We’ve all seen the memes – Skrillex, 4Loko, GTA, and electric scooters all have the potential to kill a Victorian child. In the modern popular imagination, Victorian children are frail, easily offendable, and prone to overstimulation. But was this really the case?
In this episode, Abe and Jared take a journey through Victorian England to investigate the reality of what it was like to be a child from the dredges of poverty to the upper echelons. So put on your page boy hats and fingerless gloves, tuck in to your most nutritious gruel, and get ready to dive into some of the most unvaccinated, brutal working conditions of the 19th century!
SOURCES
BBC Four documentary The Children Who Built Victorian Britain (2011)
Victorian Childhoods by Ginger S. Frost (2008) - Introduction
https://www.amdigital.co.uk/insights/blog/byron-and-hobhouse-in-mediterranean-europe
Children’s Fantasy Literature: An Introduction by Michael Levy and Farah Mendelsohn (2016)
“The Victorian Child, c. 1837-1901” by Marah Gubar
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/hszufz/what_modern_day_thing_do_you_think_would_kill_a/.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:12 - My Annals
05:44 - Victorian England
07:44 - Kids in Victorian England
13:22 - Victorian Class
19:34 - Death and Religion
22:23 - Child Labor and Working Class Kids
33:22 - Jobs for Kids!
37:55 - Public Opinion
40:16 - Political Reactions
44:53 - Illness, Injury, and Disability
47:47 - Why you should respect the Victorian street urchin.
51:41 - Follow us on socials!!
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