The EMBARRASSING Facts About How They "Did It" in the Victorian Era

Baffling Trends. Queen Victoria. Chimney Sweeps. Raging Diseases. The Industrial Revolution. The Victorian Era was a period of enormous transformation for 19th century Britain. Society was prosperous and innovative, spreading across the British Empire, though the Victorians also struggled with rigid social constructs at home in the United Kingdom.

During the reign of Victoria, from 1837-1901, Britain was like a novel by Charles Dickens: funny, strange, sad, dramatic, and terrifying in equal measure. Pour the tea and get ready to read these 45 proper facts about the Victorian age. 

The practice of putting up a Christmas tree is in part thanks to Albert, the husband of famous Queen Victoria. Born and raised in Germany, where the Christmas tree was common, Albert brought the iconic Christmas symbol to the English population by decorating Windsor castle in 1840. Other Christmas traditions that originated in the 19th century included exchanging gifts, giving Christmas cards, and pulling Christmas crackers.

If you've read Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, picture the scene: fuming factory chimneys, miserable children, and the whirr of the Industrial Revolution. Yup, child labor was common in the Victorian age, largely because poor families didn’t earn enough for food without it. One job that had a high demand for children was work in the coal mines. A child's small size could maneuver in tight spaces, and they required far less pay than adult workers.

In the Victorian era, kids would work for 12 to 18 hours in air saturated with coal dust, and there was constant danger. Other jobs included chimney sweeping (where children could start working as young as 3) and working in factories or textile mills. In 1891, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed, offering some protection to child laborers.