AbsoluteHistory
  • Popular
  • Galleries
  • Recent
  • Trending

Odd Details About The 1800s That Weren't In Most History Books

Dan Fitzpatrick  | 5 months ago

The 19th-century United States can be described by the title of a Clint Eastwood movie: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But diving between the lines of historical textbooks reveals we need to add three more adjectives to that Eastwood flick: The Weird, The Uncomfortable, and the Dangerous. As the nation took its first steps beyond independence, her citizens faced some daily trials that make modern Americans wonder how anyone back then could have even lasted a day.

City life

Traffic, overcrowding, pollution, construction, and a booming population certainly made for a rough city living experience. But back in the 1800s that was all exacerbated by poor hygiene practices and workers grinding away in filthy factories before there were any labor laws or standards in place..
City life
Burton Holmes/Archive Farms/Getty Images

Child labor

Kids couldn't catch a break! Lax child labor laws saw kids working seven days a week on farms or in factories, especially during the Industrial Revolution, when cash-holding fat cats realized kids were less likely to organize into unions..
Child labor
Bettmann / Contributor

Traveling by horse

People pay about $80 to have a cabby take them around Central Park via horseback for 45 minutes without learning the realities of 19th-century travel: horses pooped everywhere, requiring rich people to wear raised shoes so they didn't "sink in.".
Traveling by horse
Heritage Images / Contributor

A lot more fires

Industrial Revolutions saw cities expand at unprecedented rates, which meant engineers didn't get a chance to study what to do and what not to do. Buildings and neighborhoods didn't meet any fire codes, and rudimentary firefighting tech limited meaningful responses to any raging blazes..
A lot more fires
Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

The burning of the White House

Britain was mad about losing control of the United States, so the nation returned in 1812 to sort out some details — with violence. But after taking Washington D.C.
The burning of the White House
White House Historical Association / YouTube
and burning down the White House, the campaign ended with a treaty. Britain needed to focus war efforts on Napoleon.

Diseases and epidemics

Infectious outbreaks were so prevalant that there's a Wikipedia page just for "Diseases and epidemics of the 19th century." Cholera was new to the scene, and people constantly battled smallpox, typhus, yellow fever, and tuberculosis..
Diseases and epidemics
Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images

Infant mortality

Blame it on old-timey medical knowledge, crippling poverty, or a number of other factors, but in the 19th century, about 40 percent of kids — according to Our World in Data — perished before making it to age five..
Infant mortality
Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Adult mortality

Surviving a day in the 19th century was a bit like dodging traffic, and cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, bad diets, and lacking medical knowledge were the cars speeding down the highway. Data is skewed (because of the infant mortality rate), but the average life span was about 41 years..
Adult mortality
Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

Photo opportunities

You thought your mother-in-law taking photos at the family picnic was a bit annoying? Well, in the 1800s, people often posed for pictures with the propped-up bodies of their newly deceased relatives. It was, after all, the last chance to get a photo to remember them by..
Photo opportunities
Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images

Fighting each other

In the 19th century, the United States fought in over 60 wars. Maybe the nation just wanted to beat its chest after thwarting those dastardly red coats in the Revolution? The Civil War alone saw between 650,000 and 1,000,000 deaths..
Fighting each other
New Line Cinema

Country life

Traveling wasn't easy, so 19th-century country folks didn't see too many people outside of their local community. Storms could wreck harvests and ruin livelihoods in a heartbeat, and illnesses and injuries were hard to treat with medical care often far away..
Country life
Photo by William Grundy/London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images

Hairpin pilfering

At first an innocent game, boys asked girls for their hairpins — a token of a successful flirt. But then the challenge evolved into snagging the pins without the girls knowing.
Hairpin pilfering
Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Image
"I know fellows who have followed a girl for squares," one man told the local paper.

