Why Were Victorian Children Killed By Their Toys? - Americans React

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  • Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024

Комментарии • 103

  • @catherinewholey3630
    @catherinewholey3630 2 года назад +13

    It's amazing that any baby survived back then! Horrific to us now. This was a really interesting series showing different historical eras with different dangers in each era

  • @No_Rice_No_Power
    @No_Rice_No_Power 2 года назад +8

    Old lead plumbing pipes an issue in UK. Plumbers aren't allowed to repair legally, just replace.

    • @johnsymons8246
      @johnsymons8246 2 года назад

      True. I was told old lead pipe isn't that dangerous because of the calcium build up inside over the years. As you say doing a repair could cause problems.

  • @HalkerVeil
    @HalkerVeil 2 года назад +19

    It would be interesting to see future documentaries one hundred years from now on today's society. How we ingested carcinogens even when we knew about them causing cancer. They'll probably talk about a common saying "everything gives you cancer" as an indication of our era and how we wouldn't change due to money and inconvenience.

    • @charlestaylor9424
      @charlestaylor9424 2 года назад +5

      They'll probably call it "When McDonald's was legal"

  • @mwollno
    @mwollno 2 года назад +12

    My Grandfather actually had to spend a fair amount of money to replace the lead pipes in his house. Granted he did it as soon as he moved in. This was in rural Scotland but the building was ancient. These places have been around for so long it's no surprise to me.

    • @missyotsuba8508
      @missyotsuba8508 2 года назад

      You will not die, not even close to dying because your pipes are lead...
      I live in a old house all my pipes are lead. Doing my washing up and laundry using water from the lead pipes will not have any effect on my health.

  • @davidjack9217
    @davidjack9217 2 года назад +2

    Have look at the problems with lead in Flint water supply.
    In the UK lead water piping was totally replaced in 1950s, 60s and 70s.

  • @terrythomas3755
    @terrythomas3755 2 года назад +3

    It may have already been mentioned in this comments section, I haven't read through. But Ale (Beer) was healthier than water, back in the day, because domestic water supplies were often contaminated.

  • @theparanoidandroid3583
    @theparanoidandroid3583 2 года назад +1

    On asbestos, I live in Southampton (UK) and have heard stories of how workers at the docks used to have "snowball fights" with the heaps of asbestos piled up for transport.

  • @stevenbalekic5683
    @stevenbalekic5683 2 года назад +8

    Beer was actually good back then because fresh water was dangerous to drink because of diseases like cholera, dysentery and other waterbourne nasties. This was before people understood about microbes and viruses in water.

  • @marcuswardle3180
    @marcuswardle3180 2 года назад +4

    There are still some homes that still have lead pipes in them. The reason they have not been removed is that the homes have not been remodelled. My own home still has a length of lead pipe connecting it to the main water pipe though it is only about 10 feet max. Another killer was arsenic in the wallpaper! It was used in the manufacture of the colours. It is said that Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning due to the wallpaper in his bedroom containing it.

    • @WideCuriosity
      @WideCuriosity 2 года назад +1

      The house I grew up in had lead waterpipes. Like your own, the part under the front garden is still the original lead pipe. Makes me wonder if I'd had won a Nobel prize by now had things been otherwise ;-) But it's in a hard water area so it's questionable how much lead actually got into contact with the water.

    • @marcuswardle3180
      @marcuswardle3180 2 года назад +1

      @@WideCuriosity Hi Gary, I’m the same I’m in a hard water area i.e. South-East England. My plumber told me it’s not worth the hassle and expense getting it out as the water probably doesn’t touch the lead pipe!

  • @charlestaylor9424
    @charlestaylor9424 2 года назад +14

    You've got to be careful with averages like life expectancy. Generally children died young from disease, food and lead pipes carrying water.
    Once into their teenage years they were generally safeish unless there was a war on. People often lived to 70. Women had a lower average life expectancy because giving birth is dangerous and Victorian women didn't have access to contraception.
    It is interesting to walk through a Victorian cemetery and especially the children's section. Whole families could be wiped out.

