¶ … Working Class
Surname
What was life like in the 19th century for the working class?
The conditions of towns were often very dreadful in the early 19th century. However, there came an improvement. The gaslight saw its first London light in 1807 at Pall Mall. Coming to the 1820s, many towns started introducing gas lighting in streetlights. In the early 19th century, most of the towns were untidy and dirty, overcrowded, and unsanitary. Men started forming groups that they referred to as pavement commissioners or improvement commissioners in the 19th century. They had the power and mandate to light, clean, and even pave the streets. During the same time, England had made divisions, which they named parishes. The power that the commissioners had could only be applied in some areas. In the parishes nearby, houses were built as the towns grew. It was very unfortunate that the commissioners had no power over the newly developed suburbs (Laura (b)).
Those streets became dirty and with no pavements. The dirt littered in the streets was not collected resulting in disgusting piles. Most of it was turned into fertilizer when it turned sticky and black as most of it was organic in nature. The cesspits that people who were had were not so often emptied in the 19th century. During this same era, only people who were rich had lavatories that could be flashed. However, they later became common with time.
How were workers treated in the factories, mills, and coal pits?
Shop assistant were exposed to notorious overwork, and campaigners safely managed to safeguard the passage of the bill they had enacted known as the Shop Hours Act and this was in 1886. The act clearly stated that the working hours per week to be 74 hours. However, this did not take effect immediately until the regulations were passed to the local authorities where it could be implemented in 1912. This leaves many wondering the number of hours the shop assistants were forced to work. They claimed to have reduced the working hours to 74 hours and say that is it reasonable (Halsall (b)).. This is the exact reason as to why the conditions were termed as "wage slavery"...
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