The Dark Side of Victorian London

Study Notes

Here are the detailed bullet points summarizing the text:

• The Victorian era was not as romanticized as it is often portrayed in media, and life in Victorian London would be terrifying for someone accustomed to 21st-century luxuries.

• The Victorian era began in 1837, 11 years after the end of the Victorian era, and lasted until 1901.

• In Victorian London, life expectancy for male tradesmen and laborers was around 25 and 22 years, respectively.

• Social class played a significant role in Victorian society, and talking to someone from a higher social class could get you arrested.

• Members of the upper class did not have to work and could afford to buy a handful of developing nations.

• Freak shows were popular entertainment in the Victorian era, featuring people with physical abnormalities, but were eventually shut down due to reports of mistreatment of performers.

• The Victorian era saw an Egyptomania craze, which peaked during this time, and the wealthy would often host mummy parties where they would unwrap and perform autopsies on mummies.

• In the upper class, people did not have to worry about staying alive, but they did have to deal with arsenic in their walls, lead in their dolls, corsets, and torsos, cyanide in their photos, strychnine in their tablets, explosive bits of plastic, kitchen full of toxins, morphing for their youngins, mercury-coated hats, radiation from their glass, kerosene, and hair products, and asbestos in almost everything.

• Working-class children started working as early as four years old, and 60% of working-class children died before the age of five.

• Children as young as five years old worked as chimney sweeps or coal miners, with chimney sweeps experiencing skin damage, lung damage, and death from falling or getting stuck in chimneys, and coal miners experiencing eye damage, respiratory problems, spine deformation, and explosions.

• Penny sit-ups were shelters where homeless people could sit on a bench for the night for a penny, but were not allowed to sleep.

• Two-penny hangovers were ropes that people could hang over, but were not allowed to sleep, and were monitored to ensure they didn't fall asleep.

• Four-penny coffins were a step up, where people could spend the night in a coffin with a tarp to keep warm.

• Significant discoveries and advancements during the Victorian era included the discovery of crude oil, Charles Darwin's publication of his book on evolution, the development of modern eugenics, the patent of the telephone, the acceptance of germ theory, innovations in data visualization, the discovery of radiation, and the development of the Navier-Stokes equations.

Description

Discover the harsh realities of life in Victorian London, from short life expectancy to social class struggles and bizarre entertainment. Learn about the dangers and hardships faced by people in this era, and how it differs from the romanticized portrayal in media.