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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Gadget on Wednesday 03 May 06 16:04 BST (UK)
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Hi
I'm a bit of a local/social history freak and have a vast collection of books, articles, etc. However, I can't find a really good source book on the 'everyday' lives of ordinary folk in the 19th century.
As a starting point, I always turn to a first year/A level history source - Cole and Postgate, The Common People, but this just doesn't give the information I want.
Anyone found any really good sources?
Gadget
Just found this that might be of interest:
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/sochistov.html
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Hi Gadget
This website has interesting information about the life of domestic servants as well as other useful tit bits. Very enlightening!
http://www.household-management.com/household/chapter41.html
Kerry :)
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Hi Gadget,
Like you I am into local history but to get a better understanding of the Victorian period I have on my bookshelves the following works that I have found informative and at times very interesting.
The Illustrated History of the House Wife 1650-1950 by Una A. Robertson.
London's Underworld by Henry Mayhew
Life below stairs by Brian E. Huggett
and
A Victorian Household by Shirley Nicholson (which so far I have found to be the best book about life in Victorian society)
old rowley
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Here's an interesting site predominantly based on women in Hastings, Sussex http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/index.htm
Casalguidi
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Thanks Kerry
I've had a look at that - it's very funny in places but it does have very detailed descriptions of what was expected of them. I have a footman who became a butler, two parlour maids, a laundress and a number of 'domestic servants'.
Does the course your planning to do from the Autumn have any general refs? ;)
Hi Old Rowley
Thanks for those refserences - I'll certainly follow them up. They look good to me :)
And thanks Casalguidi - I'll look at the site now :)
Sorry to be a bit of a nuisance asking this question but I do get so bored with endless tree stuff - it's the lives that are the important things to me.
Gadget :)
(Every time I try to post, someone is giving me info - thanks ever so :) )
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Hi Gadget
Not sure about refs for the course I am doing yet, I've got to send the application in. If there are any that might be of interest I will let you know.
Kerry :)
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Hiya
Ah a fellow social history enthusiast ;D
The works of Gissing are fictional but are reputed to be reasonably accurate portrayals of everyday working class/lower middle class life, there's a list here:
http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/english/Gissing/Gissing_HomePage.htm
I've read most of them, Nether World is I think a very candid picture of working class life based around Clerkenwell London and most of the references are factual. The Odd Women is an interesting portrayal of working/lower middle class unmarried women, and their options (limited!). New Grub Street is also intresting from the point of view of the lack of mobility between classes (focusing on working vs lower middle generally).
There's also a book (name escapes me, but will look it up if you're interested) of actual autobiographies/diaries of working class people generally in the mid to late Victorian era - if memory serves me correct, things like Miner, Shopkeeper, Hand Loom Weaver, footman are included. It's quite expensive as it's been out of print for ages though. A must read though ... my copy has been lost :(
Mayhew's work (and books co-authored by his brother I think) as Old Rowley suggested are seminal works of the time and rare sociological investigations/surveys into working class life. London Labour and London Poor is excellent.
Hope that helps, and good luck
Biker
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Like Biker, I recommend some fiction - Dickens, Mrs Gaskell etc. As a voracious reader I've found information in all kinds of books. I like old cookery books, for instance. And I have a facsimile edition of a 1907 Army & Navy Stores catalogue - a huge tome full of fascinating illustrations of domestic items.
As a former history teacher I'm always pleased when family history leads people to study the context in which their ancestors lived.
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This is a simply fantastic website Gadget - you can spend hours here - if you haven't seen it, do have a look!
http://www.victorianlondon.org/
Veron ;D
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Thanks for all the refs. Would love the refs you're refering to Biker - need lots of reading matter up here in the gales, etc. Well that's my excuse if i really need one.
II have masses on Scottish stuff and quite a bit of local history on my Welsh borders area but I wanted to really try to get into my ancestors lives.
Love Mrs Gaskell and that genre but I've never liked Dickens. Very strange ???
Anyway, thanks everyone.
Gadget
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This is a simply fantastic website Gadget - you can spend hours here - if you haven't seen it, do have a look!
http://www.victorianlondon.org/
Veron ;D
I'm a big fan of this site too and if you sign up for the newsletter you get loads of other interesting site links and it's an occasional mailing, you don't get inundated with spam!
There is a full transcription of Mrs Beeton's Household Management (1861) in here too, fascinating even if your ancestors do not fit the 'household' mould ;D
THE BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT;
Comprising Information for the
MISTRESS, HOUSEKEEPER, COOK, KITCHEN-MAID, BUTLER, FOOTMAN, COACHMAN, VALET, UPPER AND UNDER HOUSE-MAIDS, LADY'S-MAID, MAID-OF-ALL-WORK, LAUNDRY-MAID, NURSE AND NURSE-MAID, MONTHLY, WET, AND SICK NURSES, ETC. ETC.
ALSO, SANITARY, MEDICAL, & LEGAL MEMORANDA;
WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN, PROPERTIES, AND USES OF ALL THINGS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE AND COMFORT.
BY MRS. ISABELLA BEETON.
Steph.
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Hi Gadget !
If somebody mentions something interesting - check there first!!
http://www.gutenberg.org/
choose whatever you want - for free!! - the catalogue is endless!!
