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Harrison Fredrick Smith
Born in 14th June 1880
Newcastle Upon Time
Currently aged 7
Harrison needed to work as a chimney sweep as the family is suffering from poverty and needs the extra money, he earned a few shillings a day, as he got older he struggled to fit into chimneys so he started working in a factory at age 10, once he was 11 he went to school for one year then went back to work in the factories, until age 15 when he joined his family in the mines. The jobs he had all came with many dangers Chimney sweep - this could have causes respiratory issues from soot inhalation, eye damage or skin damage, as the children got older there was also the risk of them getting stuck in the chimney. (Sweet, 2017)  Mining - there were many dangers with mining, roofs collapsing, explosions and many underground gases. (My Learning, 2022)
Harrison lives in a 3 bedroom home which is suffering from over crowding
lives with mam, dad, grandad, 2 big brothers, 1 big sister and one baby brother, mam is also currently pregnant
he also has 2 siblings who unfortunately would not make it to age one due to pneumonia
Grandad - Joseph Fredrick Smith 58 years old, hurt himself in the mines and suffers from breathing issues and has been unable to work for the last 10 years
Dad - Robert Joseph Smith 35 years old, works in the mines
Mother - Elizabeth Clara Smith 33 years old, she was a common housewife who attended to the children, chores and groceries.
Brother - John Robert Smith 16 years old, works in the mines
Brother - Albert John Smith 12 years old, works in the factories
Sister  - Clara Grace Smith 9 years old, attends school and helps mother with household and baby brother
Brother - Fredrick Harrison 3 years old
Unborn Baby - Baby Smith
Twin Sisters - Grace Isabella Smith, Isabella Victoria Smith - Passed Away at 10 months would be 14 years old
grandad is considered old and lucky as at this time the life expectancy was considered to be  40 years old for men and 42 for women. By 1900 it was 45 for men and 50 for women
(English Heritage)

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This is an example of how the smith family were living, these areas were overcrowded with people, small houses, streets were quite smelly.
Streets in Newcastle were quite dirty and unsanitary, with soot, faeces and un washed people on the street on a daily basis, sewer systems did not come into Newcastle until 1907 so most waste was thrown onto the streets .This impacted Harrison in the sense there was never any privacy, he was either at work surrounded by people or at home surrounded by people

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB54K0GOovc

population had rose to 215,000 it, it was cramped and overpopulated
during this time period museums were built, monuments and and Grainger market.
because of the overpopulation and unsanitary areas cases of cholera swept the city killing a staggering 2,250+ people in 20 years with numbers continuing to rise (Lambert, 2021)

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1833 Factory Act, this act was created to put an end to under the age of nine working in factories, until the age of thirteen they were restricted to only working nine hours a day and no more than 48 hours in a week.
1836 Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, this gave factory inspectors the power to check the ages of children who where trying to work there. (Wales and England only)
1842 Publication of the ‘First Report of the Children’s Employment Commissioners: Mines and Collieries’, which had been prepared by Lord Ashley (later Lord Shaftesbury).
1842 Mines Act, this banned the employment underground of boys under the age of ten and all women and girls. No one under the age of fifteen was to be in charge of machinery.
1844 Factory Act, this classed women as young persons under the age of eighteen and limited the hours of both groups to twelve on weekdays and nine on Saturdays.
1847 The Ten Hour Act, this cut the hours of women and the under-eighteens to ten a day and 58 a week.
1850 The Ten Hour Act, this set the working day for all workers at ten and a half hours. 1867 Factory Act, the legislation was extended to all workshops with more than 50 workers. Victorian Children (2022)
All these laws and legislation was put into place to help protect children from the dangerous environments.

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Religion - the difference between Catholic and Christian 

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Religion - the difference between Catholic and Christian 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljdWWjdesMM

The family does not have a religious belief, however they do not judge those who do have one.
In this time period it was common to be a member of the Church of England, monarchs were the head of the Church.
Catholics and Christians were the most common in England in this time period and both were very competitive in trying to have the most members, this led to a major increase in Churches being built. (English Heritage, 2021)

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Due to poverty the Smith did not have much to their name, They had their home which was a luxury to them, in the Victorian era most who suffered from poverty has to share homes with other families this was not the case for the Smiths. They work ethic this drive and determination meant they were able to pay the bills and buy the groceries, although they suffered from poverty have the children work as well as the father meant that none of them would starve. The children had homemade wooden toys and few bought toys when the family had a little bit of extra money to by them something extra. They mainly had homemade clothing or clothes that have been passed down from one child to the next.
Higher class had much more material culture, they had education, many literature books, a social life and many more luxuries.
Men and male children had more standing than women, it was known that men and male children had more job opportunities than women, this meant that they had the responsibility to be the bread winners and to take care of the family finically.

