The Victorians Stage 3 Comp - Living Conditions - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 3 Unit focus: Victorians Text focus: Information Text Living Conditions Victorian homes were very close together. Cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester were growing at a...

STAGE 3 Unit focus: Victorians Text focus: Information Text Living Conditions Victorian homes were very close together. Cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester were growing at a rapid rate. Houses were built quickly in small areas. Even the richest people didn’t live far away from the poorest. A fi h of the British population lived in London at the beginning of the 18th century. By 1851, over half of all British people lived in London. A third of them lived in the worst poverty. The Victorian reign also had an impact on living conditions around the world. The British Empire grew rapidly through this time. This involved heading off to other countries and taking over without their permission. Indigenous people in these countries were treated with violence and abuse. People in British colonies are still o en angry about the way their ancestors were treated to this day. Back home, conditions were getting worse as her reign progressed. Lots of this wasn’t Queen Victoria’s fault. It was a time of great innovation. A new type of steel was invented in 1856, which meant that steel ships, bridges and other buildings were suddenly possible. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing. Factories sprouted like mushrooms. All of these industries needed people to do the hard, manual jobs. All of those workers needed somewhere to live, but there weren’t enough houses. On top of this, the factory owners didn’t want to pay the workers a good wage. They knew that there were hundreds more people desperate for a job. If a worker complained, they were sacked, and somebody else was brought in. All of this meant that there were more jobs than ever, but people were just as poor and living in cramped houses. They o en had to share with other families or lived in rooms too small to fit them all in. The same conditions that made Britain incredibly powerful and wealthy made life a misery for most of the people living there. The advance of technology was also a threat to working people. New designs A ding ro Rea und all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com for looms and farming meant that lots of manual workers lost their jobs because the machines could do them instead. This pushed more people into poverty. Workhouses were overflowing with people who didn’t want to be there but were forced to work in terrible conditions for a small amount of food and a bed. Charities that we know now, such as the Salvation Army and Barnardo’s, all started during this time. They were needed to help feed and house the hungry and orphans. Adults regularly died young because of their jobs, meaning children grew up as orphans. That’s if they didn’t die at work as well. By the end of Victoria’s reign, education was available to all children. It was very harsh, and the teachers were very strict, but at least they learned to read and write. Now that more people could read, it meant that books became much more popular. This was the time of Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book. In 1871, Queen Victoria introduced the Bank Holidays Act, which gave people a day off work during the year. It was also during Victoria’s reign that workers won the right to a weekend off work. This was a new and exciting thing! Most people were used to working long hours for six days a week. VOCABULARY FOCUS 1. Find and copy a phrase that tells you how quickly cities were growing. 2. Which word describes somebody who is native to a country? 3. Find and copy a simile that describes how factories began to appear. 4. If life was a “misery” for most people, what impression do you get of it? 5. Which word describes life as being tough and unforgiving? VIPERS QUESTIONS R How much of the population lived in London by 1851? R Which new law meant that people got an extra day off work every now and then? S How does Victorian poverty link to today according to the text? I Why might workers in Britain have felt unhappy with those at the top of society? S Why were living conditions poor? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com