Annie :) :) :)
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That looks one amazing site Annie, for lots of books not just History.
I'm slowly going through all the sites mentioned - the Victorian stuff is great - i'm sure I've used it before for graveyards :-\ but hadn't bookmarked it. They are all now book marked.
Thanks
Gadget - off to do more reading :)
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Ye Olde Greye Cells are working a bit and remembered the book of autobiographies/diaries, it's called "Useful Toil" by J Burnett
Here's an Amazon listing with a bit of synopsis and has one of those cool Search Inside features ...
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0fc/
p.s. it's my birthday coming up shortly if you want to get a whip-round going LOL
Regards
Biker
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That's a not too bad a price Biker - I'll order it. Thanks ever so :)
Gadget
(Here's a £5 to start the whip round )
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Hi Gadget,
This is probably a bit below your 'radar' with you being an Aristocrat and all that :) but i got a fascinating book at Xmas from a relative, Readers's Digest: The Story of Where You Live: ISBN 0 276 42959 1. As i say more for the beginners but still has lots of refs and links.
Best wishes
Tony
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Going for my temporary crown tomorrow Tony ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for the ref - what places does it cover?
Gadget
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Gadget, just noticed that www.abebooks.co.uk (great online bookshop) has them for less money by the looks of it.
Let us know what you think of it.
Biker
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Hi Biker
Abebooks is pretty good - but sometimes it costs more because of postage. I'll certainlyget the book one way or another.
Gadget
Added - Bought it - brilliant
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Going for my temporary crown tomorrow Tony ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for the ref - what places does it cover?
Gadget
It's a generalist book, sort of prospective Rootschatters for Beginners, A4 format, 352 pages, and whilst interesting in a coffee table book does have lots of links to other places.
Also The Pump House, and Ragged School in Manchester have excellent material on life in Victorian England
Cheers
Tony,
p.s have you managed the trip to Ireland yet :)
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Ye Olde Greye Cells are working a bit and remembered the book of autobiographies/diaries, it's called "Useful Toil" by J Burnett
Here's an Amazon listing with a bit of synopsis and has one of those cool Search Inside features ...
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0fc/
p.s. it's my birthday coming up shortly if you want to get a whip-round going LOL
Regards
Biker
That looks so interesting I think I will have to get a copy too!!! Thanks for the link.
Gadget Hope the visit to the dentist goes ok!
Kerry :D
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Going for my temporary crown tomorrow Tony ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for the ref - what places does it cover?
Gadget
It's a generalist book, sort of prospective Rootschatters for Beginners, A4 format, 352 pages, and whilst interesting in a coffee table book does have lots of links to other places.
Also The Pump House, and Ragged School in Manchester have excellent material on life in Victorian England
Cheers
Tony,
p.s have you managed the trip to Ireland yet :)
Thanks Tony I'll add them to my list . Luckily I love reading :)
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I have just come into the possession of a book called......"Modern Britain...A Social History 1750-1997" second edition by Edward Royle.I've had a quick look through and it seems a decent enough book but before i start on it more thoroughly has anybody read this book and if so is it worth the read.
Regards
Steve :-\
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Hi Gadget,
Like you I am into local history but to get a better understanding of the Victorian period I have on my bookshelves the following works that I have found informative and at times very interesting.
The Illustrated History of the House Wife 1650-1950 by Una A. Robertson.
London's Underworld by Henry Mayhew
Life below stairs by Brian E. Huggett
and
A Victorian Household by Shirley Nicholson (which so far I have found to be the best book about life in Victorian society)
old rowley
Thanks for these Old Rowley....just reserved copies of two of them from my library ;)
Gadget - great topic :)
Dolly
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So glad that this thread miraculously resurfaced!
Mods - one for a sticky?
I was given "Child of the Jago" (Morrison) many years ago which is wonderful about dickensian London. I see it is on the victorianlondon site very cheaply.
One of husband's grandfathers was a bare knuckle fighter in the East End. No sports section on the Victorian site - and anyway I am saving up husband for when I do FH certificate/diploma starting in January. So should not be looking for him.
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There are four books by LIza Picard, all about London,(but I feel they would be representative for anywhere) from Elizabethan to Victorian times, with a wealth of information; how they lived, where, what they ate, pastimes, clothes, furniture, occupations, etc., from every level of society.
I had Dr Johnsons London from the library some time age, and it was wonderful.
I have just ordered all four through Amazon, £20 inc p & p. just had a quick peep into the Victorian one, and she starts off with the conditions in the streets, and the state of the sewerage (or lack of), very vivid!
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I think that you'll find that this thread and others are already referred to in a sticky:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,163836.0.html
There are some really good references there.
Jo :)
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2 books by Nigel Morgan about homes in Preston, Lancashire, probably typical of other industrial towns.
"Vanished Dwellings"
"Deadly Dwellings"
It was intended as a trilogy but Morgan died before publishing "Desirable Dwellings".
Information on website Preston History https://prestonhistory.com
A recent addition to the website deals with the theory propagated by John Clay who was a chaplain to Preston House of Correction that parents allowed their babies to die so they could collect burial club money. This was refuted by Eliza Cook, who put forward more obvious causes for high infant mortality.