    • @sheepsky
      @sheepsky 2 года назад +3

      This is so important, was gonna comment this. Thank you

    • @margaretnicol3423
      @margaretnicol3423 2 года назад

      Victorian women did have access to contraception - if you could afford it. Isn't that always the case? (I wonder if they'll let me post this???)
      ''The late 18th century saw the establishment of two shops in London devoted entirely to the sale of condoms. ... Made out of sheep guts, these condoms were carefully soaked for a couple of hours before use, to make them pliable and easy to put on.''
      ''Sears and Roebuck advertised a popular one as a regular old household sponge, but it was called a “ladies fine cup shaped sponge with netting," and had a string for easy removal.''
      ''To kill sperm or wash it out of the body, women commonly turned to suppositories and douches, which were also marketed as hygiene products. Lysol sold a douche that promised to wash out germs and other foreign substances, and marketed its disinfectant for use in the vagina with an ad that read, "Lysol has amazing, proved power to kill germ-life on contact." Women would also douche with vinegar, ammonia, and paprika, wrote Oneill. For their part, Sears sold “Ladies Antiseptic Suppositories."''

    • @charlestaylor9424
      @charlestaylor9424 2 года назад

      @@margaretnicol3423 I suspect that the shops in London catered to men. London is not the whole UK, elsewhere the women just got pregnant with a high level of miscarriage.

    • @margaretnicol3423
      @margaretnicol3423 2 года назад

      @@charlestaylor9424 Oh yes, I agree but at least it was coming into the open so others could copy. Women have always found a way, Romans, Cleopatra, etc., but sadly those 'ways' have been just as deadly.

    • @SvenTviking
      @SvenTviking 2 года назад

      Lead pipes were only dangerous when new, or in soft water areas. It hard water areas, the limescale in the pipes formed a barrier between the water and the lead.

  • @peterbrown1012
    @peterbrown1012 2 года назад +3

    People drank beer rather than water because water could be harmful where as if beer had any germs in it, it would spoil.

  • @allenwilliams1306
    @allenwilliams1306 2 года назад +2

    A point that was mentioned in the film, but not emphasized, is that lead-rich paint is a far better preservative of softwood than any other, and it is effective for far longer. Dad always insisted on using lead based paint when decorating as long as he could get it. I helped him many times when I was a lad. I was not one of those that chewed the paintwork.

    • @johnsymons8246
      @johnsymons8246 2 года назад +2

      Up until the early 2000s did a lot of work with Brighton conservation and design. I cam across sash windows that hadn't been repainted for decades that were still in good condition that were originally painted with lead paint, others that had been renewed fairly recently, painted with modern paints showing signs of rot after about 5 years.

  • @kellyfairbairn9333
    @kellyfairbairn9333 2 года назад +4

    I love history. Suzannah lipscomb is brilliant. She's done loads of brilliant history programs

  • @catherinewilkins2760
    @catherinewilkins2760 2 года назад +1

    John Snow was the Doctor who identified the cholera out break was due to water contamination in a London pump. He is known as the father of epidemiology. There are lots of houses over here, don't know how old mine is, built before 1836, you are careful about stripping paint, masks and gloves order of the day with good ventilation.

  • @nickjeffery536
    @nickjeffery536 2 года назад +1

    "Shouldn't be licking a wall in general - what do you guys do for that?"
    I for one have an electric wall-licking machine...

  • @djjonesy1519
    @djjonesy1519 2 года назад +4

    It seems bonkers looking at it from our prospective now. I would say that one thing many parents still forget about today is the bath toys. Squeaky rubber ducks and things like that. Just disgusting if you forget to actually clean them... plus if you can't get inside them to clean they should be thrown away and replaced often. Try cutting one open sometime if you have an old one and you'll see just how bad they can be.

