Victorian streets were filled with horse manure, human waste, and industrial runoff. Children sometimes played in this muck, turning it into improvised games like “mud fight.” Pedestrians risked shoes, clothes, and health daily. City councils tried ordinances, but enforcement was minimal. Diseases like cholera spread through contaminated streets. Visitors often fainted or recoiled at the filth, documenting it in letters and diaries. Street-cleaning jobs became coveted despite low pay. Public health crises eventually forced sanitation reforms, but children adapted long before.
Street filth impacted health, hygiene, and social life dramatically.
It shows the extreme environmental conditions urban children endured.
Did you know some streets had warning signs for “particularly foul stretches” where puddles of waste were unavoidable?
[National Geographic, nationalgeographic.com]