Hi Carolyn, I too thought of Kathleen Dayus but be aware that she wrote just about the industrial slums (and as Ken says, in the Edwardian period, not the Victorian). There were all sorts of people living in all sorts of different conditions - some of them have been written about and some haven't. For instance, Dayus wrote "The Girl from Hockley" so I bought it because some of my own ancestors lived in Hockley. But they were artisans who had a little bit more money than the Dayus family and didn't live in back-to-back houses. My gt. grandfather was a glass cutter and his brother was a jeweller. My gt. grandfather went on to become a cycle manufacturer with his own factory by the 1890s and a house in the new suburban streets of Aston. If one of their children had written a book about the Edwardian period it would have been quite a different read to Dayus. Others of my ancestors came to England from Ireland during the Famine and started out destitute in the Irish Quarter. A couple of them became grocers who managed pretty well after a lot of hard work. Another worked in the glass trade and then became a pub landlord, entered the coal trade and became a coal merchant living in a big house on Soho Road by the 1890s. His children, too, would have had a different life to the Dayus children. It very admirable that Dayus wrote what she did but beware that it only describes one sort of life in Birmingham, one of many. It's true that far too many people had to live in such awful conditions, and it was the unfortunate experience of millions across Britain, but there were also millions of better-off people too. I am therefore surprised that you write: >> The books that I've found on Victorian England >> focus on middle class more the skilled workers which is my interest. The skilled workers could, I think, live on the border line between the working classes and the lower middle-classes? An artisan in Birmingham had good prospects. I find it hard to read about their lives. So do tell me what you have found! Sally

Hi Kathleen I think that you're right - the skilled workers probably lived somewhere between working class and middleclass. That's the group that I'm trying to find out more about. My 3xgreat grandfather lived on Warstone Lane for many years. That's why I mentioned the jewellery quarter. He was an electroplater, running his own business. I'm trying to understand what life would have been like for someone like him and his family. I was hoping that since there were so many trades in Birmingham that there would be some resource material about that group. I'll keep looking. Carolyn -----Original Message----- From: eng-warks-birmingham-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-warks-birmingham-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Sally Haden Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 4:13 AM To: eng-warks-birmingham@rootsweb.com Subject: [B'ham] books about daily life in victorian birmingham Hi Carolyn, I too thought of Kathleen Dayus but be aware that she wrote just about the industrial slums (and as Ken says, in the Edwardian period, not the Victorian). There were all sorts of people living in all sorts of different conditions - some of them have been written about and some haven't. For instance, Dayus wrote "The Girl from Hockley" so I bought it because some of my own ancestors lived in Hockley. But they were artisans who had a little bit more money than the Dayus family and didn't live in back-to-back houses. My gt. grandfather was a glass cutter and his brother was a jeweller. My gt. grandfather went on to become a cycle manufacturer with his own factory by the 1890s and a house in the new suburban streets of Aston. If one of their children had written a book about the Edwardian period it would have been quite a different read to Dayus. Others of my ancestors came to England from Ireland during the Famine and started out destitute in the Irish Quarter. A couple of them became grocers who managed pretty well after a lot of hard work. Another worked in the glass trade and then became a pub landlord, entered the coal trade and became a coal merchant living in a big house on Soho Road by the 1890s. His children, too, would have had a different life to the Dayus children. It very admirable that Dayus wrote what she did but beware that it only describes one sort of life in Birmingham, one of many. It's true that far too many people had to live in such awful conditions, and it was the unfortunate experience of millions across Britain, but there were also millions of better-off people too. I am therefore surprised that you write: >> The books that I've found on Victorian England >> focus on middle class more the skilled workers which is my interest. The skilled workers could, I think, live on the border line between the working classes and the lower middle-classes? An artisan in Birmingham had good prospects. I find it hard to read about their lives. So do tell me what you have found! Sally _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Research in Birmingham: http://www.bham.de/ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message