Destiny Obscure

by John Burnett, John Burnett

In this companion volume to Useful Toil, John Burnett has drawn extensively on over eight hundred previously unpublished manuscripts. The result is a unique record of childhood that reveals in intimate detail the trials and hard-won triumphs of nineteenth-century working-class life. Besides affording rare insights into the developing child's world of dreams, hopes and fears, they reflect a crucial period in the evolution of a family tradition; a time when, to counteract the brutalizing pressures of urbanization and industrialization, ordinary people turned to each other for support.
Children have seldom had a voice in history: these writers and their experiences take their place as part of the essential fabric of our past.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Family

388 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023)]

A wonderful treasure of first-hand accounts of childhood experiences in Victorian and Edwardian times. This seems to me to be the way to learn about the realities of life in the past - through children's experiences especially. The book is divided into 3 sections, Childhood, Education, Home & Family. These are stories of overcrowding, poverty, hunger, misery, tight-knit communities, and rare opportunities to escape or better one's self. It's not all black, but it certainly gave me perspective. The things I consider the right of every person were only rare privileges in these times. So many people owned almost nothing - not even their own pots and pans or blankets. They borrowed from neighbours, they spread coats over themselves at night, poor children in general didn't wear shoes - even in winter. Story after story of parents dying and leaving children at the mercy of whoever was left. And work! Working working working - children, malnourished and homesick, working like adults. It was bleak. To be able to attend school (such as it might be) was sheer luxury. Everything there was regimented to the extreme - one school even had its students blow their noses in unison. The thing that made me the most sad was how these young hopefuls went from loving married couples to worn-out, prematurely aged shells of themselves as the children appeared year after year without interruption - the fact that so many children died was a further heartache and did not seem to lighten the household burden in the least. Parents drove themselves into the ground trying to provide for their families. The last account in the book, by Margaret Perry, shows a little of how parents struggled to get through - loving books as I do, this one broke my heart -

"From early rising, she (the author's mother) sang through her morning's work till she sat down regularly at 2pm ever day with her book. Then, with a short break to get the tea ready, she read through the evening till bedtime. The public library was her salvation. She read four or five books a week all her life but had no one to discuss them with. She had read all the classics several times over in her youth and again in later years, and the library had a job to keep her supplied with current publications. Married to a different man, she could have been and intelligent and interesting woman."

I suppose she had the luxury of being literate, and the library too, which most did not, but I think there's a novel in that small paragraph alone. Margaret describes how her parents only spoke to each other through their dog (i.e. "Ask your Mum if she wants to go for a walk." or "Tell your Mum we're going for a drink.") - which, believe it or not, was a great improvement in their relationship. This is the stuff great literature is made of, but living through it? No thanks! I am grateful beyond belief to live now, here. It's good to be reminded of the innumerable blessings I've been given. What these people would've done just to be able to eat their fill!

[Last Chance Saloon]

Fascinating compilation (plus summaries) of autobiographies (only parts of unfortunately) by everyday inhabitants in England, detailing parts of their lives between 1820s and 1920s. Some are superior in terms of literacy (better than published authors), but all are interesting. Would happily read many more accounts.

[Juliet]

If you want to know what it was like to be a child in Victorian times, not of a wealthy aristocratic family, but of a working-class or everyday family, you cannot find that out pretty much anywhere. Except here. This book is all memoirs (or excerpts therefrom) from a range of people in a range of circumstances. These things are like gold.

The book includes a very long introduction, and then each section -- Childhood, Education, Family Life -- also gets its own introduction. My only complaint would be, less introductory blather and more of the memoirs. But on the whole, an invaluable resource.