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BBC, (2018) Poor Rural Victorians, Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43323098 Accessed on 25/04/2022

Barrow, M (2013) The Victorians, Available at http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/  Accessed on 05/04/2022

Collins dictionary (2022)  Victorian Values  Available at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/victorian-values  Accessed

English Heritage, (2021) Victorians - Food and Health, Available at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/victorian/food-and-health/  Accessed on 25/04/2022

English Heritage (2021) Victorians - Religion Available at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/victorian/religion  Accessed on 25/04/2022

Hinds, J.D. (N.D) Family History from 1811 - 1961, Chimney Sweeps, Available at https://www.stove.co.uk/  Accessed on 05/04/2022on 23/04/2022

Lambert, (2021) A history of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Available at https://localhistories.org/a-history-of-newcastle-upon-tyne  Accessed on 25/04/2022

Miller, G. (2022) Poverty in Victorian Times, Available at https://www.aboutbritain.com/articles/poverty-in-victorian-times  Accessed on 30/03/2022

My Learning (2022) Accidents and Dangers, Available at https://www.mylearning.org/stories/coal-mining-and-the-victorians/240#:~:text=Working in a coal mine,explosions from dangerous gases underground  Accessed on 24/04/2022

Sweet, B (2017) Chimney health hazards,
Available at https://billysweetchimneysweep.com/chimney-health-hazards-know
Accessed on 23/04/2022

Victorian Children (2022) Labour and the Conditions they
worked in, Available at https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-child-labor
Accessed on 24/04/2022

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Predominant at the start of the 19th century, by the end of the Victorian era the Church of England was increasingly only one part of a vibrant and often competitive religious culture, with non-Anglican Protestant denominations enjoying a new prominence. The period also saw the greatest burst of church building since the Middle Ages.

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Predominant at the start of the 19th century, by the end of the Victorian era the Church of England was increasingly only one part of a vibrant and often competitive religious culture, with non-Anglican Protestant denominations enjoying a new prominence. The period also saw the greatest burst of church building since the Middle Ages.

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Many modern-day charities, such as the Salvation Army , began their work combatting poverty in the Victorian era, and continue to address more modern concerns of poverty even in the 21st century. The Salvation Army offered Soup, Soap and Salvation, they would help the homeless, the unemployed even the ones who suffered from an addiction.

Barnardo's home was opened in 1847 to help unwed mothers raise their children, gave them clothing, food and education to have a better start at life.

Churches had many women volunteers to set up soup kitchens, Sunday schools and distributed books, they would also knit items to sell to raise money for those in poverty.

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The daily routine for many suffering from poverty in the Victorian times consisted of men and male children going to work everyday to make a few shillings to take back home to the family. with dad and the three brothers working they would bring home enough money to buy some groceries
pay for any bills the may have had at that time. (BCC,2018)
Due to poverty Harrison needed to work to help with the income,  in order to work he needed to leave school, this means that he can not read or write as he was not able to attend at the age of 5, however at the age of 11 in 1891 schools became mandatory and were free for all, at this point he struggled as he was so far behind. however this did not last long as leaving age for schools in 1891 were 12 years old.

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What was life like in Victorian times?

Living in the Victorian era was exciting because of all the new inventions and pace of change and progress, but it was a hard time to live in if you didn't have much money. Even very young children had to work if their family needed them to.

However, life had improved a lot for people by the end of the Victorian era. Laws were put in place that made working conditions a bit better in factories and mines, and that stopped young children from working by requiring them to go to school instead. More people were living in cities, but hygiene and sanitation was more important thanks to people like Florence Nightingale. Plus, the Victorians started the Christmas traditions like sending cards and decorating trees that we know and enjoy today!

Top 10 facts

1. The inventions of machines in factories replaced jobs that people used to do, but people were needed to look after the machines and keep the factories clean.

2. Factories were built in cities, so people ended up moving to the cities to get jobs. Half the population in Britain lived in cities by the end of the Victorian era.

3. Cities became crowded, busy and dirty, but discoveries about hygiene and sanitation meant that diseases like cholera were easier to prevent.

4. People in the Victorian era started to use electricity for the first time, and to listen to music by playing records on the gramophone.

5. Steam trains made travel a lot easier, and rich people started to go on holidays to the seaside in places like Blackpool and Brighton.

6. There was a big difference between rich and poor in Victorian times. Rich people could afford lots of treats like holidays, fancy clothes, and even telephones when they were invented.

7. Poor people - even children - had to work hard in factories, mines or workhouses. They didn't get paid very much money.

8. By the end of the Victorian era, all children could go to school for free. Victorian schools were very strict - your teacher might even beat you if you didn't obey the rules.

9. The way we celebrate Christmas was begun in Victorian times - they sent the first Christmas cards and made Christmas crackers.

