Match the word combinations 1 family

Many women had lots of babies. Birth control was not widespread, and few couples used any means of contraception. Child-bearing could be dangerous, and many women died in childbirth. Many babies also died, from childhood diseases. Queen Victoria had nine children. Her children were called Edward, Alfred, Arthur, Leopold, Victoria, Alice, Helena, Louise and Beatrice. The royal family became a model for other families.

Rich families had large houses, with a special room for children called the nursery. This was often at the top of the house. In the nursery younger children ate, played and slept. They were looked after by a woman called a nanny. She took them for walks in the park or to the zoo. Some rich children saw their parents only in the morning and evening, and were looked after mostly by their nanny and by other servants. Most Victorians thought children should be ‘seen and not heard’.

Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in city slums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play except alleys and yards. Many children had to work, while others were too sick and hungry to play. Yet most poor children still managed to make some fun. They played with whatever they could find, perhaps dancing to the music of a hurdy-gurdy man, paddling in a stream, or climbing trees and lamp-posts.

Victorians made their own entertainment at home. They had no radio or TV. They enjoyed singing, and a rich family would sing around the piano, while poorer families enjoyed tunes on a pipe or a fiddle. Families played card games and board games, and acted out charades. At birthday parties, a special treat was a magic lantern show. An oil or gas lamp sent a beam of light through a glass lens and onto a screen, to show enlarged images, perhaps of wild animals or a story told in pictures.

Many women had lots of babies. Birth control was not widespread, and few couples used any means of contraception. Child-bearing could be dangerous, . Many babies also died, from childhood diseases. Queen Victoria had nine children. Her children were called Edward, Alfred, Arthur, Leopold, Victoria, Alice, Helena, Louise and Beatrice. The royal family became a model for other families.

         Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in city slums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play . Many children had to work, while others were too sick and hungry to play. Yet most poor children still managed to make some fun. They played with whatever they could find, paddling in a stream, or climbing trees and lamp-posts.

        Rich families had large houses, with a special room for children called the nursery. This was often at the top of the house. In the nursery younger children ate, played and slept. They were looked after by a woman called a nanny. She took them for walks in the park or to the zoo , and were looked after mostly by their nanny and by other servants. Most Victorians thought children should be ‘seen and not heard’.

       Victorians made their own entertainment at home. They had no radio or TV. They enjoyed singing, and a rich family would sing around the piano, . Families played card games and board games, and acted out charades. At birthday parties, a special treat was a magic lantern show. An oil or gas lamp sent a beam of light through a glass lens and onto a screen, to show enlarged images, perhaps of wild animals or a story told in pictures.

and many women died in childbirth

except alleys and yards

perhaps dancing to the music of a hurdy-gurdy man

Some rich children saw their parents only in the morning and evening

while poorer families enjoyed tunes on a pipe or a fiddle

while their parents had to make their living

events at which many bright fireworks are lit to entertain the public

a room in a family home in which the young children of the family sleep or play

areas of land where a fair is held

people who clean chimneys

factories where cotton is processed

water that you can get by turning on a tap

people who are employed to work at another person’s home

places where coal is dug out of the ground

the people in a family or group who live together in a house

a machine that is used to force a liquid or gas to flow 10. people who are employed to work at another person’s home

the unemployed, poor and homeless

casual, low grade work, retired

casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the state for their income

the majority of population

semi- and unskilled manual work

people with inherited wealth, some of the oldest families, aristocrats

skilled manual workers

skilled manual work

the majority of population

no occupation

semi- and unskilled manual workers

traditional sporting life (hunting, shooting, horse-riding)

intermediate managerial, administrative or professional occupations

supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional occupations

Children in coal mines.

       Most coal was dug from deep mines. A long vertical shaft was dug down from the . Leading off from it were side tunnels. Miners rode in a lift, worked by a steam engine. In the tunnels, they hacked at the coal with picks and . Coal mines were dark, dirty and dangerous. The only light came from candles and oil lamps. Gas in the mine could choke miners, or explode. Tunnels could flood or collapse. killed many miners.

      Coal mines were owned by the person on whose land they were dug. The mine sold their coal to the factories. Some mine owners were very rich, but they paid miners low . They did not care about health and safety, so at first they let small children and women work underground.

      In 1842, Parliament stopped women and children under 10 years old from working . In 1860 the age limit for boy-miners was raised to 12, and in 1900 to 13.

      Some children pushed of coal along mine tunnels. They were called ‘putters’. ‘Trappers’ opened and shut wooden doors to let through the tunnels. A trapper boy sat in the dark, with just a small candle, and no-one to talk to. Some children started work at 2 in the morning and stayed below ground for 18 hours. Children working on the surface, sorting , at least saw daylight and fresh air.

surface

shovels

Accidents

owners

wages

underground

trucks

air

coal

breathed

Children in factories.

        Cotton were factories where cotton was spun into thread. In woollen mills, wool was spun in a similar way. Weaving turned the thread into textiles, such as cloth and carpets. In Victorian Britain, the cotton and wool employed thousands of workers, mostly in the north of England. Mill workers lived in small houses close to the factories.

          Factory owners employed children because they were cheap, did not complain, had nimble fingers, and could about under machines. Small girls worked in mills as ‘piecers’. They mended broken . ‘Scavengers’ crawled beneath clattering machines to pick up scraps of cotton. They risked getting caught in the machinery, losing hair or . Yet most mill-owners thought factory work was easy. At first, there were no laws to working children.

         People reformers, such as Lord Shaftesbury (1801-1885), argued in Parliament for laws to stop child-work. Inspectors, called Commissioners, went into factories and mines. They talked to working children to find out the facts. These are three of the new laws passed by Parliament. 1841 Mines Act – No child the age of 10 to work underground in a coal mine. 1847 Ten Hour Act – No child to work more than 10 hours in a day. 1874 Factory Act – No child under the age of 10 to be in a factory.

mills

machines

industries

crawl

threads

arms

protect

called

under

employed