Introduction to Victorian Life

Whilst the quality of life improved dramatically during the 63 years of Queen Victoria’s reign, living conditions by 1900 could be still brutal especially in a small Somerset market town like Chard.

In the late 1800’s, weaving in the local mills, metal casting and fabrication in foundries were two of main industries in the town. For the workers the day started early at around 7AM and could last more than ten hours. Day after day, six days a week. For this, a typical wage would have been in the region of £1 to £1-50p per week. Further away from the Town Centre agriculture was still the main employer. Agricultural labourers worked in the fields and tended the animals for a similar wage as the mill workers. Draught Horses still ruled the roost at this time ploughing fields, transporting goods and people.

Whilst a lot workers worked in the mills or foundries there was an opportunity to work in numerous High Street shops. Whilst a large proportion of shops were independent there was a growing number of shops in England trading under the Co-Operative movement. This had started in 1844. It was the forerunner of the supermarket. There was a branch in Chard at the top of Fore Street. With everything being weighed out by hand these businesses needed lots of semi-skilled workers and with pay of up to £1-50 per week such employment was considered better than being a mill worker.

Without the automation we know today there were also opportunities for office workers or clerks. Their work would entail filling out legers accurately in neat handwriting using a dipping ink pen. Advancement in this type of work was always possible with the opportunity of becoming a senior post office clerk with a wage of £3 per week.

In the centre of the town typical workers house at this time would be a four roomed brick built terraced house commonly referred to as a “two up and two down”. It could be rented from a wealthy landlord for around £100 per year and would often have to accommodate a family of two adults with up to six children. Sleeping accommodation was crowded with the six children sharing two single beds in a bedroom, sleeping top to tail, three children per bed. Toilets, which might be shared with another family, would be found at the bottom of the garden or yard while bathing facilities, to us, would seem totally medieval. A tin bath in front of the coal fired range in the kitchen (the warmest place!), which was shared by the all the family, one after another. Godworthy House, the main entry point to the Museum is such an example.

By the end of the 19^th century education had improved greatly with children now expected to remain at school until at least the age of twelve. The town boasted two Board Schools run by the Town Council for children of the ‘workers’ and an Independent Grammar School, Chard School, for the sons of professional people.

At the Board Schools, the children’s education started around the age of four or five and centred around the basic three R’s. Reading, writing and arithmetic. Legislation now ensured that pupils had to stay till the age of twelve or thirteen but were often placed in work by their parents to assist with family income.

The sons of the better off, professional people from the area would find their way to Chard School, an independent grammar school at the bottom of the town. Here, under strict tuition from stern male teachers, they would start their lessons in Latin, understand the intricacies of Algebra and polish and perfect their handwriting in preparation for their future career as solicitors, teachers or army officers.

By 1900, Chard boasted over twenty public houses scattered around the town. These varied from small drinking holes to impressive hotels like The George (now called the Phoenix). As one can imaging drunkenness must have been rife at the weekend with the mill workers spending their hard-earned money to help them forget the drudgery of their lives.

In opposition to the public houses were the Church and Temperance House led activities. Usually based around picnics and events in the summer and alcohol-free dances in the winter. In the town and villages, the church was well represented by Church of England, Methodist and Baptist Churches who preached “fire and brimstone” to the congregation to ensure abstinence from the perils of drink.

Whilst the railways, which first came to Chard in the 1863, enabled people to freely travel from town to town, it was a novelty, and the majority of people still found their entertainment within a radius of ten miles. In the town itself, entertainment tended to be split between the public houses, activities focussed on the churches and local dances.

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