Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
I often romanticize about that era in time..I know that life was still very labour intensive and difficult for city dwellers in both London and Paris, but at the same time they achieved some incredible infrastructure feats..London had a working subway system around then and despite electricity not being invented yet, I believe that most residences and offices had some sort of main gas line feeding their lamps..Also water lines and fire hydrants were established..They were the start of modern cities, and I can only imagine the hustle and bustle they had going in everyday life on their main streets, despite having no traffic lights..All things being relative, I bet that a professional lawyer living in London in 1860 felt every bit like a "modern man", as he came home from a busy day at the office, picked up the daily newspaper and took his wife out shopping at some fashionable stores, or to a play on the weekend.
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You're right, there will always be an element of romanticism we have for the past, even though we know how brutal it could be. I reckon we will always be wowed by their architecture first and foremost, that we deem so important (rightly so). Their dress, customs and historical events they lived through too, even the bad side has a degree of exoticism.
The streets were rammed -the city grew from 1 million in 1800 to 6.7m a century later:
300,000 horses shat about a 1,000 tonnes of manure onto the streets each day, and each passed about 2 pints of piss, creating a slurry. The animals were worked to death and often abandoned where they lay. With the rising population the Times predicted within 50 years the streets would be drowned under 9ft of manure, though thankfully the omnibus and later, vehicles saved the day.
Heels were fashionable for centuries so that less of the slurry stuck to the sole
Victorian homes all had their 'ground floors' raised to rise above the stench, while the semi-basement suffered.
However, you could live an elegant life, provided infection, pollution and childbirth didn't kill / maim you over the decades. One third of children died before 5, drinking water killed thousands, the paint and substances in the house itself were deadly over time.
And if born poor, life was horrendous and short, albeit with strong community.
Absurdly, their homes nowadays are reserved for millionaires
Crime was not as bad as portrayed -about 75% non-violent (theft, burglary, pickpocketing) and the homicide rate was significantly lower than the centuries before (albeit 45% higher than today, at 1.5 per 100,000 as opposed to 1.04). However, 1/5 of women in the working classes were involved in the sex trade at some point in their lives -about 8% of all women in the city, at any one time. This was actually down from Georgian times, when 20% of all women had worked the industry -not quite the Bridgerton they portray.
And beware of falling into debt, even for the rich. Debtors jails often ran machines that had no purpose but to punish -the scourge of the middle classes:
If you were the half of the population born as a woman, there'd be very few options or choices for you, even if rich. Your marriage was arranged while you were a teenager, if lucky. From thereon you ran the gamut of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as destitution. For men, war and exploration beckoned from the exotic colonies, albeit much less advertised was the fact the average life expectancy out there was short (2 years in India), mainly from tropical diseases.
Nearly 100% of all households drank heavily or used Class A opiates. Laudunum was made of 10% opium and 90% high-proof alcohol, sold at a penny a bottle and cheaper than beer or wine. A working class adult drank 3-6 pints a day, a middle class one 3-5 alcoholic drinks, and upper class 4-6. In short, mass alcoholism and substance abuse.
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