I have just finished reading 'Victorian London' - the life of a city 1840 - 1870 by Liza Picard ISBN 0-7538 - 2090-0 - although Liza concentrates on a much smaller London, it does give a very well researched and accurate picture of the way our relatives lived in towns and cities all over the country. The general impression I got was that inherited ME, lack of intelligent parents, overcrowded schools, Dyslexia, lack of a proper drainage system, lack of Birth Control, and other medical problems were the the cause of the squalor that existed, which was ignored by those better endowed. Although she does detail the many Societies organised to help with the social problems. Gladstone knew perfectly well what was going on, and used money for other things. These are the people on the Census Returns we research. The sewing machine wasnt invented until 1856, and until then all those long seams on dresses were stitched by hand as outwork, for 2 shillings a week. I suppose those born to be 'ag.labs' in Sussex were more fortunate to be out in the fresh air, away from the stinks of London. But who could have paid 1 shilling to have a bucket toilet taken away and emptied ? It was easier to tip it out in the street. My grandmother used to say " The aristocracy created work for people." Life was very different then. Diane 10813

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:10:37 EDT Dkn72a@aol.com wrote: Hello Dkn72a@aol.com, > overcrowded schools, Dyslexia, lack of a proper drainage system, > lack of Birth Control, ..... which was ignored by those better > endowed. Not always true; When it comes to drainage/sewage there were those quite vocal about the appalling state of London's network. It was politics that stopped the necessary works starting before they did. It took a hot summer and the unbelievably awful stench of the Thames to get things moving. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Stink which has links to other relevant information. -- Regards _ / ) "The blindingly obvious is / _)rad never immediately apparent" Black man got a lot of problems, but he don't mind throwing a brick White Riot - The Clash

Hi Diane I'd be interested to know on what basis you state that this book was well researched and accurate? Best Wishes Alan Craven ----- Original Message ----- From: <Dkn72a@aol.com> To: <SFHG-L@rootsweb.com> Cc: <dbrabant@distributel.com> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 9:10 AM Subject: [SFHG] fh >I have just finished reading 'Victorian London' - the life of a city >1840 > - 1870 by Liza Picard > ISBN 0-7538 - 2090-0 - although Liza concentrates on a much smaller > London, it does give > a very well researched and accurate picture of the way our relatives lived > in towns and cities all > over the country. The general impression I got was that inherited ME, > lack > of intelligent parents, > overcrowded schools, Dyslexia, lack of a proper drainage system, lack of > Birth Control, and other > medical problems were the the cause of the squalor that existed, which > was > ignored by those better > endowed. Although she does detail the many Societies organised to help > with > the social problems. > Gladstone knew perfectly well what was going on, and used money for > other > things. These are the people > on the Census Returns we research. The sewing machine wasnt invented > until > 1856, and until then all > those long seams on dresses were stitched by hand as outwork, for 2 > shillings a week. > I suppose those born to be 'ag.labs' in Sussex were more fortunate to be > out > in the fresh air, away from the stinks of London. But who could have > paid 1 > shilling to have a bucket toilet taken away and emptied ? It was easier > to > tip it out in the street. > My grandmother used to say " The aristocracy created work for people." > Life was very different then. > Diane 10813 > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >