We’ve all seen the memes – Skrillex, 4Loko, GTA, and electric scooters all have the potential to kill a Victorian child. In the modern popular imagination, Victorian children are frail, easily offendable, and prone to overstimulation. But was this really the case?

In this episode, Abe and Jared take a journey through Victorian England to investigate the reality of what it was like to be a child from the dredges of poverty to the upper echelons. So put on your page boy hats and fingerless gloves, tuck in to your most nutritious gruel, and get ready to dive into some of the most unvaccinated, brutal working conditions of the 19th century!

SOURCES

Chapter 1 of The Pragmatic Ideal: Mary Field Parton and the Pursuit of a Progressive Society by Mark Douglas McGarvie - “A Victorian Childhood in Defense of Tradition, 1878-1896”

BBC Four documentary The Children Who Built Victorian Britain (2011)

Victorian Childhoods by Ginger S. Frost (2008) - Introduction

https://www.amdigital.co.uk/insights/blog/byron-and-hobhouse-in-mediterranean-europe

Children’s Fantasy Literature: An Introduction by Michael Levy and Farah Mendelsohn (2016)

“Classed Childhood in Arthur Morrison’s A Child of the Jago and Victorian Slum Fiction” by S. Brooke Cameron, from Critical Essays on Arthur Morrison and the East End, edited by Diana Maltz (2022)

“The Victorian Child, c. 1837-1901” by Marah Gubar

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/hszufz/what_modern_day_thing_do_you_think_would_kill_a/.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction

02:12 - My Annals

05:44 - Victorian England

07:44 - Kids in Victorian England

13:22 - Victorian Class

19:34 - Death and Religion

22:23 - Child Labor and Working Class Kids

33:22 - Jobs for Kids!

37:55 - Public Opinion

40:16 - Political Reactions

44:53 - Illness, Injury, and Disability

47:47 - Why you should respect the Victorian street urchin.

51:41 - Follow us on socials!!

THAT'S HISTORY, BABE! is hosted by Abe Merker and Jared Tetreau. This episode was produced by Jared Tetreau, Abe Merker, and Claudia Chiossone. Research Assistance by Madison Albertson. Music by Kinneret. Series Artwork by Sid Lugo. Intro Animations by Gemma Hill.

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