Friday 28th Feb - Research

After auditions on Thursday, we were all really excited to find out what characters we were going to be playing. On Fridays session, we spent the lesson discussing the 1800s and what times were like, what different classes of people wore in those times, and different events that had occurred in those times. 

Fashion: 
- People in the 1800s dressed a lot more conservative than we do nowadays.
I found an excellent video showing fashion from the 1700s-1900s. I specifically concentrated on the video around 2:55 onwards.

Upper Class Women:
Women in the 1800's wore corsets, also known as stays. Bustles were also very popular, as well as petticoats, hoops (which was underneath there dresses), and there dresses went all the way to the floor (only if they had reached puberty). The materials were made from fabric that only the working class could afford. Women often wore hats or bonnets to go with their outfits.

This is how I imagine Mr & Mrs Willoughby to dress.


Upper Class Men:
In the 1800s men embraced the fashions that were associated for work, formal and casual occasions. The theme of their fashion was mostly sophisticated and smart. They wore Breeches, pantaloons, coats with tails, shirts, waistcoats, greatcoats (a dressier version of waistcoats), hessian boots, Wellingtons, top hats and wigs. Moustaches and beards were also very popular back then.

This is how I imagine Mr Grimshaw and Mr Gripe to dress.


Upper Class Boys:



Upper Class Girls:
For centuries little girls were dressed like small versions of their mothers. So they wore dresses, bonnets, etc. Silk was an important fabric as it was used by the richer people in society to show off their wealth through their dress. In the early 1800s young girls began to have their skirts shortened. A seventeen and eighteen year girl was considered to be a young lady and wore skirts ground length just like adult women did.  Most sixteen year old wore gowns to the ankles, a fourteen year old skirts to the calves, but a 12 year old wore skirts to just below the knee. 

Lower Class Women:
The poor bought second-hand clothes from special dealers in every town in the western world. We forget now that used clothes had real value to a large proportion of the population; poor people would go to market stalls or back-stores just to get massive collections of old used clothes.




Lower Class Men:
Men often wore wool, or patched clothing, or thin shirts made from cheap material which was their work wear.



Lower Class Boys:
Poor children wore the cast-off clothes of their parents and hand-downs from older siblings or cousins. Everything had been "pre-worn" by other children or young people in the family, or sometimes by neighbours who didn't have younger boys or girls. 


This is how I imagine James and Simon to dress.

Lower Class Girls:

Young girls learnt to repair old clothes, having to save all the clothes they had, no matter what the condition was. This is how I imagine Sylvia to dress.




Travel:

Types of transport include the electric carriage, which was actually built by Robert Anderson between the years of 1832-1839. Steamboats were also a very popular way of transport in the 1800s. Other forms of transportation include trains, stagecoaches, ferry and carriages.

Life in 1832 compared to the fictional 1832

Its important to know what was happening around 1832 as it can help me base up my character and work out what life would have been like for them, I can use visual elements that help build the story.

In 1832, when William IV was on the throne, women liked to make themselves look beautiful and were very graceful. They painted, sang, and played musical instruments like the piano. Women had to stay at home and look after their families. However, most rich families had maids or nannies. Rich men had big houses in the countryside with lots of land around it. For poor people, they had it rough; they lived in the streets of big cities, if not in tiny houses with little shelter, catching diseases from rats and dirty animals, having to steal from people or beg for money. They were very dirty and malnourished, often making them tired and weak. There was little sympathy for the poor in them days, they were very rarely given money by the rich. Those who were more wealthy often went on to become governesses, and teach rich, spoiled children how to act properly. the very poor would work long hard hours in terrible conditions, lived in squalor and even have their children perform on the streets for money. Disease was also a significant problem in the 1800s, such as cholera, which was one of the most dreaded diseases in that era, such as small pox, whooping cough etc.

In The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, it is mentioned that King James III ruled the throne, when it was in fact William IV. Sylvia travels by train, through the Channel Tunnel, braving the huge quantity of wolves. However, the Wolves of Willoughby Chase is based on 1832, and the Channel Tunnel wasn't completely finished until 1994, when it was in fact opened by Margaret Thatcher. Also, it is mentioned that wolves were a huge danger in those days which is also incorrect, as there were only a small amount of wolves in the 19th century, and they were not as dangerous as the novel makes out, as people were not really bothered by the wolves and had no impact on the way they lived their lives, for example not leaving the house, stopping trains etc. Disease is also a topic in WOWC, as Lady Willoughby becomes very ill, which is what leads her and Mr Willoughby to go away for a while, to give her the opportunity to recover.