Victorian Era (jan 1, 1837 – jan 1, 1867)

Description:

Families moved to cities to work.
The extended family was replaced by nuclear family.
Child labour seen as a valuable commodity but substantial factory reform also took place (1833 Factory Act).
The emergence of a middleclass as well as significant economic and political change began to transform understandings of childhood.
School attendance became compulsory following the Elementary Education Act 1870; this constructed childhood as a time of greater ‘dependency’.

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