What was life in 1900s England?

Answer 1

it depended it you were working or middle class, an average middle class family lived in a large 3 bedroom house often a terrace or semi detached with a very small garden and small bathrooms. There was a lot of hallway and first impression space inside the front door with high ceilings often decorated with floral covings of an art nouveau style, with entwined leaves, flowers and girls with flowing hair. Some houses adopted the Glasgow-style which is more simple. Off the hallway would be the drawing or living room or parlour, they had a separate dining room also with fancy plaster decorations, to impress visitors over dinner, however, the kitchen areas and bedrooms were very plain. They ate breakfast of sausage and bread and bacon prepared by their maid of all chores who lived in often sleeping in the scullery or in a small bedroom near to the bathroom. The man left early for work in the office. The wife stayed home whilst the maid washed and dressed the children taking them to school then returning to help the wife dress herself carrying bowls of water upstairs was not uncommon, even tho in 1901 most newly built homes had a bath but the washbasin was still a bowl. Bathing was done once a week, or for the wife at midday when she changed her clothes. The toilet was outside. Then the wife would busy herself with houshold skills such as Flower Arranging, shopping - which was often delivered - and spent the day dealing with social calls. A complicated card system was used to invite people over. In the house there was a pantry of food bought fresh mostly every day or week-fridges not invented. Next to the pantry was a coal shed. Coal for the firesand other items was delivered and scrap iron collected round the back door and a back garden gate leading to rear access lane for this purpose is common in Victorian housing estates. The shout 'Any 0l Iron' was often heard. There were stable blocks with haylofts in nearly every street. few cars, a local dairy, with a yard, shops and banks. Children and dogs: many kept a small bull terrier (dog fighting was not unheard of) or collie type dog that had moved to the city with them and now roamed freely. Imagine ::smoke coming from every chimney.Houses had sash wooden windows which allowed draught and houses were not double glazed or insulated. Housing estates varied in their style, most had a mixture of a street of terraced smaller villa type houses,for first time buyers, or small familes, often with stained glass panels to provide privacy between front gardens. 2 streets of bigger villa type terraced houses, of a semi grand style often semi detached and then one street of much larger houses on a grander mansion type scale with stained glass windows, turrets and over the top grandieur, however grand, these were still within the reach of some middle class folks. Especially those who travelled to London to work in Business. A whole family would live in a house together. More money went on the mortgage than on repairs.Very little money on clothes, and toys. Holidays were sometimes taken and day trips on the train popular.Church and religion played an important role in every day life. Bells rang on Sunday morning on the housing estate summoning the population to their local churches which were within walking distance.

The maid had to clean the house using a dustpan and brush, do the fireplaces, fires,early in the morning etc. Washing was sent out twice weekly or monthly to be done by the laundry ladies as poorer women could earn a living by taking washing in. The maid prepared the luncheon and the supper which could be a cold meat cheese snack or a cooked meal. Maids were not paid well but they received food and a place to sleep. Evenings were spent eating in the dining room sometimes with guests of a business acquaintance then they walked up the hallway into the drawing room or living room for piano and conversation. The maid was left to clear up the dishes and spent the evening washing up and clearing the kitchen ready for the next day, she often finished so late she slept in a large chair in the scullery. This pattern of life style extended from very large Victorian houses into any turn of the century house with separate reception rooms the ideal was scaled down to fit.

Gardening was an interesting occupation but most people simply did not have spare time to do it, or a desire to get dirty, so gardens were made small, people became invalid earlier and old age Arthritis set in around 38. Hallways were usually big enough to accommodate invalid wheelchairs -even the healthy being of a pale nature, would rather sit by the french doors than go outside and dig anything. They copied magazines with garden ornaments and grew lavender, herbs in borders alongside a path which ran through the garden. Small camomile lawns and a few pretty flowers for the ladies was enough as the air was sooty smog ridden and cold. They would like to paint and draw a few plants. They had to go outside to the toilet and to avoid this at night used chamber pots - the maid emptied them in the outdoor toilet and washed the path down it was usually made of red brick tiles. Children did not usually play much outside in the garden. Many contracted bronchitis due to the cold and other disorders and were sickly and weak. Women still died in childbirth and babies and children died of all sorts. A lot of time and effort went into keeping wrapped up warm whilst reading and writing.

Chimneys needed to be cleaned once a year and spring cleaning and painting was done once a year. They did not maintain their houses ie do as many home improvements as we do today. Good furniture was used in the main rooms but the bedrooms were furnished with second hand stuff. Carpet was unfitted as we know it. Boards and woodwork usually dark stained. Poorer families aspired to the same living standards as middle class but to achieve this their lives were made even harder by working all the hours. Women children and men all worked. In a working class small terrace house, living was overcrowded - a very small parlour took the place of the drawing room and the dining room or family room was in the kitchen. The garden was literally a tiny courtyard with an outside toilet. There was no bathroom just a tin bath in the kitchen. The third bedroom was little more than a cupboard but beds were put in it- if there was a third bedroom as most working class homes were only two bedroom.