Women before 1914

A selection of images illustrating different aspects of women's lives in the late Victorian (1880s - 1900s) and Edwardian (1900s - 1914) periods. Check out our Teaching Activity To what extent were women's lives already changing before WW1?

Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Tennis Match, Buckinghamshire A group playing a doubles match in lawn tennis. Women's clothing became far less bulky at the end of the Victorian period. This meant that they could move more freely and take up new activities such as playing tennis.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR The Miss Bromleys, Byfield, Northamptonshire The three Miss Bromleys with their bicycles at the side of the road. By the end of the Victorian period women's clothing was becoming less bulky. This meant that they could take up new leisure activities such as cycling. It also became more acceptable for middle class women to travel outside the home alone or with other women.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Margate, Kent Horse-drawn buses wait on a crowded sea front whilst holidaymakers take a stroll on the promenade. A line of bathing huts can be seen on the shore in the distance. The coming of the railways gave women more opportunities to travel and it became accepted that they might travel alone or with other women. During the Edwardian period women began wearing less bulky clothing which also gave them more freedom.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR The Ariss Family, Upper Boddington, Northamptonshire A group portrait of brother and sisters. Elsie standing to the right, brother George in the centre, Edith standing to the left, Ethel seated on the left and Clara seated to the right. The sisters are all wearing clothes that would have been the height of fashion for the middle classes around 1911.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Peoples Palace, Mile End Road, Stepney, Greater London Interior view looking down from the balcony towards the pool during a female swimming session.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Royal Cafe, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, Merseyside The interior of the dining room with the staff. All the staff have posed for the camera. It is possible to identify the manager and manageress, waitresses and kitchen staff. The young boy in the uniform looks like a messenger boy.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Kodak Factory, Harrow, Greater London This photograph taken in the Developing and Printing Department shows women retouching glass negatives. Taking photographs was becoming far more common and new techniques were invented. More people were needed to work on the processing of negatives which had previously been done in photographers shops. The 1911 census report shows that many young women found work in this new industry. Their clothes suggest a date in the 1900s.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Stratford Co-Operative Society, Maryland Street, Stratford, Greater London The Comptometer room at the Stratford Co-operative Society, showing girls and boys working on model 'E' comptometers. The comptometer, invented in 1887 by American, Dor Felt, was the first successful manual calculating machine. Many of the boys and girls look very young to be at work. The school leaving age was only raised to 14 in the Education Act of 1918 so they could well have been younger than that.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Great Northern Central Hospital, Holloway Road, Holloway, Greater London Interior of the number 3 Female Ward showing nursing staff and patients. Florence Nightingale set up the Nightingale Nurses Training School at St Thomas' Hospital, London, in 1860. This opened up a new profession for women.	Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Cellular Clothing Co Ltd, Morris Street, Swindon, Swindon Interior view of the manufacturing workroom of the Cellular Clothing Company Ltd's factory premises in Swindon, showing rows of women sitting at sewing machines sewing various items of clothing. The Cellular Clothing Co Ltd was established in 1888 by Lewis Haslam, inventor of the innovative 'Aertex' fabric, which was central to the manufacture of the company's clothing. The company had premises in Nottingham, London and Swindon, and grew in popularity and prosperity throughout the 20th century. The company was bought out in 2001 by Aertex Ltd.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Sunlight Soap Works, Port Sunlight, Bebington, Merseyside An office within the Sunlight Soap works, with women packaging books and promotional posters for Lever Brothers' products, and processing correspondences or invoices. This photograph was commissioned by William Hesketh Lever and James Darcy Lever, of Lever Brothers soap works.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Limited, Alma Street, Coventry, West Midlands The interior of the carriage tyre shop showing employees at work. All the workers are dressed in their everyday clothes and wearing aprons to protect them. These jobs were skilled, indoor jobs rather than manual labour and this is reflected in the clothing.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Salt Works, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire Two female workers standing beside a tank of boiling brine in a salt works in Droitwich. Working class women often worked in factories doing heavy, manual work in very unpleasant and dangerous conditions.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Servants at Hartwell Rectory, Hartwell, Northamptonshire In the 19th and early 20th centuries most professional and middle class households employed servants. This country rector employed at least three servants; two housemaids and a boy for outdoor work. The family's dog and cat are also in the picture. A large number of working class girls went into domestic service at a young age. Some continued all their working lives but many left when they got married.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Milking at Stockers Farm, Luppitt, Devon A view of two ladies milking cows at Stockers Farm, Wick near Luppitt. While life was changing for many women who lived in towns it changed much more slowly for those in the countryside.	Add to My Favourites Mr David March. Source English Heritage.NMR Public Conveniences, Guilford Place, Camden, Greater London These Ladies' and Gentlemen's toilets are sited on a traffic island. They date from the late 19th century. They stand close to the Francis Whiting Memorial Fountain. The toilets have yellow tiles, mahogany doors, decorative grills and their original fittings. It was only in Victorian times that public toilets appeared in any large numbers. The Public Health Act of 1848, called for Public Necessaries to be provided to improve sanitation. The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851 had toilets for visitors. These were installed by George Jennings, a plumber from Brighton. To offset the cost, visitors were charged 1d (penny) for using the toilets. William Haywood, City of London Corporation Engineer, installed the first municipal public toilets and the first underground public toilets in 1855. These were outside the Royal Exchange. At that time nearly all public conveniences were for men with few provided for women. There was a feeling that it was not decent to have public toilets for women. Read official list description.
Add to My Favourites © John Lewis (1958). Source English Heritage.NMR. Bon Marche, Ferndale Road, Brixton, Greater London Bon Marche, Brixton was the first purpose built department store in London, built in 1877. It was the first purpose-built department store with 50 staff bedrooms. Many large department stores were built in the late Victorian period. They provided work for single women as shop assistants. The work was hard, hours were long and they had to stand all day. Many left home and lived-in at the shop. They could buy food but it was not always of good quality.	Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Cheapside, City of London, Greater London A general view of Cheapside, with a statue to Robert Peel and people going about their daily lives. There are several shops advertising what they have to sell, including 'J&H Meyers Wholesale Furriers'. J&H Mayers are listed in the 1895 London Post Office Directory as being at 160 Cheapside. A furrier was a person who made, sold and dealt with clothes made from animal fur. At this time it was fashionable to wear such clothing. From around the 1880s middle class women began to go out shopping in newly built department stores. Previously they would have bought clothes at home, from catalogues.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR West Heath School, Richmond upon Thames, Greater London A gym class at West Heath School for Young Ladies, 1 Ham Common. It became a school in c.1879 under the guidance of the Reverend and Mrs Powers. The building is an early 19th century house, previously the home of the Duke of Chartres. In c.1900 it was bought by teachers Miss Lawrence and Miss Skeat, who commissioned this photograph. The building later became the Cassel Hospital.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Somerville College, Oxford, Oxfordshire A group of four ladies at a tea party within the grounds of the college. The tea party was an important part of college social life in the late Victorian period. The first women's colleges opened in 1879 but the University refused to grant women degrees until 1920.