Hell on Earth - A Journey to Victorian Manchester (Slums, Poverty and Drink)

Victorian Manchester was described in the 1800s as 'Hell upon Earth.' A grim industrial city of smoking chimneys set amongst the crunching gears of industry, with many of its people living in terrible dirt, poverty and squalor. Today, you will an account by a Victorian journalist of what he discovered on Manchester's filthy slum streets – wretched poverty, gambling, terrible food, hungry children and the ever present escape of the dram shop.

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CC BY - Dwellings of Manchester operatives, The Society of Friends Soup Kitchen, The Cotton Famine, distributing tickets for bread, soup, meat, meal, coal etc. at the office of a District Provident Society, Manchester by Wellcome Collection

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[stanthebodger]

I am 78 years old. I was born in 1946 in the Manchester slum district of Ardwick. I lived there until 1966 when my house was demolished as part of the slum clearing initiative of the 1960’s.
There is no doubt that Ardwick was a very poor and deprived area, and as a family of four we had very little. In my early childhood I was never conscious of being poor, because everyone around me was in the same boat. I read lots of books from the library (Secret Seven, Jennings, Famous Five etc), and I remember wondering where these other children had their adventures.
I became aware of being a slum child when I passed the 11+ and went to a grammar school, where the majority of pupils were from middle class families, and lived in up market areas of the city.
Children can be very cruel and I was subject to mockery for my accent, poor quality shoes and clothing, etc, and the fact that I seldom went on holiday. ( I was married and in my 30’s when I first went away for two weeks.)
Having said all that, my poor childhood was happy. There was a tremendous community spirit, where people helped each other. With the slum clearances we got houses with bathrooms and indoor toilets, but we lost that sense of togetherness. I have never experienced it since.

[johnbruce]

I can remember 6-7 year old children, bared legged without shoes, smoking cigs, playing in Mancunian slum streets in the early 1960's. It was seriously deprived even then. Anyway, Sunday night it a good night. Primary sources of history beautifully presented in this rich narrative style. I wish more people watched and listened to your channel. They'd learn a lot they've never known about social history and bring some inner peace to the world.

[logotrikes]

I was born just after to WW2 in Hull, another poverty ridden industrial city, of invalid parents, so I've got an idea about being poor. Not poverty stricken per se, but poor nevertheless. Life was grim and we had very little. Every penny counted.

We lived in a damp terraced slum just like thousands of others across Hull and probably every Northern town. My parents did the best they could and the state helped. Free invalid car for dad, free school uniforms and school dinners for me and my sister.

Things improved for us in 1960 with slum clearance, and we were given a modest 3 bedroom house with an inside toilet, a bathroom and hot and cold running water. The luxury..

We lost the sense of community we had in the terraces and the ragged streets, so there was a sense of loss felt by many as communities were split apart and dispatched to various newer parts of the city.

One's hierarchy of needs were far better provided for by this move, but as a kid I enjoyed the terraces and bombed-buildings of my formative years. So it was a bitter sweet change.

Things improved during the 60's and by the time the 70's came round, my wife-to-be and I had saved up enough deposit for a new bungalow on the outskirts, and now in retirement in Australia we are comfortably well off.

Nevertheless as my wallpaper on my PC, I keep a picture taken in 1957 of the street where I was born. It's shows my grandma's house and was taken as my gran happened to be scrubbing the step.

It keeps me grounded and reminds me of my very humble start in life. It makes me not take anything for granted...

[peterduffield]

This is where a lot of my generation came from. There are a lot of people in the UK these days who need to see this video, they seem to think that all Brits of previous generations floated through life on some utopian entitled cloud.

[barbarahalkyard]

In my 70s now was born in Manchester.We never had anything growing up . But what we always had was love and food in our Belly. And respect for others.

[stefanmaslaczyk]

When the British Empire was at its most powerful and richest in the World.
Not much wealth got through to the workers.

[anneormston]

My Great Grandmother, Granny & her sister were in the workhouse in Manchester it must have been awful. My Great Granny had to have a paupers grave in 1959 as there was still no money. My Grandad was a coal miner, he ended up with emphysema his mother disappeared and his father died at Ypres in WW1, he and his siblings were brought up by their older sister. They both had such hard childhoods

[TheSeafordian]

Friedrich Engels once lived at the opposite end of the road I live in today. There was a plaque on the house but somebody stole it.

[chrysalis]

Disgusting that huge amounts of money was made in this era off the backs of people who couldn't even afford to buy their kids shoes, and proof of the reality of "trickle down" economics for the low paid.

[francisfischer]

My mother's people escaped Manchester and came to the US. It sounds like it was hell. Grandma talked a lot about it. Her Grandmother fed her family by selling tea and bread out the kitchen window.

[wendywobbles]

I am from Manchester and love these history clips, gives me insight into my past, I am from Old Trafford and I can remember going to Salford to visit family, 2 adults and 10 kids in a 2 up and 2 down house was amazing, I will aways remember the wash house at the back of my aunties house.

[simonf]

Meanwhile cholera, tuberculosis, rickets, typhoid and smallpox killed hundreds or thousands. Apart from grisly industrial accidents.

[Calligraphybooster]

My father was an apprentice in a brass foundry in the 1950’s in Manchester. He never said anything about poverty. Only that all was smoke, from the stacks, and from tobacco. Non-smokers didn’t exist. Collars had to be changed daily. Soot and grime everywhere.

[francisfischer]

My Mother's people were from Manchester. They worked in the factories. In Great Grandparents day they escaped to the US. Horrible stories remembered by old family members.

[johnwoodcock]

I was born in 1946, and not much had changed for us. 7 of us in a two up two down, with an useless drunk as a dad and mum out working all hours to feed us all. Went to school in wellingtons, free school meals. Had a bath in a tin bath in front of the fire every now and then and cleaned my teeth with soot and salt. This sounds like a Monty Python sketch but unfortunately it’s the truth

[suechapel]

My paternal grandparents came from Manchester in 1912 to America. I don't know what life was like for them, but this gives me a glimpse of their life there 😢

[stephenoneill]

And this at a time when Britain had developed the largest empire ever seen. It is obvious that the cash only went into very few pockets. The working class shown here were arguably no better off than those who lived in the conquered colonies.

[deanmark]

Great watch and very interesting as always, I was really happy with the minimal use of modern imagery. I’m very much looking forward to the Birmingham episode.

[justinneill]

The London Road Railway Station (shown at 00:50) is actually the Manchester Piccadilly Station of today, it was renamed in 1960. I immediately recognised the approach road, leading up the ramp (that part basically hasn't changed.)