Victoria became Queen of England in 1837 at age 18. She had nine children and reigned during a time of vast expansion of the British Empire and rapid industrialization. Many children worked in dangerous conditions in factories and coal mines during this period due to lack of protections. Schools taught basic academics but content differed by gender, preparing girls for domestic roles and boys for factory or military work. Living standards varied greatly between the rich and poor.

2. Queen Victoria
• Victoria was born in 1819 to Father Edward,
Duke of Kent. Her Mother was German, she was
Princess Maria Louisa Victoria of Saxe-Coburg.
• Victoria's father died when she was a baby, on
23 January 1820. She knew that one day she
would be Queen of England.
• Victoria did not go to school. Her German
governess gave her lessons. Victoria grew up
speaking German as well as English.
• In 1837 Victoria became Queen of England at
the age of just 18! Her coronation lasted 5 hours
long!
• The Queen had nine children Edward VI, Princess
Victoria, Princess Alice, Princess Beatrice, Prince
Leopold, Alfred (Duke of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha) Princess Helena, Prince Arthur and
Princess Louise.
• She was Queen of a vast Empire, as well as of
Britain.

3. Fun Fact
In 1842 the Queen rode on a train for the first time, from London to
Windsor.

4. The Victorian Era
• The Victorian age in British history is
named after Queen Victoria, who
was Britain's queen from 1837 until
1901.
• No TV, no computers, no central
heating, no cars (until the last few
years of Victoria's reign).
• Many children went to work, not to
school.

5. Diary of a Victorian child
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV3JO_RYIDE

6. The British Empire
• Britain ruled the British Empire.
• Victoria was Empress of India as
well as Queen of Britain, Canada
(the biggest country in the
Empire) and small countries such
as Jamaica.
• Some British children left
Britain with their families to new
homes in Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa and Canada.

7. The Industrial Revolution
• The Industrial revolution
brought Factories to the land of
England.
• The population rose from 16
million in 1801 to 41 million
1901.
• Men, Women and Children
worked in the factories.
• They also worked in the Coal
Mines.
• Workers of the mines and
factories were on a low wage
and lived in the slums.

8. The conditions during Industrial revolution
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohGyBYzZoig

9. Victorian Factories
• Britain was the first country in
the world to have lots
of factories.
• Factories were noisy. People had
to shout above the rattle and
hiss of machinery.
• The air was thick with oil, dust
and soot. Making workers very
ill.
• Iron and steel works got so hot
that workers dripped with sweat.

10. Cotton Mills
• Cotton mills were factories where
cotton was spun into thread.
• Weaving machines turned the
thread into textiles, such as cloth
and carpets.
• The cotton and wool industries
employed thousands of workers,
mostly in the north of England.
• Mill workers lived in small houses
close to the factories.

11. Children and Factories
• Factory owners employed children
because they were cheap, did not
complain, had nimble fingers, and could
crawl about under machines.
• Small girls worked in mills as ‘piecers’,
this meant going under the machines
and joining broken threads together.
• They risked getting caught in the
machinery, losing hair or arms.
• At first, there were no laws to protect
working children.

12. Coal Mines
• Most of the energy we use today
comes in the form of electricity or
oil. In Victorian times, energy
came from water-power
(waterwheels), from horses and
above all from burning coal.
• Steam engines burned coal.
• All this coal had to be dug from
coal mines. Britain had a lot of
coal, deep in rocks beneath the
ground.

13. What were the coal Mines like?
• Most coal was dug from deep mines. A
long vertical shaft was dug down from
the surface. Leading off from it were
side tunnels. Miners rode in a lift,
worked by a steam engine.
• In the tunnels, they hacked at the coal
with picks and shovels. Coal mines
were dark, dirty and dangerous.
• The only light came from candles and
oil lamps. Gas in the mine could choke
miners, or explode. Tunnels could
flood or collapse. Accidents killed
many miners.

14. Fun Fact
• Mine children often worked in complete darkness. There were no
electric torches. Candles cost precious pennies.

15. What jobs did the Children do?
• Some children pushed trucks of coal
along mine tunnels. They were
called 'putters'.
• 'Trappers' opened and shut wooden
doors to let air through the tunnels.
A trapper boy sat in the dark, with
just a small candle, and no-one to
talk to.
• Some children started work at 2 in
the morning and stayed below
ground for 18 hours. Children
working on the surface, sorting
coal, at least saw daylight and
breathed fresh air.

16. Victorian Schools
• Children sat in rows and the teacher
sat at a desk facing the class.
• Most teachers were men, but later
many women trained as teachers.
• Children wrote on slates with chalk.
• Girls and boys learned together in
primary schools, but were separated
in secondary schools. Both boys and
girls learned reading, writing,
arithmetic, spelling and drill (PE).

17. Subjects taught at school
• Boys learned technology: woodwork, maths and technical drawing, to
help with work in factories, workshops or the army when they grew
up.
• Girls had lessons in cooking and sewing, to prepare them for
housework and motherhood.
• Children were often taught by copying and repeating what the
teacher told them. Lessons included teaching in right and wrong, and
the Christian religion.

18. Fun Fact
• One Victorian slang word for 'children' was 'chavy'.

19. Rich Vs Poor schooling
• Boys from rich families were sent away to
boarding school. Some ‘public schools’, like
Eton and Harrow, set high standards.
• Other schools were awful places, run to
make profits for the owners. Boys in these
bad schools were half-starved, ill-treated,
and taught very little.
• Girls sent away to be trained as governesses
were not much better off, as you can learn
from reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
• Girls and young boys were taught at home
by a male tutor or a female governess. The
first good girls' schools were started in
Victorian times, such as the North London
Collegiate School (1850).

20. Fun Fact
• Victorians counted their money in pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence
(d). There were 20 shillings to one pound, and 12 pence in one
shilling.