0:00:05 > 0:00:07It was the Victorians
0:00:07 > 0:00:11who cherished the idea of home as a domestic haven.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14They coined the phrase, "safe as houses".
0:00:17 > 0:00:21And in this age of invention, homes were bursting at the seams
0:00:21 > 0:00:25with new gadgets, products and conveniences.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28In the bedroom were the latest beauty products
0:00:28 > 0:00:30and manufactured clothes,
0:00:30 > 0:00:35while in the nursery, the toys were brand new and factory-produced.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39And for the first time, the stove warmed the entire house -
0:00:39 > 0:00:42the original "home sweet home".
0:00:42 > 0:00:44But there was a problem.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Many of the exciting products and appealing innovations they welcomed
0:00:48 > 0:00:52into their homes were not just health hazards, they were killers.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56And with the aid of science, I'll seek out these domestic assassins.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Oh, their houses were disgusting!
0:00:58 > 0:01:01I'll be revealing what the Victorians couldn't see
0:01:01 > 0:01:03inside their homes...
0:01:03 > 0:01:06These things undoubtedly would have killed many children.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09..and showing the terrible injuries that were inflicted,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11in the name of progress.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14What you need to do is move your bust up.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15OK. Just...
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And I'll feel the strain of chasing the Victorian ideal.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23I feel a bit better now.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Welcome to the perilous world of the real Victorian home.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36In the second half of the 19th century,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40cities exploded, to house the booming middle classes.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45In just over 50 years, their number grew from 2.5m to over 9m.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57And these new urban middle classes took immense pride in their homes.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01They had money, and they wanted to spend it on making their houses
0:02:01 > 0:02:05cosy havens of domesticity and comfort.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10Not for these people the grim perils of Victorian factory life
0:02:10 > 0:02:13or the gritty reality of the overcrowded streets.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17The sort of family who lived here enjoyed a level of comfort
0:02:17 > 0:02:22and luxury previously unknown to ordinary people.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25The cost of necessities fell dramatically
0:02:25 > 0:02:29and new mass-production techniques made goods available and affordable.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34This meant a level of conspicuous consumption never witnessed before.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38They filled their rooms with things that made the house a home.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48They'd been inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851,
0:02:48 > 0:02:54showcasing the latest and the best in gadgets and consumer goods.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56What had been happening now
0:02:56 > 0:03:01for the best part of 100 years, suddenly crystallised,
0:03:01 > 0:03:06in this extraordinary exhibition. It wasn't so much that it was new,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09as it was just suddenly "Boom!", in bulk.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19As the century went on and consumerism began to increase,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22one of the fascinating things is that the phrase
0:03:22 > 0:03:25"standard of living" first appeared.
0:03:25 > 0:03:31For the first time in history, you measured how good your life was
0:03:31 > 0:03:33by how many objects you possessed.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37When you think about it, that's actually a very strange idea.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43You couldn't just buy anything -
0:03:43 > 0:03:47what was and what wasn't tasteful was discussed at length in the many
0:03:47 > 0:03:52and various new household guides and magazines.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55John Ruskin, the leading art critic and social theorist,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57impressed on Victorian consumers
0:03:57 > 0:04:01the importance of making the right choices.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03"Good taste is essentially a moral quality."
0:04:03 > 0:04:06"What we like determines what we are
0:04:06 > 0:04:10"and to teach taste is, inevitably, to form character."
0:04:10 > 0:04:16Yet, while the Victorians fretted about abstract notions of morality,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19they were oblivious to the real dangers that came from things
0:04:19 > 0:04:21they had welcomed into their houses.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27Every room in the Victorian home was filled with hidden killers.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And one of most dangerous places...
0:04:37 > 0:04:38..was the drawing room.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47The Victorians were really rejecting the idea of the 18th century -
0:04:47 > 0:04:48Classicism, the restraint,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51the delicacy, the white walls - that was all over.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54They wanted clutter, they wanted colour, they wanted excess.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58They really furnished, to show that, for them, colour and clutter
0:04:58 > 0:05:00and objects - that was wealth,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02that was importance and that was riches.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10One thing that particularly indicated
0:05:10 > 0:05:13both good taste and status was wallpaper.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14The richer the pattern
0:05:14 > 0:05:18and the darker, more vivid the colour, the better.
0:05:18 > 0:05:19Why?
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Because with the introduction of gas lighting, for the first time
0:05:23 > 0:05:26in history, there was enough light in the house for ordinary people
0:05:26 > 0:05:30to have, and enjoy, intense colour on their walls.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36As a result, there was something of a wallpaper craze.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Manuals like Cassell's Household Guide, which told the Victorians
0:05:39 > 0:05:43how to do everything, outlined principles of good taste
0:05:43 > 0:05:48and told them which patterns of wallpaper to buy.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50They were influencing a massive market.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Wallpaper sales had shot up, from around one million pieces a year
0:05:54 > 0:05:59in 1834, to 32 million, by 1874.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Cassell's even gives what it calls its "theory on colour".
0:06:03 > 0:06:06It describes its rules for the artistic appreciation
0:06:06 > 0:06:07in dress, in furniture,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11and it recommends green. It calls it, "a colour of repose".
0:06:11 > 0:06:15It says, "The eye experiences a healthy and peculiarly grateful
0:06:15 > 0:06:17"impression from this colour",
0:06:17 > 0:06:20as opposed to something like yellowish-red, which it says,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25"..is the preference of impetuous robust men and savage nations".
0:06:26 > 0:06:30A particularly brilliant green, known as Scheele's Green,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32was all the rage.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Scheele was the Swedish scientist who first mixed the pigment,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40to produce an intensely vivid colour that didn't fade.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Its incredible popularity meant that it was used in everything,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49from carpets, blancmange, candles, and children's toys,
0:06:49 > 0:06:55but most of all it was used, in industrial quantities, in wallpaper.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02There was one strange coincidence. As wallpaper sales escalated,
0:07:02 > 0:07:08so did reports of unexplained deaths and illnesses in the home.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15But there was nothing mysterious about it.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19The magic ingredient that was giving the wallpaper its rich, green hue
0:07:19 > 0:07:21was arsenic.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25These were samples of what would be considered tasteful wallpapers
0:07:25 > 0:07:27to have in a Victorian home.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30This, on the walls,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32would have been loaded with arsenic.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Actually, in the printing of the book,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36it's also used - arsenical dyes.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40So this book that you're showing me now has arsenic in these pages?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43There's quite a lot of arsenic in that.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45It's not that I don't believe what you're saying,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47- but could you prove it? - It's very easy to do.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51If I use this instrument, which is a portable XRF, it tells us
0:07:51 > 0:07:55which contaminants, metallic contaminants, are present in items.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57You can see straight off, it says it has large amounts
0:07:57 > 0:08:02- of copper in it and it's got large amounts of arsenic in it.- Oh, yes.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The actual salts used in this pigment are copper arsenate.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12In this book? Is it safe for you to touch?
