Author Topic: Victorian London  (Read 744 times)

Offline Selby

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Victorian London
« on: Monday 27 January 25 16:22 GMT (UK) »

After going round and round the internet trying to find an answer - I've come to the clever people on RootsChat to see if you can help...

I'm researching a property - the house has four stories (its a town house in Islington, London).  The occupants were a variety of people renting rooms. 

In 1911 it had three separate families, all living in two rooms each.  What does that mean?  How could each household cook? Did they share the kitchen? Where was the bathroom? If there wasn't one, how did they wash? One family was two sisters living together, the two other families comprised of a husband and wife with a child.  Did they use one room to sleep in and one to live in?

All the information I can find online refers to slums, people living on top of each other - but this wasn't the case.  All the residents had decent jobs, they moved out and upwards, they were just renting.

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be more than grateful!! 

Many thanks, Selby

Offline alan o

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #1 on: Monday 27 January 25 17:01 GMT (UK) »
No indoor bathroom but an outside toilet.  Chamber pots were the norm.  There may have been a washing stand to hold a washing bowl for washing and shaving.  Water may have been drawn by hand from a street pump.  Baths might have been in front of the fire in a tin bath.  At the time the Victorians were keen on building public baths so people could bathe weekly.  The same goes for public washing houses.

Clothes and people did not wash so often.  Even the relatively wealthy had separate collars so the collars could be taken off and washed separately  and more often that the shirts.  They even had disposable paper collars but these were a bit looked down on.

Cooking done on a  stove which doubles up for the heating.  Water heated the same way.  Meals might have been street stall food or pie shop etc.

Often there was parents bedroom and the children slept in what doubled as the living room or an area separared by a scrren or hung sheet for privacy.

Offline youngtug

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Offline BumbleB

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #3 on: Monday 27 January 25 17:14 GMT (UK) »
On the 1911 paperwork submitted -

"Write below the number of rooms in this dwelling (house, tenement or apartment).  Count the kitchen as a room, but do not count scullery, landing lobby, closet, bathroom;  nor warehouse, office, shop."

Transcriptions and NBI are merely finding aids.  They are NOT a substitute for original record entries.
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Offline ShaunJ

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #4 on: Monday 27 January 25 17:23 GMT (UK) »
What street is it? Newspaper ads for rooms to let might reveal details of the accommodation.
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Offline Top-of-the-hill

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #5 on: Monday 27 January 25 22:58 GMT (UK) »
  My aunt lived in a similar house in Chelsea in the 1950s. 2 families, each consisting of mother and 2 children lived in 4 rooms each, only one toilet on the ground floor, sink in the kitchen cum living room. That was the only water supply in my aunt's 2 floors, and I expect it was only cold water. Lit by gas!
  Not as bad as 1911, but not great.
  Out of idle curiosity I looked at some of those houses in 1911 and some of them were indeed shared, with either single people or small families living in 1,2, or 3 rooms. Probably worth millions now.
Pay, Kent
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Kent, Felton, Essex
Staples, Wiltshire

Offline alan o

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 28 January 25 18:05 GMT (UK) »

Offline MollyC

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 28 January 25 20:07 GMT (UK) »
A restriction on the development of indoor plumbing had been the lack of an efficient water tap.  Taps were prone to leaking because two ground metal surfaces tend to wear quite quickly.  The breakthrough was the invention and patent in 1845 of the "high pressure screw down bib and stop cock" by Edward Chrimes of Rotherham.  This is the tap with a rubber washer which we take for granted.  Edward died in 1847 but the invention was taken up by his brother Richard, forming a partnership named Guest & Chrimes which operated a brass foundry for 150 years, moving to new premises in 1858.  They also designed and manufactured equipment for the large waterworks undertakings needed to provide a public water supply.

Offline Top-of-the-hill

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Re: Victorian London
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 28 January 25 20:27 GMT (UK) »
  I read the piece about "When did England get indoor plumbing", but found it a bit odd - is it an American site?
Pay, Kent
Codham/Coltham, Kent
Kent, Felton, Essex
Staples, Wiltshire