Victorian England

I am reading the excellent Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell. Queen Victoria ruled from 1837-1901!! The book is about how ordinary people lived. Most people worked 12-16 hours a day six days a week. Children went to work as early as 4 or 5 years old. Millowners made agreements with local authorities in impoverished areas to take orphan children as young as age seven off their hands. Most young people were in full employment by the age of 13 or 14.

An 1832 law doubled the number of men who could vote. An Act passed in 1829 created the first professional police department in London. Before that, citizens took turns acting as constables. The 1836 Marriage Act made it a contract regulated by the state rather than the church. After marriage, a woman had no independent legal existence. She didn't even have the right to tend her children if the husband died. It was required that the husband's will appoint her as the guardian.

They had something some conservatives would have loved. It was called the Poor House. It was where people went who required "welfare." It was set up to disincline people to ask for help. They worked all day, were fed terrible food, etc. Eventually it was discovered that only one-fourth of these people were able-bodied. The rest were sick, the old, the disabled, etc.

I think that if current people really knew what life was like in the past, they would cease glorifying it, conservatives and progressives alike. Unfortunately, not much history is taught in school (at least it wasn't when I was young). And most of that was superficial and more about promoting nationalism rather than truth. Of course, in my high school, the coaches were assigned to teach history. Obviously, it wasn't an important position. On the other hand, maybe it's harder to appreciate history when you don't have much personally.

Here is another interesting fact: of all the people who have reached 65 in the history of the planet, more than half are alive today. Maybe Social Security was an idea whose time had come.