New
New
Year 2

Factories in Britain during Victorian times

I can describe how factories changed Britain during Victorian times, using some paintings from the period as evidence.

New
New
Year 2

Factories in Britain during Victorian times

I can describe how factories changed Britain during Victorian times, using some paintings from the period as evidence.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. During Victorian times, Britain changed a lot as people left the countryside to work in new factories in towns.
  2. Some people thought these changes were good; this can be seen in William Wyld's painting 'Manchester from Kersal Moor'.
  3. He makes the factory chimneys look pretty by putting them next to church spires, and painting golden sunlight on them.
  4. But these cities and towns were not nice places to live, with lots of crowding, pollution and poor health.
  5. These poor conditions can be seen in Gustave Doré's engraving 'Over London - By Rail'.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that only adults worked at jobs in factories in Victorian times.

In Victorian times, there were no laws stopping children working. Children had to earn money to live, so many of them worked in factories. Since they were young and small, children were useful for getting into tight spaces to clean or fix machines.

Keywords

  • Factories - large buildings full of machines where people work making things are called factories

  • Chimney - chimneys extend out of the roof of a building, they carry smoke from a fire inside the building and allow it to be released into the sky

  • Spire - a spire is a tall, narrow, pointed structure usually on top of a church tower

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
If you have a lot of money and own many expensive things, you are...
society
Correct answer: wealthy
classes
Q2.
In Victorian society, classes were based on how wealthy people were.
Correct answer: True
False
Q3.
Who painted 'Work' in 1863?
Vincent Van Gogh
Michaelangelo
Correct answer: Ford Madox Brown
Q4.
What job did the ‘navvies’ in the painting do?
Correct answer: Digging up the road
Selling flowers
They had no job.
Q5.
Who was the Queen at the time of Victorian society?
Correct Answer: Victoria, Queen Victoria, queen victoria, victoria
Q6.
Classes in society were small groups, like classes at school.
True
Correct answer: False

6 Questions

Q1.
Only adults worked in factories in Victorian times.
True
Correct answer: False
Q2.
Match the word to the correct meaning.
Correct Answer:factories,large buildings full of machines where people work to make things

large buildings full of machines where people work to make things

Correct Answer:chimney,carries smoke from a fire inside a building upwards and out to the sky

carries smoke from a fire inside a building upwards and out to the sky

Correct Answer:spire,a tall, narrow, point, usually on top of a church

a tall, narrow, point, usually on top of a church

Q3.
Select all the problems of living in Victorian cities and towns.
Correct answer: Lots of pollution
Lots of clean water
Correct answer: Homes were very crowded.
Correct answer: People got very ill.
Q4.
All artists painted pretty pictures of cities in Victorian times.
True
Correct answer: False
Q5.
Gustave Doré's engraving 'Over London - By Rail' shows a image of London.
good
Correct answer: bad
Q6.
William Wyld's painting 'Manchester from Kersal Moor' shows a image of Manchester.
Correct answer: good
bad

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