  • @stevenbalekic5683
    @stevenbalekic5683 2 года назад +3

    A lot of eras are named after the British royalty...especially house styles like Victorian (Queen Victoria), Georgian (King George), Queen Anne and Elizabethan.

  • @THC-TheHereticalcomplainer
    @THC-TheHereticalcomplainer 2 года назад +2

    She did one on electricity. It's amazing that it ever caught on! It was bloody lethal!

  • @SimuDan
    @SimuDan 2 года назад

    I have a friend who unwittingly killed their pet budgey because they were giving it water from upstairs taps that still had century old lead pipe work. It was only a year or two later (and another dead bird) that a surveyor pointed out that the pipes needed replacing.

  • @petebennett7764
    @petebennett7764 2 года назад +4

    It's not just their toys that were killers.
    There use to be something called "baby farmers" I think it was called. An infamous case involves a woman called Amelia Dyer. Women use to take their youngsters to woman to be "farmed out" or adopted by others for a fee. But in Amelia Dyers care, the youngsters would end up dying. There were others doing this but Amelia Dyer became an infamous case.

    • @kimarnill7648
      @kimarnill7648 2 года назад

      I think that was covered in murder maps . Fantastic and very well acted plays that showed terrible crimes and how they caught the criminals. Very creepy though.

    • @petebennett7764
      @petebennett7764 2 года назад

      @@kimarnill7648 that wouldn't surprise me if it was on murder maps. I came across it on the RUclips channel called brief case.

  • @DavidStruveDesigns
    @DavidStruveDesigns Год назад

    The main benefit of glass is that you can heat it up to temperatures that kill most - if not all - of those deadly bacteria (sterilisation), whereas most plastics melt or deform long before you get to the temperature needed to kill that bacteria. Glass itself is better as a material because it offers less cracks and pores on the microscopic scale for bacteria to hide in, safe from being washed out - but glass isn't actually perfectly smooth - contrary to some belief - if you look under a microscope or an electron scanner the surface has loads of craters and valleys for bacteria to grow in, just nowhere near as many or as deep as porous material - and certainly doesn't have the microscopic cave and tunnel systems going right through from the inside to the outside.

  • @50001mick
    @50001mick 2 года назад +2

    They had a sad saying “You are not a mother until you have lost at least one.”

  • @alansmithee8831
    @alansmithee8831 2 года назад +1

    Hello Ethan and Wifey. I watched this before, knowing about this stuff, but it is very well presented, which keeps you watching. In a previous job I used to check US methods of testing for some of those nasties as, like you said, the US is quite strict on not having people at work poisoned.
    Some say that modern obsession with cleanliness is also a danger as kids do not build a natural resistance to bugs.

    • @midwestamericans3806
      @midwestamericans3806  2 года назад +1

      That is true some germs are good, which why germophobes get sick which you wouldn't think that they would.

  • @No_Rice_No_Power
    @No_Rice_No_Power 2 года назад +3

    Keep doing your thing, great content and channel. ✌️♥︎

  • @ianprince1698
    @ianprince1698 2 года назад +1

    look at any graveyard before early 1910 the number of child deaths was horrific, I did a period as a volunteer in a local cemetery

  • @margaretnicol3423
    @margaretnicol3423 2 года назад +3

    It's almost as bad as the lead in the water in Flint and other US towns!!!

  • @gmf121266
    @gmf121266 2 года назад

    I was born in 1966 so I remember my Dad who was a painter and decorator using lead based paint to paint houses. They were reducing the amount but it still had a certain amount. He painted our family house and I recall feeling sick and having headaches. In the 1970's they got really aware of the problem and lead based paints went out almost overnight. Although my Dad said it was a good thing he always said that the new lead free paint never gave the same finish and coverage. Lead gloss paint apparently looks very glossy and is more hardwearing.

