Victorian Era is known for the vast developments that took place changing the political and economic structure of England.

One such change was the Industrial Revolution owing to which there were numerous changes in the lives of the Victorian people. The Victorian Society can be divided into three categories- The Upper Class, The Middle Class and the Working Class.

The Upper Class:

The Victorian Upper Class consisted of the King and the Queen, Aristocrats, Nobles, Dukes, Viscounts and other wealthy families working in the Victorian courts. A distingiushing factor of the Upper Class was that the nature of their work was such that it held them in a powerful position giving authority, better living conditions and other facilities which was out of the reach of the other two classes.

The hereditary families belonging to aristocrats by the early 19th century had taken a keen interest in industrial sector. Due to the changing nature of the basic standard of living of the people, the traditional aristocratic class was now slowing disappearing and instead a new combination of nobles and the steadily growing wealthy class comprised of the Upper section of the society.

The Upper Class was by inheritance a Royal Class which was completely different from the Middle class or the Working Class. Many a times it so happened that these Aristocrats did not work as other classes to make a living because for centuries together their families had been gathering enough money for each generation to live a luxurious life.

Thus, they were never short of money. However, there were number of aristocrats who managed large industries like mining or shipping, etc. In terms of education also those belonging to the rich families got the best tutors to provide education. The fact that they represented the royal class gave these people an advantage at everything. They could buy expensive clothes imported from Europe, or afford other richies of life that was beyond the scope of others.

Middle Class:

In the Victorian times, people belonging to the middle class were more in number. Middle class was the next in social ranking as many of them only lacked in title of being a duke or other royals. The Victorian period was very prosperous for the middle class. Most of the professionals like doctors or teachers comprised of the middle class.

Middle class people also owned and managed vast business empires and were very rich. At times, the rich were equated with the middle class if they had nothing to promote their royalty and richness. Thus, those having their own businesses were regarded as rich and wealthy.

The middle class population at the very start of the Victorian era was limited to a few. The Industrial Revolution in the mid-century of the era brought about drastic changes in the standard of living of the Victorian Middle Class people.

This revolution opened the doors for more job opportunities and earn a decent living. This inturn had a positive impact on the education of children. Thus, overall, the middle class was prospering by grabing every change which they got to improve their status.

Another major change that influenced the improving living conditions of the middle class was that the women of this section had started working outside their houses, accompanied by their children. Women and children toiled hard throughtout the day but their earnings were not sufficient to better their diet.

The working of Victorian women radically changed the social pattern as they were to look after the house and children and the men were to work outside and bring money and food. Also due to lack of sufficient money, large middle class families segregated into smaller ones usually comprising of the parents and their children.





The Lower/ Working Class:

The lowest among the social hierarchy were those who belonged to this section of the society. Like the middle class, those belonging to this class very large in number. The working class remained aloof to the political progress of the country and were hostile to the other two classes.

The Industrial Revolution which proved to be benificial to the middle class created a lot of problems for the working class. This working class was further categorised as the skilled workers and the unskilled workers. Due to the revolution, the industrial workers got jobs thus improving their living conditions.

However, the unskilled workers who were placed below the skilled ones remained umemployed and were vulnerable to the expliotation.
After years of working in the industial sector, the skilled workers became very powerful to form their Trade Unions.

There is no doubt that the working class was the worst affected class in the Victorian times. Another problem that affected their employment was immigration. Thousands of people would migrating meant that there was less opportunity for jobs. This inturn affected the wages of those working and the people literally lived hand to mouth existence.

Lack of money resulted in negligible food supply. For some working families the living conditions were so pathetic that they required their children to work in order to bring home some extra home to survive. The death of their father meant that there is no income to the family and they eventually were forced to live on streets or some public housing.

There were some families which would reside in a single room just to have a shelyer over their head. The conditions were so brutal for the working class that at times children were forced to work away from their parents.

All these conditions had a negative impact on their lives. Many of them lost out opportunity to get education and better their living status as their entire life right from the age of five or six years was spent on working in a factory. They thus ended up doing dangerous and dirty jobs. Another class that existed was the paupers. They were ranked below the working class since they lived in abject poverty.