Day 2: Occupational Exploration part 2

Welcome back everyone! We are now headed off to visit another dear friend of mine. While we are en-rout to his home, I would like to give you a little insight on the Upper and Lower middle classes of society.

These two classes probably have the broadest spectrum of incomes because these two classes have the broadest range of occupations. Most of the middle class occupations involve little to no manual labor and provide a yearly income of anywhere from a banker's earnings 1,000 pounds or more per year to a small shop keeper making 50 pounds or less per years. (info based on http://www.census-helper.co.uk/victorian-life/). Doctors, Clergymen, Bankers, and Factory Owners were just a few of the upper middle class careers and then shop keepers, merchants, and others such people comprised the lower middle class. For today though we'll mostly be focusing on the lower middle class since my friend William Oliver is an an owner of a small clothing shop in the center of London and since we have just arrived at his estate I will let him tell you the rest...
 Hello! My name is William Oliver and my wife and I own a small clothing store in the center of busy London. Since my wife is a seamstress we not only sell materials and supplies for making clothes but sell finished gowns and coats, while I am skilled with shoe making and can offer boots and leather hats at our store in addition to the raw materials. We have two young children, Thomas and Edward, and since we only have enough of an income to have one servant, my wife usually stays at home with our children while I tend to the store front in town. We make just enough to place us in the lower-middle class, but some years our store only makes enough to consider us in the working class. The home we live in currently was actually my childhood home that I inherited it from my father. However I am very pleased with it and it provides us with enough space to allow my mother to live with us and watch her two grandchildren grow up.  A typical day for me involves starting my day around 5:00am. Betsy our made has already awoken and started the morning chores by then and I will go into town to begin setting up the store to open. When I return home at 8:00am, breakfast is usually ready and my wife, sons, and mother are up aswell. We usually enjoy breakfast together and even Betsy will join us even though she is a servant she is still apart of the family. After breakfast my wife gets to work finishing up dresses and gowns to put in our store front and since our boys are not old enough to go to school yet they stay home with her. I usually do a few administrative things in my office before I head back to the store to open shop at 10:00am. Most of our business is from Upper middle class and Rich folk, but we do have some working class people occasionally come into our store for a new pair of boots or some materials. Our store is open Monday through Saturday and Closed on Sundays so I may spend the day with my family. On some days when my wife needs a break from taking cares of the boys I will take them to the store with me. Other days I will stay home with the boys and my wife will go and tend to the store, but for the most part my customers will see me there. Most days I will close the store from 4:00pm till 5:00pm to go home and have tea with my family and see my sons one more time before they go to bed for the night. Then I return to the store until 8:00pm and close up shop for the night. My wife and I have a quiet supper together around 9:00pm and then go to bed shortly thereafter. On Sundays when the store is closed we will go to church in the mornings and then usually have a picnic lunch in the park with some of our friends until late afternoon. I would say our lives our busy but quiet and rarely eventful but I don't think I would change my class for any other if you ask me. 

This picture was taken from this link (http://www.jasna.org/info/bday-2011/id-dec.html)


Well! William's life is certainly different from Charlotte's, but I wouldn't say either one is a bad way of life. Now not every shop keeper is just like William so if you were curious about learning more info on shops in that era please check out this link! ( http://logicmgmt.com/1876/overview/victorian_shopping/shops.htm). I found it interesting that William said his shop, depending on how much it makes him per year, places his family in either the lower middle class to the upper working class. I find it very fascinating how that can play a part in where you are placed in the social hierarchy. I do however believe it is time to call it a day! Please journal tonight about which class, either Charlotte's or William's, you would prefer and why. I will look forward to hearing about what each of you have to say. Feel free to do more studying as well if you'd like before making a final decision too. Tomorrow we'll take a look at what a servants life looks like in both an aristocrats home and a small home like William's.
Your Friend and Loyal Guide,
   Georgiana Pemberton

Day 2: Occupational Exploration Part 1

Good Morning my friends,

    Now that we are quite familiar with 19th Century English society, we are going to talk about the type of occupations they would have had back in that era. Today we will be visiting many of my friends across the streets of London to discover a day in the life of each class of society, but let me first start by explaining the "ladder" of society.

     If you will observe the table below for just a moment I will explain how the social classes look

(image taken from hierarchystructure.com/19th-century-england-social-hierarchy/ )

Starting with the highest class on the info-graph we have the Aristocrats, rich people who typically inherited their wealth from their family line, like the Royal Family, Knights, Country Gentlemen, bishops, and those in parliament. Aristocrats had no thought of money during their lifetime and many of them gave large amounts of money to the poor and needy. Today we'll be meeting my dear friend, Charlotte, who will give us a tour of a typical day in a rich home and give us a taste of Aristocratic life in general.

This is what a typical house may look like for the upper classes of England

(Image taken from http://www.anglotopia.net/anglophilia/top-11-stately-homes-in-england-best-english-manor-houses/)

Hello, my name is Charlotte Williamson and I am what you may call a gentleman's wife. We make enough per year to place us in the highest social, or aristocratic class. My husband inherited his fortune from his father and his father from his and so forth. We have three children, James, Hannah, and Mary. James, because he is the oldest and only son, will inherit the most of my husband's fortune for himself and continue the Williamson family line. My daughters on the other hand will only inherit a small portion of their father's money and will have to supplement their incomes by marrying well. In addition to James inheriting his father's fortune, he will also take the Estate we are now living in as his own after my husband and I have passed on. My daughters will marry and move to their husband's estates and raise families of their own. We have several servants, some who take care of the typical house hold duties and other who are personal servants for each member of the family. Trips into town are often, because we don't have very much to do around the house and we also don't want to be in the way of the servants as they are trying to do their work. When we are at home though, my daughters will practice their piano lessons, go out riding, painting, recite poems, and write letters to friends. My son spends many hours a day in our gardens studying plants and other living things while taking notes and drawing diagrams. I often find myself sitting in the drawing room writing letters, quilting, or simply listening to one of my daughters practice their music. My husband spends much of his time in town conducting business with his colleagues or purchasing items needed around his office. I typically do not arise early in the morning, around 8 o'clock in the am is my usually time to wake. My personal servant, Darcy, helps me dress and does my hair in the morning. Then I usually read or write until 9 o'clock and then go down for breakfast that servants have prepared. We usually have breakfast as a family and then don't typically see each other again until the evening meal. My daughters and I have tea at 4 o'clock in our personal tea garden, but my husband and son usually have their's, along with a possible alcoholic drink as well, in the library as they discuss politics or other such things which are of importance to them. Throughout the day you may find each of us in various areas of the house, but rarely in the same room together. At the evening meal we usually have little conversation, except for a review of the events of the day or looking on towards the following day, but not much is said. Occasionally we will have a guest for supper and thus more conversation is stirred but for the most part excessive talking is not considered appropriate behavior. After supper, I usually retire to my room where I will spend the remaining moments of my day reading or writing letters. Most days my schedule is thus, but at least once or twice a week we will go into town to watch a play or have supper, but for the most part I find my self living out my day in quite luxurious solitude. 

     So now that you have heard about how an aristocrat might have lived do you think you would still want to be one? I would honestly say for myself this social class seems like they live a rather plush and lonely life, but I don't want you to decide for yourself before you've had a chance to see all the social classes of this era that I am going to show you. For now though I think it is time to return to our rooms and have tea. Then this afternoon I will take you to see the upper and lower middle classes and their occupations as well as their daily life. Rest well my friends and I will see you later.

Your loyal and friendly guide,

Georgiana Pemberton