  • @josefschiltz2192
    @josefschiltz2192 2 года назад +1

    Well, without seeing the video first, the primary thing, that comes to mind, is that the colours used on the toys contained lead. As to more 'unwitting' assassinations in the nursery, I won't hazard a guess, though I could imagine numerous sharp objects could be involved. This brings to mind a tale of Georgian - George the Fifth - Reigned 1911-1936 - childhood and of my aunt who, just being a toddler - in 1915 - had been given a doll as a present. She took it out into the garden and promptly drove it's face in. I, myself, have a phobia of such things. I just can't stand the sight of the hideous things. Maybe she felt the same. Incredibly, also, you should see some of the 'bulking' substances listed that were used by some unscrupulous Victorian shopkeepers so to maximize the profit.

  • @nick7076
    @nick7076 2 года назад +1

    All paint sold in UK has a warning in the How to Prepare section, warning about lead paint and to take precautions when sanding.
    Leaded paint was banned in the 70s but if you think how many old paint cans people often have, it could have been used well into the 80s. If you have an older home, which is very common in the UK, it is almost certain that there will still be lead paint somewhere.
    I know Biden is trying to get action on lead pipes in and to homes.
    In UK all potable water supply has been lead free for years. The supply companies had to change pipes up to property boundary. Some homes may have lead pipes but most will have been changed.
    My last house, built in 1933 had lead pipe from main supply in street to stop tap, everything else was copper/plastic. The only reason there was still lead was the pipe ran under the house so was expensive to change.

  • @paulbromley6687
    @paulbromley6687 2 года назад

    Old houses can have damp which when it dries out can cause flakey surfaces to disintegrate and spores can become airborne. Old lead paint is still present in lots of old properties. Can be an issue eg when sanding old wooden banisters. I’m amazed I’m still healthy.

  • @aloh5613
    @aloh5613 2 года назад

    In the UK, nearly every single Victorian building has a lead pipe. That goes from the kitchen to the water meter in the street.

  • @ianprince1698
    @ianprince1698 2 года назад

    there was a story fairly recently of an elderly lady with asbestos poisoning her only exposure was when she cuddled her dad as a child when he came home from work all those years before in his dirty overalls

  • @heliotropezzz333
    @heliotropezzz333 2 года назад +1

    I guess nearly all homes have been painted with modern lead free paints by now. Paint tins often give a warning about care needed if sanding off old lead paint, such as the need to wear masks etc, but it would be hard for many people to know how old the old paint in their homes is and whether the old paint in their homes contained lead. Dangerous practices such as the use of asbestos in homes went on even as late as the 1970s and lead plumbing could still be found. We had it in a home we bought in the mid 1980s and unbeknown to us, when we had that removed, it was still underground in the piping that led from our street to our front door.

    • @charlestaylor9424
      @charlestaylor9424 2 года назад

      Asbestos is not dangerous until you play with it. Asbestos dust and fibres are the danger.

    • @midwestamericans3806
      @midwestamericans3806  2 года назад

      Yes which was the case with the story we were taking abut as they were teaing it up, that beig said there are still alot of homes around here with asbestos siding.

    • @heliotropezzz333
      @heliotropezzz333 2 года назад

      @@charlestaylor9424 In the 1970s our landlady was told by the local council to fireproof the doors and when we got home we found that workmen had put asbestos on the doors. They had sawn it to size and left the dust on the floor in our flat. I had to sweep it up. Later I moved to a house that had a garden shed half built of asbestos panels. The asbestos was crumbling and we had to take it apart and seal it inside thick plastic covers. Then the council men came dressed in hazard gear to remove it from front of the property where we had to leave it. I'm amazed I never suffered an illness from these experiences.

  • @michaelhicks2599
    @michaelhicks2599 2 года назад +1

    Lead paint was banned in the USA in 1978

  • @emmahowells8334
    @emmahowells8334 2 года назад

    Poor kids, scary stuff. I knew led paint was a thing, so made sense that kids woul be more poisoned as they do put toys in their mouths. But didn't know about the bottle either, definite shock.

