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Original poster

Non-fiction on Victorian/Edwardian poor

60 replies

seaweedseven · 25/05/2021 13:55

I'm looking for recommendations for non-fiction books about the everyday lives of working class people in Victorian and Edwardian times, especially about workhouses, factory life, being a servant, women's lives, family life, etc. I've been researching my family tree and have got interested in finding out more about everyday lives in this era.

OP posts:
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Aethelthryth · 15/06/2021 18:18

"At the Works" by Maud Pember Reeves is interesting

Yellowlobelia · 15/06/2021 18:13

Fiction again - A Child of the Jago by Arthur Morrison.

DanceWithYourBalloon · 13/06/2021 11:34

How To Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman

TeaSoakedDisasterMagnet · 13/06/2021 11:24

You could try Building Jerusalem by Tristram Hunt for a look at social context and how Victorian ideals shaped the architecture of expanding cities for the poor and middle classes. It’s a bit academic but interesting.

GlencoraP · 13/06/2021 11:13

For a good overview The Cambridge Social History . I also like Family Fortunes which is the middle classes but still good on social history by Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall.

I second The Five and also Jerry Whites books on London and also on the Debtors prison. Can’t remember the titles

Terpsichore · 13/06/2021 11:04

I'd absolutely second the PPs who recommended The Blackest Streets and the Judith Flanders books, all superb. I've also just finished Dirty Old London by Lee Jackson, which is illuminating on public health and how working people lived (usually very much on the edge and in horrific conditions) in the 19th century city.

Maybe more when I've looked at my bookshelves!

CatNamedEaster · 09/06/2021 22:07

I was coming on to recommend The Five as well. It was a fascinating insight into the lives of women at that time in London. I really admired the author's stance on barely mentioning the murderer but instead aimed to bring these women to life for the reader.

Countrydiary · 09/06/2021 21:51

Margaret Llewelyn Davies’ books that collected first hand accounts of mothers in the late nineteenth century might be interesting- life was unbearable hard for women is my main impression.

HilaryThorpe · 09/06/2021 06:02

Would thoroughly recommend The Blackest Streets by Sarah Wise about the area known as the Old Nichol in the East End of London.

Darklane · 05/06/2021 17:18

Two by Judith Flanders

The Victorian House
The Victorian City

lomaamina · 04/06/2021 19:33

That’s amazing, @elkiedee! And yes, I realised the link takes you to a site where it’s unavailable, but it’s definitely around secondhand via Bookfinder.

elkiedee · 04/06/2021 18:23

@lomaamina Growing Up Poor is mu aunt's book. I wasn't sure whether to mention it because I wasn't sure it was in print. Plus I didn't realise that it's available for £15 - not cheap to me but much less than a lot of academic books.

lomaamina · 01/06/2021 08:36

Growing up Poor, by Anna Davin, might fit your brief: www.waterstones.com/book/growing-up-poor/anna-davin/9781854890634

TheWindOnTheMoon · 31/05/2021 13:04

Have you read The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale? Apologies if it's already been mentioned. It's non fiction, about a poor working class family in London, and a murder that caused huge shockwaves in their community. It's about the late Victorian period but follows through to Edwardian & beyond.

mateysmum · 31/05/2021 12:51

The Victorian City by Judith Flanders.

Not just about the poor but a really interesting book about Victorian London. She's also written on called The Victorian House.

LaBellina · 31/05/2021 12:35

How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman

vicarlady · 31/05/2021 12:31

Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree's studies of poverty in York are interesting. First one is 1899, then second in1930s. The third was 1951 - almost within living memory for some of us.

He was a Quaker, chocolate manufacturer and was inspired by Charles Booth's study on London life.

PetuniaPot · 31/05/2021 09:22

No but thank you for the recommendation!

Original poster
seaweedseven · 31/05/2021 09:22

I like fiction too!

@PetuniaPot have you read Her People by Kathleen Dayus? It's a memoir of her poor Edwardian childhood in Birmingham.

OP posts:
katy1213 · 31/05/2021 00:31

Sorry, I see you said non-fiction - but I still stand by Gissing!

katy1213 · 31/05/2021 00:24

Also, George Gissing's The Odd Women

Thinnerlikeachickendinner · 31/05/2021 00:20

Lark rise to candleford. Akenfeld. Tea by the nursery fire. Below Stairs. The housekeeper’s tale. The road to Wigan pier. The making of a marchioness. The small house at allington (Anthony Trollope). The Victorian governess (Kathryn Hughes). Just a few, not all may be your taste!

katy1213 · 31/05/2021 00:20

I was about to say Round About a Pound a Week, too - it's very readable, and it's based on a survey of families in Lambeth from 1909 so just within your time frame. Very good on why people were poor, and why they stayed poor.

lottiegarbanzo · 31/05/2021 00:14

The Call the Midwife series is really interesting. They're set in the 1950s of course but there's a significant section about an old man and his life story, being brought up in poverty and joining the army in the 1890s. That gives the history of the tenement housing that was being replaced in the 50s. There's a lot about workhouses too.

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