Why Was Victorian Poverty So Horrific? | Secrets From The Clink | Absolute History

Secrets from the Clink follows Len Goodman, Johnny Vegas, Michelle Collins, Mariella Frostrup, and Daisy McAndrew as they find out about the crimes their ancestors committed dating back to the Victorian Era and the punishments they received for the crimes.

#AbsoluteHistory

[mizpappas]

I had a great grandfather who was imprisoned for stealing bread. He was only released because England was fighting with India, and they were scouring the Commonwealth to send soldiers to the Indian fronts. That's how my great-grandfather was released. They sent him to India, where he rode a horse in battle. What a life

[stitchedtogether]

"Prison is about making you a better person" is the funniest thing I've heard today

[Billhatestheinternet]

So we have gone from for-profit prisons, to state run, and now back to for profit; to include debtors prison (can't pay bail, fine, or you have been sued out of existence with wage garnishment, to prison you go). What a world we live in.

A friend of mine is from Sydney and got curious about her history and found out that nearly all of her ancestors were former British prisoners, which I don't think is all that uncommon but one of them was a young girl, 13-14 years old just like in this video. She was from a poor background and her family pretty much sold her into a life of servitude to a nobleman where she would work various jobs around the estate. I guess when you're poor and need the money, you just sell your children? Anyways, she was rebellious and angry about being sold, and also a child, children do dumb things, who knows, maybe she was being mistreated, no one knows, but she decided to set a bale of hay on fire. Well ... for some reason, I forget why but it WAS explained to me, but the burning of the hay bale was seen as an act of treason, which is of course a capital crime. The community was appalled that a 14 year old girl was going to be sentenced to hang, so they created a petition and her sentence was reduced to a life of labor in Australia ... I want to say
Woolloomooloo, in NSW where she met her husband. The husband was an odd story, his family was not poor, they were more upper middle class, dad owned several stores and the family was very well off. He put his oldest son in charge of a store but didn't pay him much, he's family, you shouldn't expect to get paid ... I guess. Well, he got tired of that and started skimming money and stealing product. In a misguided effort to teach his son a lesson, the father informed the police, thinking they might show up and scare him, might even arrest him and hold him in jail for a bit. Nope, charged with larceny and sentenced to the prison camp in Australia. But yeah, interesting story.

[NOONE-cdgu]

I thought the story of Jean ValJean being imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread was an exaggeration. Now i realize it is not . This is so sad😔

[Starae]

That debtors prison would of turned a lot of previously good people into extremely angry criminals! Way to go society!

[generallylevel-headed]

The old man's perspective of his ancestor certainly changed during the course of this video. To see him go from rather stern and militant to compassionate towards Henry was really touching and encouraging. Sometimes, it just has to hit close to home to get through.

[teresaalbrecht]

Thank you for all the great videos. I watch everything you put out. I can say with 99% certainty that if I was transported back to these times I would be dead in less than a week. I am so grateful to my ancestors for making it thru. It was no small thing. Just to be a child in these times must have been horrific. These videos always fill me with gratitude for my comfortable life.

[aclem]

In a world were you had to work 12 hour days six days a week and more which didn't provide a living wage, I can see why people ended up "in trouble". That and outright slavery bought the huge mansions that your betters enjoyed.

[mandyconnecteddogs]

amazing how little has actually changed, but we've run out of prison islands. I met a guy once, whose family had started in Namibia, after a great, great grandfather had jumped ship and swum to freedom on the way to Australia

[kathyinwonderlandl.a.]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Unbelievable how little has changed in regards to financial status…and that makes me so angry.

[_____]

The grandpa was so dense.. Too rich and desensitized to empathize even with his own ancestor..

[semigoth]

I can’t imagine what our ancestors actually endured 😰

[charlesb]

And it is all starting all over again today….. we have the rich and the poor and a vanishing middle class.

[TheShauNanigans]

It's crazy to think these videos discuss an era that wasn't even 200 years ago. This sounds like hell on earth, and for stealing something like a handkerchief? It's a little eye opening that the rich make the laws the common people follow today too, though. If you're rich enough you avoid most prison time as well. The conditions have thankfully changed, but some things never do it seems (I know conditions can still improve, but we have to agree that they are nothing like this.)

[CoffinBanger]

"Premature discharge from his long penal stretch"... and he said it without giggling

[artfuldodger]

You're still punished for poverty. Not so outright, but you are still punished for poverty. It's just slavery revisited.

[JessieBanana]

Pretty sure we’re still punishing people for poverty today and the prison industrial complex is alive and well.

[christineb.]

My ancestor, Thomas Brush, for whatever reason, came over to the New World and settled on Long Island in the mid 1600s. I was born there all those hundreds of years later. I can't imagine coming to a place that was still wild, sparsely populated, and hoping to start something. He did - the family farm is still there. I wonder what would have happened had he remained in England. They were a hardened people - able to manage cold, heat, grow or find whatever food they could, children born at home with maybe another woman to help her through that. And hopefully they avoided accidents, diseases, and conflicts. No doctors, no running water, no electric, dirt floors, wood fireplaces, cooking by fire, and a hole outside for the privy. They weren't but a few steps away from their stone or bronze age ancestors.

[MyHam-osbq]

“Oh, Henry! Stupid boy!” He was so invested in his ancestor’s life choices lol. Interesting video!