10. Charles Dickens was a famous Victorian author who wrote A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and other famous novels.

Did you know?

At the beginning of the Victorian era in 1837, most people would have used candles and oil or gas lamps to light their homes and streets. By the end of the Victorian era in 1901, electricity was available and rich people could get it in their homes.

Poor people could work in mines, in mills and factories, or in workhouses. Whole families would sometimes have to work so they'd all have enough money to buy food.

Children in poor families would have jobs that were best done by people who weren't very tall. They would have to crawl in small spaces in mines, or underneath machines in textile mills. It was very dangerous!

Rich people didn't have dangerous jobs like these. In fact, some didn't even have to work! They could afford to buy the new inventions coming out like the telephone, the gramophone (for playing music) and electric light bulbs.

Rich Victorians were the first to go on seaside holidays - some of the places they'd go are spots where we go on holiday too, like Blackpool, Brighton and Southend.

Victorian children loved it when their mum and dad let them see a magic lantern show. This was a slideshow of pictures that told a story - the machine that showed the pictures was called a magic lantern.

Almost all families in Victorian times - except for the very poor ones - would pay people to be servants who would do their household chores for them. This included cooking, cleaning, washing and even serving dinner. Women who were servants were called maids, and men were called footmen. The head servant would be a man called a butler.

There was a rule for everything in Victorian times - even about the sorts of clothes you'd wear in the morning or evening, and when in the city or in the country!

All men wore hats in Victorian times (rich men wore top hats, poor men wore caps). When a man wanted to say hello to a lady, it was good manners to tip the brim of their hat down, then push their hat back onto their head.

It was bad manners if a man spoke to a woman he didn't know without someone else introducing them first.

Children always had to say 'hello' and 'goodbye' to their family members every time the child came in or went out of a room. Try doing that for a day in your home!

Children were not allowed to shout, complain, interrupt or disagree with anyone. They had to do as they were told, and be cheerful and quiet all the time.

Victorian gallery

A railway poster advertising Brighton and Volk's Electric Railway

A Victorian workhouse (in Nantwich)

Women in a Victorian workhouse

Clothes that a wealthy Victorian man would have worn

Victorian dresses with bustles

A Victorian hoop skirt

How children dressed in the Victorian era

A Victorian magic lantern

An early Christmas card

A Victorian living room

A Victorian kitchen

A Victorian-style pushchair

Gallery

About

Victorian inventions like the steam engine and innovations like steel-making led to machines being made that could produce lots of the same thing at once. Factories were filled with machines like these. While it used to be that one person would be a weaver and make cloth, machines could now do that job instead and make cloth that didn't cost as much.

So, what did people do if machines did all the work? Well, the machines needed looking after, and factory owners wanted people who could do that as well as take care of other little jobs around the factory. Since factories were usually built in large towns and cities, and people needed new jobs, most people moved to where the factories were. By the end of the Victorian era, half of the people living in Britain lived in cities.

This meant that cities were crowded and dirty. If you were poor and couldn't afford to live in a very nice place, it was easy to get sick. There was a large outbreak of cholera in London in 1853-1854 that killed 11,000 people. Most people thought that the disease was coming from areas that just smelled nasty and got passed around through scents in the air, but Dr. John Snow worked out that the disease was actually spreading because of a cesspit that was leaking into a water pump where people drank from. By the end of the Victorian era, London had a better sewage system and sanitation was a bigger concern - plus, people knew more about how diseases are passed from one person to another.

Other famous Victorians who believed that proper hygiene and sanitation were needed to be healthy were Florence Nightingale and Dr. Joseph Lister. Dr. Lister was a surgeon who discovered that cleaning wounds and surgical instruments prevented infections.

Jobs that people had in Victorian times included usual ones like lawyers, doctors, teachers and vicars, but there were other jobs too:

Engineers were needed to build bridges, buildings and machines

Miners to get coal, iron and tin

Mill workers to keep machines running and produce textiles

Farm workers to tend and harvest crops

Railway porters to sort out passengers' luggage

Navvies who broke ground for railway tracks to be laid down

Nightmen to clear out the sewers in crowded cities

Maids, butlers, cooks and other servants in the home

Steam engines needed coal to run them, so mining coal was very important. Working in coal mines was hard, and sometimes entire families would do it just to earn enough money. There were also mines for iron and tin in different parts of Britain.

Only poor people would work in factories and mines, and both were pretty unhealthy places to be. The air would be thick with dust from the mines or from the cotton being spun for cloth, and working hours were long.

If someone didn't have a home (or money to afford a place to live), they could go to a workhouse, which was a place that provided food and beds in exchange for doing work. While this sounds pretty handy, it wasn't very nice. Men, women and children all had to live separately, so families couldn't stay together. The food wasn't very good, and children weren't taught how to read and write. Everyone had to wear the same uniform, and breaking any rules would mean strict punishment.