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Probably not! I'll wash my hands afterwards.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Modern science can prove
0:08:19 > 0:08:23the Victorian wallpaper contained arsenic,
0:08:23 > 0:08:25but this danger wasn't fully understood at the time.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27To confuse matters further,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31the symptoms of arsenic poisoning were very similar to cholera,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34which had been rampant in Britain in living memory.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36The immediate effects
0:08:36 > 0:08:40would be of pain, swelling of the oesophagus,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42very dry throat and difficulty in swallowing.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47And then what's described is "agonising abdominal pains",
0:08:47 > 0:08:51as the whole digestive tract is affected by the arsenic.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Vomiting, diarrhoea,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56sounds terribly unpleasant, and then people would die
0:08:56 > 0:09:00which was said to be a relief, cos it was such an agonising way to die.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07Newspaper headlines continued to report mysterious illnesses
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and deaths, and links were made with arsenic.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13In the second half of the 19th century,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15the newspapers are full of cases like this one.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19"Six month old child dies as a result of chewing
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"on a piece of emerald green wallpaper."
0:09:24 > 0:09:29But even if you hadn't eaten the wallpaper, you weren't safe.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32In fact, the wallpaper was endangering the health
0:09:32 > 0:09:36of the nation in another hidden, and much more insidious, way.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Thanks to a chemical reaction, poisonous fumes are thought
0:09:40 > 0:09:44to have infiltrated the very air they were breathing.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46There's a lot of debate about the production
0:09:46 > 0:09:49of arsenic gases from the wallpaper.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52The actual surface of the wallpaper,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55particularly flock wallpapers, could come off
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and your house would be covered in arsenical dust.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Also, in Victorian houses which were not centrally heated,
0:10:01 > 0:10:02they were relatively damp.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07You put damp together with wallpaper paste and cellulose,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10which is in the wallpaper itself, and you've got fungal growth.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13And as many fungi can actually volatilise those arsenical salts
0:10:13 > 0:10:17into a volatile form of arsenic. And they're highly toxic.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23They were billowing out arsenic in the home,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26in which, obviously, the windows were hardly ever open,
0:10:26 > 0:10:27because of the smog.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29They sat there, in this lovely fug of arsenic,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33thinking they were in this perfect, virtuous, healthy home.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39It doesn't actually matter how the arsenic is absorbed
0:10:39 > 0:10:41into the body - whether you breathe it in,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44whether it comes in through the skin or the other membranes
0:10:44 > 0:10:48or whether you actually eat it - it actually has a very similar effect,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50because its effects are via the bloodstream,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54so the arsenic gets into the bloodstream and travels around the body.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57But one of the problems with the slower arsenic poisoning,
0:10:57 > 0:11:02of a small amount over a longer time, is that it could cause very vague symptoms.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Obviously, if you're being poisoned by something in a particular room
0:11:05 > 0:11:09of the house, and when you left that room you got a bit better.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14It could come and go, so it was much harder to differentiate it
0:11:14 > 0:11:16from other illnesses around at the time.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Some doctors began to question the use of arsenic in wallpaper,
0:11:20 > 0:11:25as more and more mystery deaths were reported in the home.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28The Lancet, too, took up the cause.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33"There appears good reason for believing that a very large
0:11:33 > 0:11:36"amount of sickness and mortality among all classes
0:11:36 > 0:11:38"is attributable to this cause
0:11:38 > 0:11:42"and that it may probably account for many of the mysterious diseases
0:11:42 > 0:11:45"of the present day, which so continually baffle
0:11:45 > 0:11:46"all medical skill."
0:11:48 > 0:11:52In 1856, a couple in Birmingham reported to their doctor,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Dr Hinds, that they were suffering from inflamed eyes, headaches
0:11:57 > 0:11:58and sore throats.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Even their pet parrot was drooping.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05They decided to go on holiday to the seaside
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and their symptoms disappeared.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09They suspected something in their house.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And they had recently applied
0:12:11 > 0:12:14bright green wallpaper to two rooms at home.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Dr Hinds wondered if, that alone,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18could be responsible for their ailments.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25People went to the seaside and took the waters and took the spa.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28What, effectively, they were doing was moving out of a toxic environment
0:12:28 > 0:12:30into a healthy, diluted environment
0:12:30 > 0:12:34where you had fresh air, water that came from a known source, not relying
0:12:34 > 0:12:37on what was in a concentrated area within their property.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40They moved away from a toxic environment.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44What's really astounding is how much arsenic there was
0:12:44 > 0:12:45in a Victorian drawing room,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50when you add up all the materials that contained arsenic pigment.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Certainly we know that there was a huge amount of arsenic in, say,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58a Victorian living room which had a 100m square surface area -
0:12:58 > 0:13:01could contain up to 2.5 kilograms of arsenic. That's a lot of arsenic.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04- That's a huge amount of arsenic. - It's a huge amount of arsenic
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Dr Hinds, along with some other medical practitioners,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13became an outspoken critic of the use of arsenic pigment.
0:13:13 > 0:13:20In Germany, arsenical wallpapers had been banned, but not in the UK.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22The wallpaper manufacturers didn't want people to think
0:13:22 > 0:13:25there was anything wrong with their products,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27and The Lancet and the British Medical Journal
0:13:27 > 0:13:31fought a long campaign, to bring this to the public fore.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33So there was quite a lot of dispute.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Some doctors and newspapers called on the British government
0:13:38 > 0:13:41to ban the poisonous paper,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46but others were quick to belittle the claims of the killer wallpaper.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Some manufacturers even offered to eat it, to prove how safe it was.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55One of Britain's most celebrated wallpaper designers
0:13:55 > 0:14:00was William Morris, a leading light of the Arts and Crafts movement.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03He was also one of the fiercest critics
0:14:03 > 0:14:06of the heartless industrialists of this period.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09But what is not well known about this champion of handicraft
0:14:09 > 0:14:13is that he was a director of the biggest arsenic-producing mine
0:14:13 > 0:14:17in the world, Devon Great Consols.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22William Morris was making most of his money from arsenic.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25That's quite a surprise, isn't it?
