During the 19th century, London became the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire. The country was undergoing the Industrial Revolution. People from the countryside were pouring into the city. The population increased more than 6 times, from over 1 million in 1801 to about 6.5 million by 1900. During this period, London became a global political, financial, and trading capital. While the city grew wealthy, 19th century London was also a city of poverty, where people lived in overcrowded and unsanitary slums.

To accommodate all the new workers coming into the city, houses were built rapidly and close to the factories. The workers had to live in these poor-quality houses, often with more than one family sharing just one room. Due to the large number of factories in the cities, the air was constantly filled with smoke. Many people became ill from breathing in this pollution. 

The streets would have open sewers, which caused awful smells and made it common for diseases to spread quickly in these areas. In 1847, more than half of the homes didn’t have access to piped water supply and had to get water from old wells and polluted streams. This led to outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera and diphtheria. With these poor conditions, life expectancy was much lower in Victorian England than it is today. In 1840, one in six children would die during infancy and a third of the children born would die before the age of five. The situation was worse for the working class, with life expectancy of 22 years, whereas for middle class, it was 44.

The poor environment impacts the quality of life of humans and affects their rights to life, health, and work. If you want to get a glimpse of the Victorian age and life of the working class, read “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens.