Slide 1

Victorian LondonSaid to be the largest, most spectacular city in the world.During Industrial Revolution in Britain:$$ConsequencesPopulation 1800: 1 million1880: 4.5 Million

ConsequencesSqualorFilthQuote from Dickens BiographerIf a late twentieth-century person were suddenly to find himself in a tavern or house of the period, he would literally be sick sick with the smells, sick with the food, sick with the atmosphere around him.

ImagineLondon/Early 19th CenturyUpper and middle class homes next to areas of extreme poverty and filthIn the streets, poor and rich togetherRags and richesStreet sweepers meagerly attemptManure- omnibuscoal smoke- soot settled everywhere

Omnibus

Personal HygieneNot a priorityLaundry?StenchNo light.Gas lamps outsideOnly primary streetsCandles inside

Dickens describes a London rain stormIn the country, the rain would have developed a thousand fresh scents, and every drop would have had its bright association with some beautiful form of growth or life. In the city, it developed only foul stale smells, and was a sickly lukewarm, dirt-stained, wretched addition to the gutters.

ImagineThe gutters empty into the Thames.Drinking water comes from the Thames.CholeraThe Great Stink of 1858Smelled so bad, they dismissed Parliament!

Poor?New Poor Law1834Required parishes to create workhousesPrison for poorPoor avoided the aidpoor house

Champion to the PoorDickens father imprisonedDebtCharles consigned to blacking factoryHelp pay family debtUsed his writing to change the system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bleakhouse/animation.shtml