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Because we associate William Morris as being this leader
0:14:27 > 0:14:34of the Arts and Crafts movement, as someone going back to basics,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37back to natural things, but he's got this mine that, potentially,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41is certainly selling arsenic. Whether he's using it in wallpapers or not is something else.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44The Times has said there was enough arsenic produced there
0:14:44 > 0:14:47to kill the entire planet and every creature on it.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Some of the people who came out with the processes had vested interests
0:14:56 > 0:14:59in other locations. They would own arsenic mines.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03They would own areas where it was in their interests to include
0:15:03 > 0:15:06arsenic into paints, dyes, whatever.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09Did William Morris ever accept that he was doing this?
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Or did he continue to deny it?
0:15:12 > 0:15:14Well, there's an interesting letter.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18There was a customer complaining that the wallpaper was poisoning him
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and his family and, basically, Morris said it was witch fever.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24So that was the sole utterance we have.
0:15:24 > 0:15:25That it was witch fever?
0:15:25 > 0:15:28In other words, he thought he was being accused of something
0:15:28 > 0:15:29that just wasn't true?
0:15:29 > 0:15:32He was just saying it was these doctors who were saying
0:15:32 > 0:15:36arsenical wallpapers were killing people and damaging people's health, and he was
0:15:36 > 0:15:39just saying, "It's mumbo jumbo", basically, was what he was saying.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Contrary to Morris's claims, the evidence building up
0:15:47 > 0:15:49became impossible to deny.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58But it would take intervention from the very top before things started to change.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07One of the key tipping points of that recognition was when Queen Victoria,
0:16:07 > 0:16:12herself, had had wallpaper of Scheele Green and she had a diplomat
0:16:12 > 0:16:15who actually came to stay with her, who fell ill overnight and she was...
0:16:15 > 0:16:20the records show she was quite put out, to be perfectly honest,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22that she'd been stood up early in the morning and he hadn't turned up.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26But actually, the poor chap had actually keeled over overnight,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29he was actually effectively poisoned by the arsenic in the wallpaper.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32She was a little sceptical about it, but then,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35when it actually came out in the papers and there were a lot
0:16:35 > 0:16:37of publications around that time, that she'd done that,
0:16:37 > 0:16:42it was then that step change, in that, "Maybe we need to think in how we regulate this".
0:16:46 > 0:16:52Unbelievably, the use of arsenic in wallpaper was never officially banned,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56but as consumers understood its danger, they stopped buying
0:16:56 > 0:17:00these wallpapers and forced commercial practice to change.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Morris Wallpapers and other astute manufacturers started to
0:17:06 > 0:17:10advertise their product as arsenic-free.
0:17:11 > 0:17:18Certainly by 1872, even the style guides had switched to safer printing.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22But we'll never know how many died a slow death
0:17:22 > 0:17:26through the prevalence of arsenic in Victorian products.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I cannot see that, having this amount of arsenic dust flying around
0:17:29 > 0:17:32a Victorian home wouldn't have led to chronic health problems.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35It's a class-one carcinogenic,
0:17:35 > 0:17:42it's a human carcinogen - so years of exposure to this would have led to cancers, basically.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57The Victorian ideal, or perhaps fantasy,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01of domesticity was that the lady of the house should be,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05as Charles Dickens describes it in the Mystery of Edwin Drood,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08"the ministering angel of domestic bliss".
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Victorian women were encouraged to make their home a reassuring
0:18:12 > 0:18:15sanctuary for their husbands, away from the jealousies,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19cares and dangers of working life.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23The idea of the "angel of the house" was obviously a literary creation,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27but it tapped in completely to what the Victorians essentially wanted.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It was a movement away from the fact that, in the 18th century,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33usually father and mother had pitched in together in the business.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35With the professionalisation,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38the growth of factories, the home was away from the place of work,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42so the home became this ideal place of perfection and taste,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44this enclosed bubble of purity.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50As the home became an ideal, it needed to be protected
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and nurtured and, therefore, buying things for the home,
0:18:54 > 0:19:00creating things for the home, came to be seen as the woman's occupation.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04The men went out there, conquering the Empire,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08the women stayed at home and kept things pure.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Women were expected not only to create the perfect home.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17The "lady of the house" had to measure up, as well.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Our next danger, in this house, is in the bedroom.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28The pursuit of this feminine ideal wasn't entirely safe.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Lurking in many beautifying products were harmful toxins.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45Part of being the ideal Victorian woman was looking just right.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Whatever your physique, one of these came in handy.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51In fact, this was essential.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Corsets kept everything under control and they meant self-reserve -
0:19:55 > 0:19:56vital to the Victorian woman -
0:19:56 > 0:20:01because the opposite was just excess and freedom and flesh flying everywhere.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And once you do that, well, the world might fall down.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Feels quite tight already!
0:20:08 > 0:20:11You're actually just squeezing all the air out of my lungs!
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Sarah Nicol looks after one of the biggest corset collections in the country.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Tell me about the different layers we can see here. What's going on?
0:20:23 > 0:20:27First, we've got the chemise underneath, so you'd never have worn your corset next to your skin.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30The corset predates the bra. Its function was to support
0:20:30 > 0:20:35the chest and help take the weight of up to 14lbs of clothing.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Over the top of this, you would have had a petticoat, as well.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42That's five garments, before you've even got to your outerwear.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43It is, yes.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47The Symington factory manufactured corsets
0:20:47 > 0:20:50that were affordable for everybody.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53They did all of their own artwork and printing,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57- for all their box tops for their corsets.- That's just beautiful.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02It may look beautiful, but women were, unwittingly, paying a terrible price.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09In the 1860s and '70s, corsetry became increasingly extreme.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15By the mid-19th century, the ideal female form,
0:21:15 > 0:21:21the corseted female form, was everywhere - in newspapers, magazines, journals aimed at women
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and the celebrity actresses had it, the dancers had it, but particularly,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28these fashion plates had it - this impossible figure.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31They were drawn, simply because no woman would look like that.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36What kind of corsets, and how restrictive they were, depended on your age,
0:21:36 > 0:21:42your class, your occupation and how fashionable you were.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It was recommended that a corset was to be worn at all times,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50and there was no escape, not even in the Colonies.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Symington's made this to market directly at ladies that were
0:21:55 > 0:21:59going to tropical regions, so they were either going with their man or to get their man.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03It's called the ventilated corset. For obvious reasons, it has the centre section removed.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09- There were women wearing this in all parts of the British Empire? - Yes.- Whatever the weather?