Hygiene issues

All of the flower petals and perfumes in the world couldn't mask a 19th-century musk. The stink of the day really sank in, since tooth brushing wasn't happening frequently yet, soap wasn't a household item, and baths were maybe a weekly thing..
Hygiene issues
Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Image

Automobiling

In the late century, riding in a car was just a cool thing for rich people to do. An 1899 newspaper article out of the Kansas's Daily Monitor, debated what to call the fad, writing "society is wondering over tea cups as to whether it shall go 'automobiling,' 'autoing,' or 'biling.'".
Automobiling
Photo by Keystone/Getty Images

Lobster overload

In the 19th-century, lobster was a food for the poor. The crustacean came out of the ocean by the basket full, and early Americans hadn't discovered pouring butter on everything yet.
Lobster overload
Photo by Jodi Hilton/Getty Images
Servants needed clauses in their contracts that prevented lobster dinners more than 3 times per week.

Ring turning

"The idea is this," one New York City newspaper reported of the "ring turning" trend. "If a young lady meets a young man with a ring on his finger, she is to turn the ring two or three times." Some establishments had to put out signs banning the practice..
Ring turning
Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images

H.H. Holmes

Notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes built a hotel so he could, well, serially kill people.
H.H. Holmes
Incredibilis Podcast / Facebook
He soundproofed bedrooms, loaded the place with trap doors, and included two incinerators for body disposal.

Medical practices

There's a reason you've never heard a friend long for "the good ol' days of 19th-century medicine." Patients were dosed with alcohol, morphine — which was commercially produced by mid-century, and things like "Fruit Salt." Ailments like asthma were treated with heroin. .
Medical practices
Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

Performance-enhancing poison

Victorian athletes were known to drink strychnine and chew on coca leaves for a performance-enhancing boost. While it's not clear if they were technically cheating, their bodies probably didn't appreciate the habit!.
Performance-enhancing poison
Fox Photos / Getty Images

Deadly beauty

During the Victorian era, women wanted to make sure they looked their best. While there's nothing wrong with that, their makeup could literally kill them! Cosmetics of the day were made with things like lead, mercury, and arsenic..
Deadly beauty
Wikimedia Commons / Ben Sutherland

A painful price

As if those cosmetics weren't bad enough, Victorian women also used corsets to cinch their waists into impossibly tiny sizes! Unsurprisingly, these body crushing garments could result in breathing issues and displaced organs..
A painful price
Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation / Wikimedia Commons

Carrying a crinoline

That tiny waist was often complimented by a crinoline, a series of hoops worn to give a woman's skirt the perfect shape. This size, however, could be a hazard.
Carrying a crinoline
London Stereoscopic Company / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Beyond the obvious movement problems — you try fitting through a door wearing a crinoline! — women also ran into trouble with candles. It was all too easy to brush against an open flame and find things getting a bit toasty!

Fine feathered fashion

Feathered hats were also all the rage during Victorian times; they caused problems, too — though not for the wearer. Countless species of birds went extinct as hunters sought out the perfect accessories..
Fine feathered fashion
Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images

Bejeweled bugs

Birds weren't the only creatures who died for the sake of style. Victorian women would also kill — and wear — beetles, butterflies, and other insects to enhance their formalwear..
Bejeweled bugs
Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915 / Wikimedia Commons

Black wasn't just for style

Victorians frequently wore black — and that wasn't just because it was fashionable. In those days, cities were filled with coal dust and all sorts of dirt: white clothes would have become soiled in the blink of an eye!.
Black wasn't just for style
Wikimedia Commons/{{PD-US-expired}}

Funeral photos

Getting all dressed up in your finery wasn't only for the living, either. Victorians would take photographs of their recently deceased family members; sometimes, they'd pose alongside the body, too!.
Funeral photos
A. Brett & Co./Picryl

Buried alive?

Speaking of death, no one wants to be buried alive, right? The Victorians had the perfect solution. "Safety coffins" featured bells, buzzers, and other ways for you to signal to the surface if you found yourself trapped inside..
Buried alive?
The U.S. National Archives/Picryl

Behind bars

Mortsafes, however, served the opposite purpose. These devices, which could range from iron coffins to above-ground cages, were designed to keep the dearly departed safe inside.
Behind bars
Kim Traynor / Wikimedia Commons
Safe from what, though?

