Britain became "a country of two nations", namely the upper and the lower classes. Particularly the lower classes in nineteenth century England were scarred by economic hardship and political turmoil.
Rapid urbanization and unemployment were but one consequence of industrialization. It was impossible for adequate housing to be built at the same rate as the population growth. Consequently, many had to endure lives under miserable conditions: flats and streets were crowded and diseases spread easily since the lower classes were more prone to contagion (Haley 8).
Queen Victoria, in accordance with the widespread notions of the middle and upper classes, did not particularly attend to the fate of the poor, as she held the view that the problems would "somehow work themselves out" (Aronson 138). The Poor Law Amendment Act from 1834 was of great significance when it came to the circumstances of the destitute. The law was intended to change the administration of poor relief and it replaced the hitherto valid Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 (Bloy n. pag.), which stated that the parishes should provide a minimum of livelihood for the poor. Under the new law of 1834, the costs for this so-called outdoor relief of the Poor Law of 1601 were then to be reduced by establishing workhouses, where those people who were not able to responsibly support themselves in terms of thriftiness were supposed to go (de Pennington n. pag.). .
Elizabeth Gaskell, the author of North and South, was a first-hand witness to the effects of the industrial revolution since she was living in one of the biggest industrial towns of the time: Manchester. "Manchester was the urban phenomenon of the age.it exposed the human problems of rapid industrialization as starkly as it embodied the commercial success of manufacture" (Sanders 416). Gaskell gained insights into the social and living conditions under which the urban poor lived.