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Yes, and you were regarded as a loose woman
0:22:11 > 0:22:14if you didn't wear your corset.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It demonstrated their character and it demonstrated that they were
0:22:17 > 0:22:21fine and upright citizens and, you know, fit for the British Empire.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24These robust cages of whalebone
0:22:24 > 0:22:30and steel were turned into potential killers by one surprisingly small
0:22:30 > 0:22:33technological advance - the metal eyelet.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35What difference does that make?
0:22:35 > 0:22:41It allows people, if they want to, to tight-lace their corset, without fabric pulling away.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47The metal eyelet made it easier to get the look,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50because it was possible to lace tightly,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53without the material tearing, as it previously would have done.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57There was a fashion for wearing very, very, very, tight bodices,
0:22:57 > 0:23:03I mean, it's fascinating. You see in photographs, the fabric pulls
0:23:03 > 0:23:07in a way that we would think means it doesn't fit.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11The tight lacing is something that a minority of people did.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14And that is to get your waist as small as you possibly can.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20They used to do this by lacing their corset tighter and tighter.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Some women would keep their corsets on day and night,
0:23:27 > 0:23:28to train their bodies.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38What are the effects of a corset on the body, in the long term?
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Well, if I could just show you here, the position of the normal organs.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43So the liver, for example,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48our largest internal organ, sits underneath the ribs, on the right.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52And so it's a large wedge-shaped organ that sits here under the ribs.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56And so, in a corset, which brings the ribs in very tightly,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00to give the typical small-waisted outline,
0:24:00 > 0:24:05the liver gets squashed upwards and it presses against the ribs.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09There are specimens of livers taken from women who have died,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13who have worn tight corsets, actually have ridges on them
0:24:13 > 0:24:17where the ribs have made indentations in the surface of the liver, because it's been so tight.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26And another organ that may be affected by a tight corset is the stomach.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30That sits here, underneath the rib cage,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32so if the rib cage is pulled in by the corset,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36the stomach is pushed downwards, into the abdominal cavity.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40That would then have an effect on the rest of the abdominal organs, which would be pushed down.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44This is a pregnancy corset, from 1885.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Some women even wore corsets when pregnant.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50A particular choice came for women about the corset when they fell pregnant.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55Because many husbands complained they didn't want their baby's head shaped and moulded.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58But there were women who continued to wear corsets through pregnancy,
0:24:58 > 0:25:03which you know, there's no way at all that is possibly good for the baby.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06One of the problems with corsets after pregnancy, particularly
0:25:06 > 0:25:10if women had a lot of babies, was that of prolapse of the uterus,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the pelvic floor muscles having been weakened during childbirth,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and then a very tight corset, that increases the pressure
0:25:16 > 0:25:18in the abdomen, forcing all the organs down.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21So that would have been a very unwanted side-effect
0:25:21 > 0:25:22of wearing tight corsets.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Now, it's my turn.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30I've got it a little tighter. I don't know if you can feel that I've got it any tighter?
0:25:30 > 0:25:31Yeah, I can feel it, yep, yep.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35SHE LAUGHS
0:25:35 > 0:25:38'I confess, I felt delighted to have a smaller waist.'
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Oh, result! I can see why they did it now.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45- 24 inches, look! - 24 and three quarters.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49The Victorian household guides even advised on suitable exercises
0:25:49 > 0:25:50for a lady.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57I'm just exhausted after doing just that!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00I'm not really that unfit, honestly.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Or am I?
0:26:03 > 0:26:06We're going to use sports science equipment, with Matt Furber,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09to measure the effect of the corset on my body.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Yep, I'm happy. Are you happy?
0:26:13 > 0:26:17- Yep!- Happy as you can be?!
0:26:17 > 0:26:20'First, I have to give him a baseline of fitness without the corset.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25'I exercise for six minutes.'
0:26:30 > 0:26:32And...stop.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37'Now, Matt monitors my vital signs, with the corset on.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44'First, how it affects me at rest.'
0:26:48 > 0:26:52And...three, two, one...go.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56'And I repeat the same exercise, with Matt measuring my heart rate
0:26:56 > 0:26:57'and air flow.'
0:27:01 > 0:27:04- You know how hard work it is. - Feels like a 16, now.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06- Heart rate?- 177.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09175. Lovely. Two minutes to go.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15'Halfway through and Matt's already seeing the changes.'
0:27:19 > 0:27:20And...stop.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23OK, if you just want to go and take a seat.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37- Feel OK? Don't feel light-headed? - A bit light-headed.- Worse than last time?- Yes!
0:27:37 > 0:27:40'I feel close to fainting and it takes two minutes for my head to clear.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42'And I'm not even tight-laced.'
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Breathing OK?
0:27:44 > 0:27:45Yeah, it is.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51OK, last ten seconds.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Excellent! Well done, you're free.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56'So what happened?'
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Is that all right? Let's get this off you, as well.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04'What can science reveal about the effects of a corset?'
0:28:04 > 0:28:07- So, in terms of the rate in which you're breathing...- Hah!
0:28:07 > 0:28:08Look at that.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11So even at rest, you can see. The red line is when you are wearing
0:28:11 > 0:28:14the corset and the blue line is when you are not wearing your corset.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16So you'll see even at rest, when you're sitting down
0:28:16 > 0:28:20you're breathing in a corset round about 23-24 breaths per minute,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23whereas when you didn't have a corset on, you're down about
0:28:23 > 0:28:2714 breaths per minute, so it shows that, even at rest, the corset is really restricting.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And when it actually comes when you're doing the exercise,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33we can see with your figures - with the corset on, your tidal volume,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36the amount the amount of air you're getting every breath, is a lot lower,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40so you're breathing approximately 200-300mls less every single
0:28:40 > 0:28:42breath with the corset on.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48Gosh. So that's why, at the end, I felt like I was really fighting to get in air.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Absolutely. Really with these figures you can really see the impact,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53the restriction the corset's having.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56You're basically hyperventilating in a corset.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01That's kind of what's happening, because you're breathing an awful lot faster, over ten breaths
0:29:01 > 0:29:05per minute, that's an extra 25% faster, wearing a corset.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13I've proved it's damaging, but it could be a killer?