Grave robbers

Well, while Victorians followed a pretty strict code of etiquette, the era was also rife with grave robbers! These unsavory fellows would steal freshly buried bodies and use them to turn a profit..
Grave robbers
Bettmann/Getty Images

Make a date with a mummy

A different type of body snatching also became popular in the Victorian era. British explorers brought plenty of mummies back to Europe — there are even stories of upper-class "unwrapping parties," though it's not clear if those actually happened..
Make a date with a mummy
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Fiery festivities

Even if there weren't any ancient bodies on display, Victorian celebrations could still get pretty weird. One party game, called snap dragon, challenged guests to grab flaming raisins from a dish of alcohol and eat them!.
Fiery festivities
DEA/BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/Contributor/Getty Images

Hope you like calf head

If flaming raisins weren't your speed, the Victorian era also had plenty of other delicacies that were also rather... questionable.
Hope you like calf head
Wilfried Wittkowsky/Wikimedia Commons
Mock turtle soup, for example, sometimes replaced the reptile with calf heads, skin, brains, and all.

The cheapest meat

Things were even worse for the lower class, though. While meat could be pretty expensive, broxy was always affordable.
The cheapest meat
English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images
There was a catch, though: broxy was meat from animals that died from diseases rather than slaughter.

Modern medicine

If you got sick from eating old meat, medical treatment might not automatically cure you. Electrotherapy was thought to solve a variety of problems, though the practice usually caused more discomfort and scarring than anything else..
Modern medicine
Reinhold Thiele/Thiele/Getty Images

Blood sucking beasts

There were also plenty of leeches used during the Victorian era, which wasn't fun for anyone involved. These creepy-crawlies would attach to a patient's skin and theoretically draw "bad humors" out, bringing the body into balance..
Blood sucking beasts
Wellcome Images/Wikimedia Commons

Gruelling jobs

Things weren't much easier for the women working in the Victorian era as maids and other servants. While any work was better than heading to the poorhouse, working in a manor wasn't exactly a life of luxury....
Gruelling jobs
English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Dangerous homes

“In 1851, one in three women between the ages of 15 and 24 in London worked as a domestic servant,” according to Judith Flanders’ book Inside The Victorian Home. As it turns out, factories weren’t actually the most dangerous place for a woman to work: Houses were. .
Dangerous homes
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Disgusting kitchens

You’ve heard of the unhygienic practices of Victorian England, but it was the housemaid who had to clean up the worst messes. Kitchens and sculleries (a room attached to the kitchen where you washed clothes and dishes) were the worst offenders..
Disgusting kitchens
Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Food scraps and dirt

Despite being rooms where so much cleaning went on, kitchens and sculleries were particularly disgusting. In the maids’ haste to get meals on the table, scraps of food and mud and whatever else was on someone’s plate or shirt would literally fall through the cracks. .
Food scraps and dirt
Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

Creepy crawlies

The reason maids couldn’t keep up with the messes caused by cleaning is because they were too busy attending to one of the biggest problems of the era: bugs. Where there was a scrap of food, there was an insect and his entire creepy crew crawling in to claim it..
Creepy crawlies
Archive Photos/Getty Images

A "living carpet" of bugs

The Victorian bug problem was so bad, it’s legendary. Apparently the “kitchen floor at night palpitate[d] with a living carpet” of bugs, mainly cockroaches.
A "living carpet" of bugs
Wikimedia Commons
Just when the maids thought they’d cleared all the roaches off the floor, though, they’d look up at the ceiling.

Floors "heaved with cockroaches"

Just as common as roaches on the floor were beetles on the ceiling. Bugs were so prevalent that they practically cohabitated with the servants.
Floors "heaved with cockroaches"
Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
Author Beatrix Potter once observed that servants “had to sit on the kitchen table, as the floor heaved with cockroaches.”

