Poor people in Victorian England typically did not celebrate Christmas with much festivity. Often, it was considered another work day for the poor, but some workhouses provided a slightly more elaborate means to the workers that day.
What would a poor Victorian child get for Christmas?
At the beginning of the Victorian period, the children of the rich received handmade toys, which were quite labor intensive to make and expensive. The children of the poor received stockings filled with fruit and nuts, a tradition we still have today.
In the era of the parish workhouse, prior to 1834, Christmas Day was the traditional occasion of a treat for most workhouse inmates. In 1828, for example, inmates of the St Martin-in-the-Fields workhouse received roast beef, plum pudding, and one pint of porter each.
What would a poor Victorian child find in their Christmas stocking?
In a “poor child's” Christmas stocking, which first became popular from around 1870, only an apple, orange and a few nuts could be found. Father Christmas / Santa Claus – Normally associated with the bringer of the above gifts, is Father Christmas or Santa Claus.
Gift giving was traditionally part of New Year celebrations, but the Victorians used Christmas as an occasion for giving fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets to their loved ones. Handmade games, dolls, books and clockwork toys were popular, as were apples, oranges and nuts.
Christmas Day in the Workhouse (Victorian Era Story of Poverty)
What were the rich and poor in Victorian times?
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. Poor people – even children – had to work hard in factories, mines or workhouses. They didn't get paid very much money.
Giving gifts at Christmas wasn't a tradition the Victorians introduced, but they certainly made it a part of their family festivities. Presents were shared on the evening of Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day as is traditional in the 21st century.
At Christmas, poor families ate rabbit or beef for their Christmas dinner. Some workhouses would provide a beef or mutton meal, with some alcohol, cheese or pudding. However, those living there would not usually receive the day off and had to get back to work after they had eaten.
The toys children played with in Victorian times often depended on how wealthy their family was. Children from rich families played with rocking horses, train sets, doll's houses and toy soldiers, whereas children from poor families tended to play with home-made toys such as peg dolls, spinning tops and skipping ropes.
However, it was Queen Charlotte who brought over a tree from Germany for Royal festivities in 1800, but few people followed the Royal fashions at this time. Christmas trees were expensive in the 19th century and poorer families often had the difficult choice of a tree or goose for the festive period.
They saw Christmas as a wasteful festival that threatened Christian beliefs and encouraged immoral activities, to (in Stubbs' words) the 'great dishonour of God'. The discontent felt within the Puritan community towards festivals led to the enactment of forceful legislation even before Cromwell's protectorate.
At the dawn of the 19th century, Christmas was hardly celebrated – at least, not in a way we would recognise today. Many businesses didn't consider it to be a holiday. Gift-giving had traditionally been a New Year activity, but moved as Christmas became more important to the Victorians.
The first Christmas card was commercially produced in 1843, but it was the introduction of the halfpenny stamp, which made sending cards affordable. Victorians would exchange letters at Christmas time, usually tell of the years events and hopes for the coming year.
The old English Father Christmas loved a good party, but the Victorians needed more from him that that. Generous, jolly and dedicated to children, Santa Claus was the ideal character for their new version of Christmas – just as he was for the New Yorkers who did so much to shape his legend earlier in the century.
People were expected to obey a strict moral code, to know their place and not to question those in authority. The children of the poor were not thought to be a blessing, but often a burden on the family. With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated.
What work did Victorian children do? In the 1850s one in nine girls over the age of 10 worked as domestic servants for wealthy homes. Poor children often had to work instead of going to school. Many worked with their parents at home or in workshops, making matchboxes or sewing.
It was widely believed by the wealthiest Victorians that the poor only had themselves to blame for their pitiful existence and should not be helped. The very poor were treated like criminals, with nowhere else to go when they could no longer look after themselves but the workhouse.
For many poor people across Britain, white bread made from bolted wheat flour was the staple component of the diet. When they could afford it, people would supplement this with vegetables, fruit and animal-derived foods such as meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs - a Mediterranean-style diet.
Victorian Christmases were colourful, festive occasions - so the more decorations, the merrier. Originally there were lots of themed crackers, including different ones for bachelors, Suffragettes and even people like Charlie Chaplin!
When were Xmas cards delivered in Victorian times?
Queen Victoria sent the first official Christmas card, and Sir Henry Cole, who amongst other things was an assistant to Sir Rowland Hill in the introduction of the penny post and the first Director of the V&A, commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843. The initial print run was for 1000 cards.
Classic Victorian parlor amusements include games with names like Piggy Squeak, Up Jenkins, Throwing the Smile, Find the Thimble, Choose your Punishment, Shadow Buff and Hunt the Ring.
Early designs which make up the display look distinctly unseasonal to us, but proved to be very popular with the Victorians. Humour was often evident in Victorian Christmas cards but not always of a kind that we can appreciate today. Religious themes were surprisingly uncommon.
Printed Christmas cards became popular in the Victorian period (1837-1901) thanks to a combination of cheaper printing techniques and even cheaper post, with the arrival of the Penny Black postage stamp.
Victorian christmas cards have become something of great interest in the last few years as people have found their images to be funny or strange. Favorite Christmas cards from the era depicted a group of frogs dancing, a mouse riding a lobster, Santa Claus boiling children, and a frog and a stag beetle slow dancing.