0:29:13 > 0:29:16That chronic under-profusion, not getting enough air down into
0:29:16 > 0:29:19the bottom of the lungs could cause problems.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21It predisposes to infections like pneumonia.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23And that was something that a very tight corset,
0:29:23 > 0:29:29worn for many hours a day, could cause problems with.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32If a woman had an underlying problem, it could exacerbate it.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36So, for example, if a young girl had rickets, from vitamin D deficiency,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38she'd have soft bones that were still developing
0:29:38 > 0:29:44and they could be distorted very much by wearing a tight corset.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46There are stories of the ribs breaking
0:29:46 > 0:29:52and piercing the lung underneath, which could be fatal.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58As the century wore on, the corset became the focus of a huge debate.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Women's possibilities for activity became much larger
0:30:01 > 0:30:03over the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07there was nothing unvirtuous in going around on your bicycle,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10in walking freely and so this really wasn't very practical for them
0:30:10 > 0:30:13to be wearing corsets, I mean, it just simply didn't work.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17And increasingly women began to say, "These are pointless, they're just getting in the way.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20"You know, I'm spending hours in the morning getting myself
0:30:20 > 0:30:23"into the corset, when I could be doing something far more useful."
0:30:23 > 0:30:26It really also coincided with the growth of votes for women -
0:30:26 > 0:30:28the idea that women were equal citizens, so if they were
0:30:28 > 0:30:33equal citizens demanding the vote, they shouldn't be treated as some kind of excessive ornament
0:30:33 > 0:30:35that are there to be looked at and there to be admired.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39And they're ruining their health just so they look right for men.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41The campaign for change was
0:30:41 > 0:30:46spearheaded by the Rational Dress Society, established in 1881.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar, edited the Rational Dress Gazette.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55"The Rational Dress Society protests against the introduction
0:30:55 > 0:30:58"of any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure,
0:30:58 > 0:31:04"impedes the movement of the body or in any way tends to injure health."
0:31:04 > 0:31:08By the 1890s, some manufacturers had started to respond
0:31:08 > 0:31:10to demands for looser clothing.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Yet one thing will probably never disappear -
0:31:13 > 0:31:18the temptation to conform to an ideal of beauty, whatever the cost.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Why did women carry on wearing corsets?
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Well, for exactly the same reason as I was delighted
0:31:23 > 0:31:25to have a 24-inch waist.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29It was psychologically rewarding, even, if physically,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31it could take its toll.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34The idea of that S-shaped figure, we are completely enthralled to it,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38even now, so I don't think we can look back on the Victorians
0:31:38 > 0:31:41and say, "Oh, my goodness, weren't they silly, fainting when they sang,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44"falling all over the place because they wore corsets."
0:31:44 > 0:31:47I don't think we can say we're, necessarily, that far away.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52I'm on the trail of the next household danger.
0:31:52 > 0:31:53I'm heading to the kitchen.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Corsets weren't just worn by middle-class women, they were also
0:32:05 > 0:32:10worn by their servants, as they carried out household tasks.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13It almost beggars belief,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15but at least those servants benefited from the proliferation
0:32:15 > 0:32:21of new gadgets, designed to make their lives easier and safer.
0:32:21 > 0:32:22Well, sort of.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28This was a brave new world, where the ingenious Victorian inventor
0:32:28 > 0:32:32felt he had the answers to any domestic problem.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36But many of these inventions were difficult to use and proved to be
0:32:36 > 0:32:41dangerous - and people were untrained in how to use them.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43By the mid 1870's,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46the Victorians were bringing services into the home -
0:32:46 > 0:32:52piping in water and trying out new gas appliances and gadgets.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59And of all the new inventions available, what could be more desirable in these dark, damp houses
0:32:59 > 0:33:03than something that offered heat and light?
0:33:03 > 0:33:08Gas was to open a whole new chapter of Victorian household catastrophes.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12What we had in the past was, everybody would be congregated around
0:33:12 > 0:33:17a single lamp, and it would be either oil or a candle or something else,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20and then, all of a sudden, people didn't want to live
0:33:20 > 0:33:22on top of each other all the time.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24We wanted to find better ways of doing it.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26It was towards the end of the Victorian era
0:33:26 > 0:33:30that they started bringing in gas lighting, lighting that
0:33:30 > 0:33:32was actually capable of lighting a whole room.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35It was a massive step forward.
0:33:35 > 0:33:36It was the greatest innovation.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39You could have a room that was completely lit.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42They had coal gas, they had something that was called wood gas
0:33:42 > 0:33:44and they had another material,
0:33:44 > 0:33:49called water gas. Now, these were highly poisonous.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53There was no control, no stopcock, it was just gas.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56The worst killer was because you couldn't actually smell it.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59So you'd have no idea, until it was too late, basically.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02You would just keel over and that would be the end of you.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10In the second half of the 19th century,
0:34:10 > 0:34:15the papers - everything from the Worcester Evening News to the Western Gazette -
0:34:15 > 0:34:18are full of stories of people dying horribly.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22These aren't headline cases, they are just little snippets that give the facts and figures.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24So, for example,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28in the Manchester Evening News, in 1886, there's a story
0:34:28 > 0:34:33of five boys suffocating in a loft, or this one, from the Sheffield
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Independent, 1872 - a lady was found confined in a bedroom,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41with her infant and its nurse, and it says she "must have unconsciously
0:34:41 > 0:34:46"deranged the joint of the gas stove thus permitting an escape of gas."
0:34:46 > 0:34:49All three were found, apparently, lifeless.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But why were such cases so widespread?
0:34:52 > 0:34:54It may seem obvious to us now,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58but at the time the dangers of gas were not known to the man
0:34:58 > 0:35:03in the street and the gas company's adverts didn't help matters.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Some of the major gas companies were coming out with misnomers,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11that gas was actually good for people,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13that you could actually have a room full of gas
0:35:13 > 0:35:16and walk in there with a naked light and it would be perfectly safe.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Gas companies were popping up all over the place.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27You couldn't walk a block in London without seeing a gas company.