Unwelcome guests

There were so many bugs that maids didn’t have time to bother with the other unwelcome creatures scurrying around the home. Rats may be notorious carriers of disease and other unsavory things, but at least they knew how to stay out of the way..
Unwelcome guests
David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons

Work, work, work

And that’s what servants battled the most: Time. They couldn’t get rid of the rats because their strict schedules didn’t allow for any deviation from the plan.
Work, work, work
General Photographic Agency/Getty Images
The working hours for the average maid weren’t only exhausting — they were unrelenting.

Demanding physical labor

There were days when housemaids worked from 6 AM to midnight, and unlike factory workers, they worked 7 days a week. Contrary to popular belief, a maid did more than fold linens and wash clothing.
Demanding physical labor
Bert Hardy/Getty Images
Her life was filled with demanding physical labor...

Early morning chores

The average servant’s morning always began the same way: by opening every curtain and window shutter, cleaning and lighting every fireplace in the house, and dusting everything from furniture to staircases to walls, all before the sun came up..
Early morning chores
History of Advertising Trust/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Miserable maids

She’d then scatter tea leaves over the carpets (a method of concealing odors) before sweeping them up while she swept the rest of the house. She’d beat the rugs, which collected crazy amounts of dirt in just one or two days time..
Miserable maids
Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

Backbreaking work

Next came the floors, and since maids in 1851 didn’t have Swiffers, they had to clean them the old-fashioned way: on their hands and knees, with a dirty rag and a bucket filled with soapy water, Cinderella-style..
Backbreaking work
moniquemckennon1/YouTube

A Cinderella story

As if the maids weren’t embodying Cinderella enough, they'd have to empty the fireplaces of cinders, which usually ended with them covered in soot. But there was never any time to change their clothes — by then, it was time to wake up the rest of the house..
A Cinderella story
Allison Shearmur Productions

They lived to work

Pile on the meals, the laundry, the vermin, the constant visitors tramping muck and who-knows-what-else into the house, and we wonder how maids ever had any time for themselves...which was part of the problem..
They lived to work
London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images

Facing their employer's wrath

There was barely any time for the maids to eat, sleep, or clean their own rooms because they had to keep the entire household afloat. What was worse than an all-nighter or a meal of bread and cold meat, though, was the wrath of the employer..
Facing their employer's wrath
The Royal Photographic Society Collection / Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Getty Images

Terrible consequences

Since servants were largely relegated to the status of the rats they chased, Victorian employers had no problem punishing them harshly if anything was done incorrectly. A maid couldn’t take a moment to rest or eat, or she’d have to answer to her employer..
Terrible consequences
The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

Maids dared to dream...

Servants endured all kinds of violence from their employers, and had no choice but to deal with it or they'd lose their jobs. But over time, servants started to hear a compelling rumor, one that made them rethink their vocation altogether..
Maids dared to dream...
Disney Princess/YouTube

Escape to factories

Ebenezer Scrooge may have valued cruelty, but it soon became clear to other Victorian-era employers that this strategy wasn’t working. Households were losing servants left and right, and all because the factories were promising better hours, better pay, and most importantly, better treatment..
Escape to factories
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Servants on strike

One Victorian employer summed up the small-scale revolution when he commented that “it was now necessary...to allow their maids to go to bed at ten o’clock every night, and to give them an afternoon out every other Sunday, or no servant would stay.”.
Servants on strike
Bain News Service/Wikimedia Commons

Finally being respected

Both factory and domestic work was back-breaking for women during England’s Industrial Revolution. But factory work sometimes offered women something they hardly ever got as servants: dignity.
Finally being respected
Culture Club/Getty Images
And to many women, that made all the difference.

💖 If you liked it, you should share it

✍ WRITTEN BY

Dan Fitzpatrick

Join Our Newsletter
Start your day with AbsoluteHistory
DMCA
Privacy policy
About
Terms of use
Contact us
CCPA Notice
Don't sell my personal information

Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved, AbsoluteHistory Media Israel