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Victorian Era

62 replies

Nooriginalusername23 · 13/01/2023 14:39

If you could go back to the Victorian era for just 24 hours, what would you do? I would love to walk through east end London when Jack the Ripper was on his killing spree. Would love to feel what the atmosphere was like and life in general was like back then.

what would you do for the day if you could go back in time?

OP posts:
theblackradiator · 23/01/2023 19:13

that's great @Alcemeg I've watched it a few times over now, look at how fascinated they all were with the camera mind you I bet it was huge and on a tripod. And look at the clogs a lot of them were wearing they look so heavy and clunky, they all look very happy though don't they even though they've probably done a long hard shift in the factories. I was surprised to see a black boy near the beginning of the video was lovely to see him having fun with his pal and looking clearly like he fitted in and accepted within the community. amazing to think this video was 120 years ago.

helloelsie · 23/01/2023 19:23

Visit one of their mental asylums and see just how bad they actually weren't

Alcemeg · 23/01/2023 19:34

@theblackradiator I could watch it on a loop for hours - keep spotting something new each time!
...the bloke walking towards us centre screen at 01:00 always gives me the creeps for some reason...
and there's a bloke at 02:00 (right of screen) with terrible bow legs. Rickets?

@helloelsie I think the asylums must have been pretty awful! I'd be scared they might keep me in 😱

Literarydot · 24/01/2023 14:26

theblackradiator · 22/01/2023 19:56

@Alcemeg I spent ages the other night watching through some of these videos you posted the link for and what surprised me the most was how incredibly well dressed everybody appeared to be. Especially the one of the fair up north. Unless all the people caught on the film were from the middle to upper classes as I was always under the impression the victorian era was full of unclean ragged looking people.

As for white Chapel in London which people have mentioned I'm from Manchester and we had a similarly bad district known as Angel meadow during the victorian era I'd love to go back to see if it really was a bad as it was reported to have been. During the victorian era a Germany reporter called freidrick engels wrote a book about how bad he found Angel meadow to be the book was called the condition of the working classes in England.

Then again, people from the 1950s seem well dressed compared to today - hats, gloves, court shoes, day dresses, neat handbags, silk neck scarves brooches, bowler hats, umbrellas, suits/suit jackets - these things were day to day wear for the everyday person back then, not just for the office or a special occasion.

Imagine in 50 years from now when standards have slipped again (which inevitably they will) - will people from the 2070s be looking at the 2000's and saying how well dressed we were in joggers, puffer coats, trainers?! I actually bet they will! By then it'll all 2070s onesies that you can wear for a week without needing to wash or something and double up as a coat and a duvet, and dual use indoor/outdoor slippers. Joggers, trainers and separate coats will seem positively posh....

theblackradiator · 24/01/2023 21:05

@Literarydot yes I was thinking how dress standards have dropped and we are now way to casual. I remember my mum back in the 80s making a huge effort putting her best clothes on, always a smart skirt or dress to nip out on a Saturday night just to the local pub for a couple of hours she would never have gone in her casual day clothes. nowadays the same effort is not made and people are in casual jeans and trainers we have become very sloppy in appearance. It'll be just up out of bed and out of the door by 2070, infact I sometimes see that now on the school run I've even seen it in the supermarket. the older generations would've been appalled.

Headstones250 · 13/02/2023 15:35

I'd go back to visit family in the Midlands - who I sort of feel I know a bit as I have so many heirlooms and hand me downs. Imagine seeing familiar items, thing I own right now, being used by their original owners in a real Victorian home!

IHeartGeneHunt · 13/02/2023 15:39

I'd go to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, then visit all the old galleried inns that have since been demolished.
Or I would visit the relative born in the North who I've always liked the sound of and see what her life was like.

medianewbie · 13/02/2023 15:50

One side of my family were music Hall/ circus folk, so I think that would be interesting (if possibly quite grisly / upsetting ?)
One side are Maltese so that would be fascinating (there were steam trains in Malta in Victorian times!).
But I'd also like to ask the man who built my house (1880) if it is haunted (basement esp) because he didn't buy it fair & square off the old man who'd owned it as a modest cottage before Mr Wealthy (er) turned it into a 3 story 4 bed house? No one stays here long.

Halsall · 13/02/2023 22:12

I’d love to meet Dickens and his circle. He was celebrated for being a charismatic person and a magnetic speaker - mind you, he was a bastard to his poor wife, but I’d still jump at the chance to spend some time with him, once someone's helpfully invented the time machine!

Cantwait4summer94 · 13/02/2023 22:21

Halsall · 13/02/2023 22:12

I’d love to meet Dickens and his circle. He was celebrated for being a charismatic person and a magnetic speaker - mind you, he was a bastard to his poor wife, but I’d still jump at the chance to spend some time with him, once someone's helpfully invented the time machine!

I would love to have met him too

Onnabugeisha · 13/02/2023 22:25

I be clothes shopping. Silk dress for £2? But of course!

whatadoodledo · 13/02/2023 22:44

I'd go quite high end and want to mingle with high society. Perhaps a night at the opera....or attend a private party with aristocracy.

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