0:35:27 > 0:35:35The rivalry was just huge. But with rivalry comes cost-cutting.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39What you also had at the time was unscrupulous activities
0:35:39 > 0:35:43going on between gas suppliers, where they would actually sabotage
0:35:43 > 0:35:48their opponents or their competitors by actually dropping the pressure.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52To save money, companies would reduce their own gas supply
0:35:52 > 0:35:54to customers at night.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57The gas lamp would actually just flicker away
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and then blow out in the middle of the night and then the gas
0:36:00 > 0:36:04would just seep into your home and you wouldn't be waking up in the morning.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11It was the heart of the industrial period.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14They wanted everything new manufactured to be seen
0:36:14 > 0:36:19to be at the cutting edge of what was going on and that was then how
0:36:19 > 0:36:23they drove innovation, through making something, engineering something.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25If it wasn't engineered, it wasn't good.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28The speed of change was breathtaking.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31But there was neither the time, nor the will,
0:36:31 > 0:36:36to test these products that would be sold to millions of consumers.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39One of the most brilliant contraptions, in this age
0:36:39 > 0:36:43of scientific progress, was a system that could provide
0:36:43 > 0:36:47warmth throughout the whole house - a massive improvement
0:36:47 > 0:36:50on open coal fires and draughty chimneys.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Gas central heating was a huge thing.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57In the 1800's, they came up with the idea of a sealed system,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00where you could heat water exactly the same as a steam train,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02basically, in a huge cylinder.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06It was very volatile and the pressure inside these boilers
0:37:06 > 0:37:08was just absolutely phenomenal.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11They were running them all the way round houses -
0:37:11 > 0:37:15you could have 10, 12, 15, 16 radiators on each system,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18but of course, you could be sitting down having your lunch
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and the steam valve doesn't open.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25You could be tucking into your turtle soup and the next thing, there's a huge explosion
0:37:25 > 0:37:29and you'll be leaving the building without opening the door.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31EXPLOSION
0:37:34 > 0:37:35The pressure was just huge.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39It was only ever going to end up in one story, really.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42It was going to be an accident and people will die.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46The main problem was that they didn't understand
0:37:46 > 0:37:48the dangers of what they were doing.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53Gas and cast iron had not been used in this way in the home before.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56When they were actually doing the casting, it was at the very
0:37:56 > 0:38:00forefront of that technology, of understanding that weaknesses
0:38:00 > 0:38:05and flaws in that casting could actually cause problems
0:38:05 > 0:38:08further down the line.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12The inventive Victorian engineer, having tackled heat and light,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15now turned his attention to cooking stoves.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22What could be so dangerous about a stove like this?
0:38:26 > 0:38:29With an open system, when you add the coal and the massive flue
0:38:29 > 0:38:33and the smoke pouring up the chimney. Ventilation was superb,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36because the air would run through the kitchen, straight up
0:38:36 > 0:38:38the chimney, take all the smoke away.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41But when they, sort of, encompassed it into a sealed container,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43they had problems with pressure,
0:38:43 > 0:38:46and they had problems with getting rid of the smoke,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49because the actual ventilation and the draught,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53there wasn't one to go through the system to take the smoke away
0:38:53 > 0:38:56so inevitably, the kitchens became really smoky.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00Of course, this could lead to anything, up to suffocation.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05If you avoided suffocating in the smoky kitchen,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09you still had a potential problem.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12They made sealed units and poured hot water into them
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and used them like the modern-day kettle,
0:39:15 > 0:39:21and, of course, this was a boiling pot and had no release valves
0:39:21 > 0:39:25or anything like that and these stoves were just exploding.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36It was like a small timebomb. It was a totally sealed unit.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40They didn't understand the pressures and what happened
0:39:40 > 0:39:43when you introduced oxygen and they had these huge,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47huge catastrophic explosions in kitchens.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Towards the end of the Victorian era, a new power source
0:39:52 > 0:39:54gradually came into play.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57It was starting to turn away from gas, because it was so volatile,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00and go towards electricity, basically.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04But electricity was a killer, as well. It wasn't 100% safe,
0:40:04 > 0:40:09when they were first coming up with these ideas of light bulbs,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11because if you mix electricity with gas -
0:40:11 > 0:40:15bringing electric lights in, you've still got your gas cooker
0:40:15 > 0:40:19and these gas cookers were left on, The joints still corroded,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23broke down and let gas escape and, of course, you would come down
0:40:23 > 0:40:27in the morning, turn your wonderful new electric light on
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and the first thing that explodes is your gas cooker.
0:40:30 > 0:40:36So the two of them, they weren't to go together. It was a recipe for disaster again.
0:40:43 > 0:40:49It wasn't until 1923 that any safety regulations were brought in,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52but the benefits of a warm, cosy home meant that most were willing
0:40:52 > 0:40:54to risk the consequences.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Invention was running 100 miles an hour
0:40:59 > 0:41:02and we just weren't quick enough to keep up with it
0:41:02 > 0:41:05or the fitters were not skilled enough to keep up with it, but the
0:41:05 > 0:41:08amount of deaths that happened through negligence, not just
0:41:08 > 0:41:13through not understanding about the material they were using, was huge.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22I'm leaving the dangers of the kitchen and I'm going to
0:41:22 > 0:41:24the one place in the house where you'd think health and safety
0:41:24 > 0:41:28would be particularly cherished, the nursery,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31to seek out the next hidden killer.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45The new consumer culture even extended as far as providing
0:41:45 > 0:41:47entertainment for children.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50Surely, that wouldn't be a problem, would it?
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Alarmingly, despite all the progress,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58154,000 infants under the age of one
0:41:58 > 0:42:03died annually between 1880-1890.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05And so, a surviving child was an important one
0:42:05 > 0:42:08and their interests were indulged.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10Childhood was expanded more than ever before.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12Girls were at home for a very long time -
0:42:12 > 0:42:17virtuous young ladies - Lord Shaftesbury saying children shouldn't work excessively in factories.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20The idea of childhood became sacrosanct.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27In the Victorian world, this meant a new consumer market to target.
0:42:27 > 0:42:32Manufacturers absolutely poured goods for the child
0:42:32 > 0:42:34into the shops and people snapped them up.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41This was a time when Christmas was essentially invented as a child's festival.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45It was a time when children received presents and children were spoiled.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51But it was this indulgence that was now endangering children...
0:42:54 > 0:42:56..and toys were the problem.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Anything that was coloured or pigmented would have had high
0:43:02 > 0:43:04levels of a toxic metal in it.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07And even if it was white, it wasn't safe, as there were large
0:43:07 > 0:43:10levels of lead in white-painted objects.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Lead is a very poisonous substance and there is no amount of lead
0:43:14 > 0:43:18that is safe for your body. Even the tiniest amount can be detrimental.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And obviously, children, being much smaller and also
0:43:21 > 0:43:25because they're developing and lead damages the nervous system, are much
0:43:25 > 0:43:29more susceptible to lead poisoning. Unfortunately, it was typically children
0:43:29 > 0:43:32who were poisoned by lead, partly because it was used for
0:43:32 > 0:43:36things like lead soldiers and for painting children's toys, but also
0:43:36 > 0:43:41because of the children's habits of licking and putting things in their mouth.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44Anything they would chew or lick or would potentially
0:43:44 > 0:43:48flake off on them and they get handled, put it on their hands
0:43:48 > 0:43:53and then put their hands in their mouths - little flakes of lead.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56Unlike a lot of poisons which have an unpleasant taste, lead is
0:43:56 > 0:44:01not unpleasant and so, just by licking, it wouldn't put a child off.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06So why on earth were the Victorians putting lead in paint?
