Category: Daily Life in the Past

By Tim Lambert Society in Anglo-Saxon England Everyday life in Anglo-Saxon England was hard and rough even for the rich. Society was divided into three classes. At the top were the thanes, the Saxon upper class. They enjoyed hunting and feasting and they were expected to give their followers gifts like weapons. Below them were… Continue reading Life in Anglo-Saxon England

By Tim Lambert When the Second World War began on 3 September 1939 it was feared that the Germans would bomb British cities causing great loss of life. So children from British cities were evacuated to the countryside. Altogether 827,000 schoolchildren with 103,000 teachers and helpers left the big cities. Furthermore, 524,000 children below school… Continue reading Life in Britain During the Second World War

By Tim Lambert Society in 1930s Britain The 1930s are remembered for mass unemployment. However, there was already mass unemployment in the 1920s in Britain. For most of the decade, it hovered between 10% and 12%. Then, in the early 1930s, the economy was struck by depression. By the start of 1933 unemployment in Britain… Continue reading Life In Britain in the 1930s

By Tim Lambert Society in 18th Century Britain In the late 18th century the Industrial Revolution began to transform life in Britain. Until then most people lived in the countryside and made their living from farming. By the mid 19th century most people in Britain lived in towns and made their living from mining or… Continue reading Life in England in the 18th Century

By Tim Lambert Stone Age Hunters The first people lived in England at about 450,000 BC. At that time England was much warmer than it is today. Animals like elephants, lions, and rhinoceros lived in England alongside deer, horses, bears, and wolves. The humans made simple stone tools and lived in caves. In 15,000 BC… Continue reading Life in Prehistoric England

By Tim Lambert Prehistoric Hunters Modern humans entered Europe about 35,000 BC at a time when the Earth was in the grip of the last ice age (which ended about 8,000 BC). They lived by hunting mammoths, reindeer, bison, and horses. They also hunted smaller animals like hares and arctic foxes. The Ice Age hunters… Continue reading Life in Prehistoric Europe

By Tim Lambert The Cro-Magnon people Modern humans appeared in Africa about 100,000 years ago. About 35,000 years ago they entered Europe. (They are sometimes called Cro-Magnons). At that time Europe was in the grip of an ice age. Forests only grew in the extreme south of Europe and most of it was covered in… Continue reading Life in Prehistoric Times

By Tim Lambert Towns in Roman Britain After the first century AD the Celts who lived in what is now England were, to a certain extent, Romanized. Many towns appeared. Some were created deliberately. Others grew up by Roman forts as the garrisons provided markets for the townspeople’s goods. Roman towns were usually laid out… Continue reading Life in Roman Britain

By Tim Lambert Roman Society At its height, the population of the city of Rome was probably over one million. However, the Roman Empire was an agricultural society where most people made their living from farming (although there were many craftsmen). Only a small minority of the population lived in towns. In the Roman Empire… Continue reading Life in Rome

By Tim Lambert Tudor Society In 16th century England, most of the population lived in small villages and made their living from farming. However, towns grew larger and more important. During the 16th century trade and industry grew rapidly and England became a more and more commercial country. Mining of coal, tin, and lead flourished.… Continue reading Life in the 16th Century