Key learning points

1. During Victoria's reign there were very clear groups of people, called classes, in society.
2. Ford Madox Brown's 1865 painting called 'Work' shows some of these alongside many other aspects of Victorian life.
3. In the middle of the painting are a group of workers called 'navvies', who are digging up the road to build a tunnel.
4. Around them are both rich and poor men and women, a group of orphaned children and some sleeping unemployed men.
5. At the top of the painting are two wealthy figures on horseback whose progress has been stopped by the work.

Keywords

• Society - society is a large group of people who share the same ruler, laws and resources

• Classes - classes are groups of people based on the job they do or how much money they have

• Wealthy - If you have a lot of money and own many expensive things then you are wealthy

Common misconception