0:44:06 > 0:44:10It's been known to be poisonous since Roman times.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15Quite simply it was, and remains, the best preserver of wood.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17They had no idea that its poison could be
0:44:17 > 0:44:20transferred from a toy into a child's body.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Some of the first abnormalities that might be found would be
0:44:30 > 0:44:33developmental ones, so the child may not develop as normal
0:44:33 > 0:44:38and may have behavioural problems.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Things that might have been put down to temper tantrums or, nowadays,
0:44:41 > 0:44:44something like an attention deficit disorder, may actually
0:44:44 > 0:44:46have been due to lead poisoning.
0:44:54 > 0:44:55Almost impossible to identify
0:44:55 > 0:45:00if you can't test the levels of lead, because it's just the way
0:45:00 > 0:45:02in which that particular child is developing and who knows
0:45:02 > 0:45:06what their potential would have been had they not been exposed to lead.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Lead wasn't just brought into the house on objects.
0:45:16 > 0:45:21It was in the very fabric of the home, on painted surfaces.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27If you have a look at this door frame,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30I suspect there probably is lead in this.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34Lead was ubiquitous in the Victorian house, for providing
0:45:34 > 0:45:40white gloss paints that you might find on every wooden painted item
0:45:40 > 0:45:42would have been used with lead.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44We can have a look at this piece of woodwork
0:45:44 > 0:45:47and see what's present. In this, as well, I can see immediately
0:45:47 > 0:45:52there's a quite a lot of lead, there's 3,000ppm of lead in it.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Because it's been stripped, it's probably just, again,
0:45:54 > 0:46:00traces of old lead paint, before the old paintwork was taken off.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04In the late 19th century, lead poisoning was rife,
0:46:04 > 0:46:06but it was difficult to detect.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Lead poisoning could cause anaemia.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12It's often described that people had a grey pallor,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15a sort of very unhealthy look,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18but one way which was identified by a physician, Dr Henry Burton,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21in 1840, was something called "Burton's lines", which was
0:46:21 > 0:46:23a bluey-grey line at the base of the gums,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25just at the top of the teeth,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29that gave a very characteristic mark that was a sign of lead poisoning.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33Although by the time you identified that line, it was probably too late
0:46:33 > 0:46:37to undo some of the effects that the lead is likely to have had by then.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Despite the gruesome evidence,
0:46:44 > 0:46:46the government did nothing.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52It was not until the 1920s that white lead was banned
0:46:52 > 0:46:55in indoor paint products in Sweden, Czechoslovakia,
0:46:55 > 0:47:00Austria, Poland, Spain, Finland and Norway - but not Britain.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06Amazingly, it wasn't until the 1970s, more than 100 years
0:47:06 > 0:47:10after the problem was identified, that the British government finally
0:47:10 > 0:47:15passed legislation to control the lead content of household paint.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20Even today, lead paint in old houses still poses a risk.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26But there was an even bigger threat.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30I'm on the hunt for our last, and possibly our greatest,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34hidden killer and, again, one invisible to the Victorian eye.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Infant mortality rates in Victorian Britain were terrifyingly high.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45As many as 15% of all babies died in their first year of life and
0:47:45 > 0:47:49often the cause was an unexpected one, mummy's little helper.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Baby science, the idea that babies could be studied
0:47:55 > 0:47:59and developed in the most healthy way, was the new order of the day.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05In the 18th century, the idea was that God took the children he wanted,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08there was very high infant mortality and it was up to God
0:48:08 > 0:48:10so you just let it go.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12In the 19th century, it was much more about science
0:48:12 > 0:48:14and women could be seen as responsible
0:48:14 > 0:48:17and they were judged by how many of their children stayed alive.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21Just like the Queen, you had nine children, kept them all alive,
0:48:21 > 0:48:23who lived long and happy lives.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28The relationship between traditional ideas and the new scientific
0:48:28 > 0:48:33approach became increasingly fraught around how to feed babies.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37To comprehend how this domestic danger had such an impact
0:48:37 > 0:48:41requires understanding the Victorian attitudes to baby rearing.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Breastfeeding had long been rather unpopular in the higher aristocracy -
0:48:47 > 0:48:49the Queen didn't breastfeed.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51It was something that aristocratic women simply did not do.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54They gave the job to wet nurses - big, fat, jolly wet nurse -
0:48:54 > 0:48:57rather than the Victorian woman, who was supposed to be more delicate,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01much more refined and much more restrained.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05This attitude filtered into the new swelling middle classes.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09One figure loomed large over the household guides to bringing
0:49:09 > 0:49:14up baby, Mrs Beeton, and it was her they turned to for advice.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18Mrs Beeton gives two chapters in her book,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21which was enormously influential,
0:49:21 > 0:49:28to baby and childcare and it tells all the tips about breastfeeding,
0:49:28 > 0:49:34like drink lots of beer, although it does say stay off the gin,
0:49:34 > 0:49:41but after that, it then moves onto, erm,
0:49:41 > 0:49:46what to do if, for whatever reason, you cannot breastfeed your child.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50Any new idea needs explaining in detail.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54Feeding babies by bottle was a new idea.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00'The problem with this advice, it takes up much more space in the book
0:50:00 > 0:50:02'so it seems as though it is actually recommending'
0:50:02 > 0:50:06bottle feeding, or as it was known in the 19th century,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08"rearing by hand".
0:50:10 > 0:50:14But many saw this as Mrs Beeton promoting bottle feeding.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Her perceived support and the marketing of babies' bottles,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22put huge pressure on women to abandon breastfeeding.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28And there were these bottles that have these fantastic empire names -
0:50:28 > 0:50:31the Empire Bottle, they're really suggesting
0:50:31 > 0:50:34that for a woman to choose the bottle - I mean, brilliant
0:50:34 > 0:50:37marketing ploy - to choose the bottle made her a much better citizen
0:50:37 > 0:50:41of Empire. She was essentially doing the right thing for her children.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43But was she?
0:50:45 > 0:50:48Could this be a hidden killer?
0:50:50 > 0:50:54Dr Matthew Avison is a microbiologist.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57He's going to use his scientific expertise, to cast an eye
0:50:57 > 0:51:00on this Victorian innovation.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03So Matthew, I have bought you this.
0:51:03 > 0:51:09This is a Victorian baby's bottle - what's wrong with this?
