know everything about Victorian times.Tell me something about it. When did it start and when did it end? What kind of changes took place?

- It started when Queen Victoria started to reign in 1837 and it ended about 1901. The Victorian Times are really important for the later history. It was a period of intensive industrialisation, urbanisation and social change. In religion, the Victorians were the first that called into question institutional Christianity. They created democracy, feminism, socialism, Marxism and much more.

+ I heard that, especially for kids, life was really hard, why?

- Because most of the kids were very poor and those who were poor often had to work to support their families. Children did various kinds of jobs, most of them were very dangerous. Most factory workers did not recognise that it was wrong to give children those dangerous jobs for such a little payment. 1841 Queen Victoria made a law that no child under the age of 10 was allowed to work underground. If the poor children didn’t have to work, they played a lot, but they didn’t have lot things to play with. They shared their toys with their friends and they also made up games to play like catch, they made footballs out of old rags and bats from pieces of wood. Victorian children were able to play out in the street because there was no danger. Cars had not been invited and so there was nothing to worry about. Rich people had an easier life. They lived in special rooms in their houses called nurseries. Many of the rich children had expensive toys like rocking horses, toy trains and dolls.

+ Oh that sounds very sad. Didn’t they go to school?

- Yes, few of them attended school. The problem was that many children had to work and so they had no time for school and no money of course. There were village schools in some places in the country run by the church or small “Dame” schools which usually run by one woman. In 1870 a new law was passed which said that there had to be a school in every town and village and every child had to attend school. Most of the time boys and girls were separated in the classroom or even had different lessons.

+ How were the women treated then?

- The ideal woman at this time was not the weak, passive creature. She was a busy, able and upright figure who drew strength from her moral superiority. That means that women played a central role in life. Women were also seen as moral and spiritual guardians.

+ Oh I like that! Thanks’ a lot for the interview. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

- You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to the next interview.

+ Oh yes, we’ll see us then. Bye.

- Bye.