Most dangerous jobs in Victorian Britain

While Britannia rules the waves, many British workers did not share in that wealth. Some endured dangerous jobs to maintain the dominance of the Empire. Many of these, like coal mining, are well documented. Others receive less attention; many of them done by women.

Match making
Match making was one of the most dangerous jobs in Victorian Britain, and done predominantly by young, immigrant working class women. Their story is fairly well known, having recently been fictionalised in Enola Holmes 2 on Netflix. They endured long hours, low pay, and the deadly risk of working with white phosphorous. It could could led to the dreaded “phossy jaw”, essentially a form of bone cancer that impacted one in ten workers.

Their famous 1888 strike saw nearly 2000 mostly women workers walk out. Within two weeks most of their demands had been met, but they continued to work with white phosphorous. Despite the risks of the chemical being known since 1854, it would take until turn of century to bring in a complete ban.

Domestic service
Domestic service was the main employment for young women in Victorian Britain. They suffered long hours, low pay and back breaking drudgery. The also faced sexual exploitation by male employers. A prime example of this is Elizabeth Stride, who you may know as one of the Jack the Ripper victims.

Things started to go wrong for Elizabeth when she entered domestic service, where she was either groomed, coerced or outright raped. Either way, she contracted syphilis. This was the start of a journey through humiliating and traumatic STI treatment, sex work, alcoholism and eventually into the hands of the Ripper. Although if he hadn’t got her the syphilis would have, as she was in the third and final deadly stage of the disease.

You can discover Elizabeth’s full story in the The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

Munitions workers
Moving forward into the Edwardian era, the senseless death in the trenches of millions of young men is well documented. A story less told is the plight of women munition workers.

Known as the Canary Girls because the chemicals they worked with turned their skin yellow, they also handled highly explosive materials. They risked amputation with every shell that passed through their hands.

One of the worst incidents was at the TNT factory in Silvertown, East London, where an explosion killed 73 people and injured 500 more. The impact was not just felt in the factory. In the surrounding community, 900 houses were destroyed, and 70,000 damaged. It is the worst explosion in London’s history.

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