0:51:09 > 0:51:11I think the obvious thing, just looking at it,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14because of this bend on the side of it,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17it's very difficult to actually clean away any residue
0:51:17 > 0:51:19that might be forming in here.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23Also, the stopper being made of rubber and the tubing,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26they're all porous materials, so they would accumulate
0:51:26 > 0:51:30a residue of milk and any bacteria that might be in that
0:51:30 > 0:51:34would permeate into the porous material
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and you'd end up, very quickly, with bacteria growing in that.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43There's the bottle and then there is either a rubber or animal skin
0:51:43 > 0:51:48nipple, which, says Mrs Beeton's book, you tie on,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51and then you don't have to take off,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54for the two or three weeks it lasts.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58So apart from outside, it never gets washed.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01Sounds disgusting,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05but what are the dangers of using porous materials with milk?
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Matthew's designed an experiment.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12He contaminates a piece of porous cork and a piece of non-porous
0:52:12 > 0:52:18plastic with a bacteria that would have been common in Victorian times.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21He gives them each a quick wash and drops them
0:52:21 > 0:52:25into a liquid that mimics the contents of the Victorian bottle.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30The shaking of the incubator introduces oxygen
0:52:30 > 0:52:34into the samples, which makes them grow faster
0:52:34 > 0:52:37and it also heats them up to body temperature, 37 degrees.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39Just gives us a quicker result.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Whilst we wait for the result -
0:52:41 > 0:52:44what was going into the Victorian baby bottle?
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Breast pumps existed, so mother's milk
0:52:46 > 0:52:51and a nutritious formula, according to the food manufacturers.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53The things that were recommended, I mean,
0:52:53 > 0:52:58what Mrs Beeton's doctor calls farinaceous foods, which are
0:52:58 > 0:53:04formula that's sold in shops, but it's basically flour.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09You know, the children didn't thrive for very obvious reasons, to us.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16So did they have an idea about bacteria in the 1890s
0:53:16 > 0:53:19when this feeding bottle was invented?
0:53:19 > 0:53:21It's around about that time they probably...er...
0:53:21 > 0:53:26Scientists are going to have made discoveries about the link between the bacterial
0:53:26 > 0:53:31colonisation of substances and disease, so there are many examples
0:53:31 > 0:53:37of that. For example, the cholera epidemics in London were stamped out
0:53:37 > 0:53:44by separation of sewage and water. That had happened by that time.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49But it's just whether that information had permeated down to the domestic level.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52So what has our experiment proved?
0:53:52 > 0:53:58- OK.- So these are the results of the samples that I inoculated last night.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02You can clearly see that the one with the cork is much, much denser.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06You get a much denser growth than on the plastic.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10This just shows that there were many more bacteria on the cork
0:54:10 > 0:54:13than on the plastic, and the bacteria have come from the pores
0:54:13 > 0:54:16within the cork. It illustrates the idea
0:54:16 > 0:54:19that when you have a porous material, it soaks up bacteria.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24Even in a few hours, you're going to get enough bacteria to cause an infection.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28So what does this mean for our babies' bottle?
0:54:28 > 0:54:32I think they didn't really understand that porous materials
0:54:32 > 0:54:36would retain the bacteria, even if they were washed over the surface,
0:54:36 > 0:54:37like this cork had been.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41And so, therefore, if new media's put on - new milk, new food,
0:54:41 > 0:54:47it's going to take up the bacteria again and cause this effect.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Victorian Britain was alive with killer diseases that sound
0:54:53 > 0:54:57tropical now, but were common then.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02Things like dysentery and typhoid, these are all very, very serious
0:55:02 > 0:55:07intestinal diseases, passed on through dirty water,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10which was then drunk. The cycle completes itself
0:55:10 > 0:55:14and you end up with serious diarrhoea infections and for a small baby,
0:55:14 > 0:55:18dehydration very, very quickly would lead to death within 48 hours.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20- Gosh, that quickly?- Absolutely.
0:55:20 > 0:55:29The lack of knowledge of transmission of germs in water
0:55:29 > 0:55:32meant that bottle-fed children were more at risk.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37In addition to that, there are lots of bacteria that live in the mouth
0:55:37 > 0:55:39and in the upper respiratory tract, in the back of the throat.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42These bacteria are fine, if they're there,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46but if they were to get inhaled into the lungs, they could cause
0:55:46 > 0:55:49pneumonia and, of course, when you're sucking on something like
0:55:49 > 0:55:52this, there's a potential for any bacteria like that to effectively
0:55:52 > 0:55:58be inhaled in small droplets. If they get into the lungs, they can cause
0:55:58 > 0:56:01a lower respiratory tract infection - what we call pneumonia.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05And of course, infant pneumonia was the biggest cause of death in babies.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08And those bacteria from the upper respiratory tract
0:56:08 > 0:56:11getting down there, causing that pneumonia, could potentially
0:56:11 > 0:56:14be lethal, again, very quickly, and with no cure.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17So that's not just one bacteria, not just one danger.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19There's loads of them, dozens of them.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23We're all covered in billions, trillions of bacteria.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27What we're providing here is a place for those bacteria to get a niche,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29to grow, multiply into excessive quantities
0:56:29 > 0:56:34and then an access route straight into a very vulnerable individual.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37And that's why these things,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40undoubtedly, would have killed many children.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45So the dirtiest, most bacteria-ridden,
0:56:45 > 0:56:51deadliest object of all went straight into the mouths of babes.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59Doctors came to understand the dangers of bacteria and its growth.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04A step forward was made in 1894, with Allen & Hanbury's
0:57:04 > 0:57:05double-ended feeder bottle.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08The design had a teat at one end and a valve at the other.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11This enabled the flow of milk to be constant,
0:57:11 > 0:57:16but more importantly, it was easy to clean and, therefore, safer.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Despite this, the old dangerous bottles
0:57:22 > 0:57:25sold well into the 20th century.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37It may be true that our hidden killers -
0:57:37 > 0:57:40the poisonous wallpaper, killer corsets,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44dangerous paint, exploding stoves
0:57:44 > 0:57:46and infested babies' bottles - damaged the Victorians'
0:57:46 > 0:57:50prized ideal of the safe and secure home.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55Yet this was an extraordinary age, so full of innovations,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58even if there was a price to pay. History, as ever,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02is a case of two steps forward and one step back.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06And although progress was not without sacrifice -
0:58:06 > 0:58:09we still have their legacy. We still live in their houses.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14We may think that we're over-regulated today,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17that health and safety has gone too far,
0:58:17 > 0:58:19but when we think about what things were like
0:58:19 > 0:58:21just over 100 years ago,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24we should be grateful that the Victorians
0:58:24 > 0:58:28not only pioneered new products, but also protections against them.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34It makes me wonder what we're oblivious to today.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd