Poor children often had to go to work to earn ... If you were born into the Middle or Upper classes in the Victorian era, you would usually have been brought up by nurses and governesses.

It's time for the "Victorian-era punishment" of smacking children to be banned in England as it "undoubtedly harms children's health", according to a group representing leading doctors.

Factory conditions were poor and working-class factory workers ... By the end of the Victorian era, almost all children (both boys and girls) in England could read and write to a basic level.