  • @neuralwarp
    @neuralwarp 2 года назад

    Victorian paint powdered not flaked, so very inhalable. Also they used lead pipes. And dyes used arsenic.

  • @mathiasosiriswoodhal
    @mathiasosiriswoodhal 2 года назад

    Think with the walls most have been striped back most was latt and plaster which we don't use no more so most have been replastered lol good videos guys

  • @rayjennings3637
    @rayjennings3637 2 года назад

    It's not particularly common in the UK to paint walls direct. Most times, the wall will be primed and have lining paper applied to remove all the tiny imperfections and provide a consistent surface for the paint. The result of this is that after two or three times of re-decoration, the lot would be stripped and the process started again.
    With regard to all the cleaning of toys etc., I appreciate the need to keep bottles and toys generally clean but despite all that cleaning, often times, if there's a dog or cat in the house, they will frequently lick the children's faces after cleaning their butts! The children will also be crawling over a floor we all walk on and in the case of animals, park those butts on!

  • @chrisbaldwin3609
    @chrisbaldwin3609 2 года назад

    no idea of sanitation in them days , things we take for granted nowadays wiped whole areas out , tuberculosis , , rickets , polio, dysentry , typhoid, influenza cholera,, diptheria , and many other diseases were commonplace . life expectancy was far shorter than it is nowadays , child mortality was rife , many graves show whole families buried together

  • @barryderrick4693
    @barryderrick4693 2 года назад +2

    The life expectancy figures you found are an average from birth, meaning that all of the children that didn't survive infancy dragged the average number down. If you survived into adult hood you where actually likely to live much longer than 41/42 years old. Fifty-seven of every 100 children in working class families were dead by five years of age. Hope that helps guys

    • @howey935
      @howey935 2 года назад +2

      I think that always should be explained because people think people never lived much past their 40s when in reality if you make it past 6 you have a good chance of making your 60s or 70s.

    • @barryderrick4693
      @barryderrick4693 2 года назад +1

      @@howey935 I agree. Stats can be misleading unless you understand where the numbers come from, what is included and what isn't.

  • @MrBlue2uk
    @MrBlue2uk 2 года назад

    Suzanna Lipscomb could get me to learn anything lol

  • @carolmeadows2936
    @carolmeadows2936 2 года назад

    On the subject of walls, around this time dark wallpapers were coloured with dye which incorporated arsenic. The arsenic contaminated (invisibly) the atmosphere in the rooms with these new, wallpapers. It's a wonder anyone survived these times.

    • @jillhobson6128
      @jillhobson6128 2 года назад

      It's believed Napoleon died from arsenic poisoning from his wallpaper

  • @jillhobson6128
    @jillhobson6128 2 года назад +1

    Why do think they introduced leadfree petrol?

  • @andrewfitzgerald2327
    @andrewfitzgerald2327 2 года назад

    This was an excellent documentary on the BBC. The Victorian house's may look the same from the outside but most have been remodelled to within inches of their lives. The paint with the Asbestos have been removed or sealed we had the same thing with wrapping place's in plastic ventilation suits for the men. Lead paint on toys was banned in the 70s in the UK and 78 in the USA. Some Asian countries still use it on toys and buildings. Wash plastic toys with wet wipes soft toys in the washing machine when the children and dogs can't see them. A dog barking at his toy doing 1600 rpm is a nightmare.

    • @paulqueripel3493
      @paulqueripel3493 2 года назад

      I remember watching them. The most memorable one for me was on the dangers of houses, especially the metal bath that had gas burners under it to keep it warm, or boil the occupant. If the carbon monoxide fumes didn't get them first that is.

  • @AndrewwarrenAndrew
    @AndrewwarrenAndrew 2 года назад

    Add flammable clothing, smog, etc.