If you were rich, then life was completely different! Rich Victorians lived in large houses that were well heated and clean. Children got a good education either by going away to school or having a governess who taught them at home (this is usually how girls were educated).

Wealthy people could also afford to buy beautiful clothes. All women in Victorian times wore dresses with long skirts, but rich women could get the latest fashions that needed special underclothes to wear properly. They wore dresses that needed hoop skirts underneath to make the dresses spread out in a dome shape around their legs. Or, they wore skirts that lay mostly flat but that poofed out a bit around their bottom - this was called a bustle.

All men, whether rich or poor, wore waistcoats. Rich men also wore top hats and carried walking sticks.

Names to know:

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) - Florence was the founder of modern nursing; she knew it was important to keep hospitals clean and well-run.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - a famous Victorian author who wrote A Christmas Carol, and many other books about life in Victorian times
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) - a Victorian author from Scotland who wrote the famous children's stories Treasure Island and Kidnapped.
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) - a popular Victorian poet; one of his poems was 'Charge of the Light Brigade', which was about the Crimean War.
Thomas Barnardo (1845-1905) - founded children's charity Barnardo's in 1870 as a home for children who were orphaned or didn't have a place to live, which meant they didn't have to go to a workhouse
Mrs Isabella Beeton (1836-1865) - an author who wrote a famous book about cooking and housekeeping that many people in Victorian times used
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) - a Victorian naturalist who wrote On the Origin of Species and came up with the theory of natural selection, which led to scientific research into evolution.
Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - Lister was a surgeon who introduced the idea of keeping surgical instruments free from germs, and disinfecting wounds.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

Best books about Victorians for children

Find out more about Victorian life:

Watch a kids' video about Victorian life: BBC History: Day In The Life Victorians

Details of the household staff at Shibden Hall, including the butler, the housemaid and the under-housemaid

Watch BBC Bitesize videos about life in Victorian Scotland: school in Victorian Scotland, home life in Victorian Scotland, work in Victorian Scotland and holidays and leisure in Victorian Scotland

Make your own Victorian Christmas

See Victorian toys like zoetropes, tiddlywinks and samplers

Listen to short audio dramas about the lives of children in Victorian times on BBC Schools Radio

Information about lots of different aspects of Victorian life: health, entertainment, crime and punishment and transport and travel

Find out about Victorian buildings and houses in an architecture podcast from FunKids

Children's information about Victorian schooling, Victorian fashion, Victorian workers and Victorian families

Read facts about health and food in Victorian times

Immerse yourself in fiction books set in Victorian times

Discover life in a Victorian weaver's cottage the interactive way: listen to and watch the looms and imagine living without heating or electricity

Find out about 7 innovations which changed Victorian England, including central heating

See a cartoon version of Victorian London in the animated life of Charles Dickens

Find out about how children worked in Victorian mines and Victorian cotton mills

Information about Victorian homes: workers' housing and upper class houses

See a photograph of a Victorian swimming costume

The life of Michael Marks, entrepreneur and founder of M&S!

See logbooks from a Victorian school, digitised by Year 5 and Year 6 children

Find out about the development of photography in the Victorian era and how people posed for photographs

See for yourself
Explore lots of places with Victorian history
See life as it was more than 100 years ago at Blists Hill Victorian Town

Learn about coal mining in Victorian times at the National Coal Mining Museum for England

Visit Tyntesfield, a Victorian stately home in Somerset

See writer Thomas Carlyle's house in Chelsea, decorated as it would have been in Victorian times

Explore a Victorian workhouse, and learn about the people who would have lived and worked there

Visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to see clothes that upper class Victorians would have worn

Take a tour of the Charles Dickens museum, which is in a house where the famous author used to live

Embark on a virtual tour of the Crystal Palace, site of the Great Exhibition of 1851 organised by Prince Albert, to see its beautiful and innovative design and discover amazing facts about the exhibition it housed

Also see

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Living in the Victorian era was exciting because of all the new inventions and pace of change and progress, but it was a hard time to live in if you didn't have much money. Even very young children had to work if their family needed them to.

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In the Victorian times family was a instrumental value, they took pride in family dynamics, these were mostly large families as birth control was not available to them. Another value was their initiative, the men and male children would often work from a young age to help provide a better life for the family.
(Collins dictionary)

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Because Harrison was a chimney sweep and suffering poverty, his clothing was often torn and dirty, his clothing also had to be quite loose so that he could move around in the chimney. His hands, arms, feet and face was often covered in ashes and dust from the chimney.

When he did attend school his mother made sure that his clothes were as clean as good be and he tried his best to look as good as he possibly could.

while he was working in the mines his clothing was like it was while he was a chimney sweep, torn and dirty. While also having mud and coal all over his face and arms.