Victorian Cities

1. In the nineteenth century there was a huge increase in the population of Great Britain.

2. This was due to larger families, people living longer and immigration.

3. By the end of the century, three times as many people were living in Great Britain than at the beginning.

4. The population in towns and cities increased by leaps and bounds, due to the effects of the Industrial Revolution.

5. The greatest areas of growth were London and the cities of the industrial north such as Leeds, Manchester and Blackburn.

6. People were flocking into the Victorian towns and cities in search of employment.

7. Low wages and the scramble for jobs meant that people needed to live near to where work was available.

8. There was not enough housing in the cities, which led to serious overcrowding.

9. Great wealth and poverty lived side-by-side.

10. Tenements and slums in Victorian cities were only a stone’s throw from the large, elegant houses of the rich.

11. Increasingly, middle-class families moved frim the cities to the suburbs, taking the train or tram to work.

12. Poor Victorian families crammed into cellars, rooms or tenement buildings.

13. Lack of public amenities and services caused dreadful conditions.

14. The Victorian towns and cities often suffered air pollution from factories.

15. They also had to deal with water pollution from open sewers and lack of sanitation.

16. Victorian cities were, however, hives of activity, with horse drawn vehicles and street sellers.

17. There was a growth of shops, and department stores began to appear.

18. Marks and Spencer opened its first shop in Manchester in 1892.

19. In Victorian cities there were frequent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

20. Gradually the open sewers were replaced and clean water was piped to many homes.

21. Street cleaning and lighting were gradually introduced.

22. From the 1870s a slum clearance programme was developed to get rid of some of the worst housing.

23. Some authorities and local business men built town halls and libraries.

24. There was a bandstand in every Victorian park where brass bands played on Sundays.

25. Crime was a feature in all Victorian towns and cities - some had areas that even the police would not venture into.

26. People became very worried about the rising crime rates.

27. By 1856 most Victorian towns and cities had a police force.

28. The first police force was started by Sir Robert Peel in London in 1837.

29. Many Victorians thought that the cities spoiled the landscape, and the environment, and were ugly and unhealthy.

30. Some Victorian businessmen such as Titus Salt and the Cadbury’s moved their businesses to pleasanter surroundings.