  • @margaretnicol3423
    @margaretnicol3423 2 года назад +1

    I hope it's not another version of Chucky!!!

  • @timglennon6814
    @timglennon6814 2 года назад

    Kids need some germs to build up their immune system.

  • @margaretnicol3423
    @margaretnicol3423 2 года назад +1

    Well it's great to have a cheerful topic for a change. OK - here goes ...

  • @cuteandfluffypikachu3405
    @cuteandfluffypikachu3405 2 года назад

    When Victorian children died the parents made dolls using the child’s own hair called funeral dolls it’s kinda creepy 😱😱😱

  • @eaglediesel
    @eaglediesel 2 года назад

    hello both.I still have lead water pipes embedded in my house that was built in the 1920s, all disconnected.thankfully they are all now copper and plastic.so safe now ....um.

    • @midwestamericans3806
      @midwestamericans3806  2 года назад

      Yea that's good, I know alot of homes in our town have galvanized lines.

  • @nigelmacbug6678
    @nigelmacbug6678 2 года назад +1

    both countries still have lead water pipes

  • @daveofyorkshire301
    @daveofyorkshire301 2 года назад

    Until they realised the danger of radiation the used radioactive materials because they glowed, even in things like lipstick, toothpaste etc... Lead was one thing, but it was seen as having heath benefits, so they swallowed the stuff...
    Bare in mind Bananas are radioactive, so don't freak out too much...

    • @martinwebb1681
      @martinwebb1681 2 года назад

      Well I haven't seen any glowing monkeys about ... so I guess Bananas are fine. 🦧🍌

  • @greyman3515
    @greyman3515 2 года назад

    Off topic. I do prefer glass, for a beer, to plastic cups.

  • @daveofyorkshire301
    @daveofyorkshire301 2 года назад

    The body cant remove heavy metals, so they build up over time. Chelation is the ONLY way of filtering the blood removing heavy metals like lead, gold and the more reactive volatile ones too.

    • @tonys1636
      @tonys1636 2 года назад

      Gold is an inert metal and can be ingested in small quantities as in the gold flakes in some Gins and Vodkas, also as cake decoration. It passes through the body harmlessly. Silver is antibiotic, which is why it was used for surgical instruments, often silver plated (Sheffield Plate), before sterilisation was around, although bacteria were not known about, nothing grew in the blood left on them.

    • @daveofyorkshire301
      @daveofyorkshire301 2 года назад

      @@tonys1636 In its metallic form, gold is not toxic, which is why we can eat ice cream with gold flakes. However, some natural gold compounds will break down in the body releasing gold ions, which can have toxic effects on living organisms...
      I never mentioned silver, but... Silver can deposit as particles in the human body causing a blue-gray discoloration known as argyria. ... Silver may cause genotoxicity, but additional data are required to assess its carcinogenic potential. Other reported toxicities include hepatic, renal, neurological, and hematological effects.

  • @mickmackem1479
    @mickmackem1479 2 года назад

    Just another day youtube timeline put on episodes on of these Suzannah lipscomb hot doctor electric ones good

  • @timglennon6814
    @timglennon6814 2 года назад

    Sounds about right for the British Government.

  • @chrispowell1191
    @chrispowell1191 2 года назад

    got lead poisoning when a teen not sure how but it paralysed one side of my face for about 6 months which all my friends found amusing

  • @deggsymarley
    @deggsymarley 2 года назад

    The poor class life expectancy so much different then rich, not bothered about toys but next meal ,if they had books probably used on 🔥 fire keep warm. What about the poor people making the toys more exposed to the LED

  • @Cobalt-Jester
    @Cobalt-Jester 2 года назад

    Am I missing something? Our water pipes are made of lead. I'm perfectly fine. Everything in moderation including moderation. Washing my pots and pans with water from a lead pipe will never ever kill me.

  • @ticketyboo2456
    @ticketyboo2456 2 года назад

    This is why I want to slap those who call them " the good old days "...