Perhaps the creepiest of these peculiar Victorian sleeping arrangements, for those too poor to have a fixed place to sleep, were the four or five penny coffins. Thankfully they weren't actually coffins. Instead they were small wooden boxes that bore a striking and unpleasant resemblance to coffins.
While the cramped and uncomfortable conditions might provoke shock in middle-class Victorians and modern-day viewers, the 'coffin beds' - clean, dry and sheltered from the elements - were a welcome sight for most homeless Victorians.
Victorians would typically sleep for around five hours then wake back up and use their time for cleaning, reading or relaxing before settling down for the second round of sleep, otherwise known as a biphasic sleep pattern.
In London, England in late 1800s, the poor used to pay a penny to sleep over ropes strung out if they couldn't afford a box bed. It was considered the lowest form of accommodations. People bend over a rope for the night, no laying down.
Sleepwear during the Victorian age was usually referred to as 'night clothes' and often consisted of ankle-length nightshirts or nightgowns and floor-length robes. Almost everything was white, especially when the style was first adopted (eventually colors and patterns became fashionable).
Beds in the middle ages
For those further down the social scale, they would own wooden bedsteads with headboards, to which were added feather mattresses, sheets, blankets, coverlets and pillows, Peasants slept on mattresses stuffed with straw or wool, while the poorest slept on straw or hay.
Servants' bedrooms and dormitories were pushed to the margins of the house: in garrets and occasionally basements. In newly built or extended houses, wings were created in the main house that offered separate accommodation for indoor and outdoor servants, grooms for example often sleeping above the stables.
The servant would sleep on a pallet or trundle on the floor. If the servant were especially important, and an antechamber was attached to the private chamber of the master of the house, the servant may find themselves sleeping in such a room.
People would first sleep between around 9pm and 11pm, lying on rudimentary mattresses generally filled with straw or rags, unless they were particularly wealthy and could afford feathers. People normally shared beds, alongside family members, friends and, if travelling, even strangers.
Research shows that early humans typically slept in ground-based nests of grasses and other soft materials built close to the walls of caves. It is believed that early man slept curled up in a fetal position based on the small, round shapes of nests discovered.
Beds were typically made of a dark wood such as mahogany or rosewood with a matching style of headboard and footboard, with an iron frame and wooden slats forming the structure and support of the mattress and often borrowing a French style.
The old beds and even their wooden counterparts were elevated higher than what we're use to today because of cold drafts that were close to the ground. The higher a bed could be constructed from the ground, the closer to the warmer air that collected at the ceiling it would be.
If you've ever been on a tour of an upper-class historical home or castle, the docent probably made a point of telling the group that beds of the past were so short because people used to sleep sitting upright, leaning against the headboard.
In the 1850s one in nine girls over the age of 10 worked as domestic servants for wealthy homes. Poor children often had to work instead of going to school. Many worked with their parents at home or in workshops, making matchboxes or sewing.
Communal sleeping was not restricted to the nuclear family. Mistresses sometimes shared their beds with female servants to protect them from the unwanted advances of male members of the household. Many servants slept at the foot of their master's beds (no matter what bedtime activity was happening in that bed).
The proclamation may have proved less than accurate, but for almost a century between the 1850s and 1950s, separate beds were seen as a healthier, more modern option for couples than the double, with Victorian doctors warning that sharing a bed would allow the weaker sleeper to drain the vitality of the stronger.
Electricity came, and humans had to adjust their sleep patterns accordingly. But before that time, some parts of the world slept in two phases within a 24-hour span. It was common practice in some populations to have “two sleep periods”; you could have the first snooze during the day and the second at night.
Within this hallowed bedroom would be a grand sized bed that, oddly, would not serve as the king and queen's actual bed. In fact, the king and the queen often had their own separate bedrooms, and this bed would only be used for official royal business.
Prior to the industrial revolution and the invention of the electric light, most of our ancestors actually slept in two shifts, spending the time in between awake. It's known as biphasic sleep.
Bed-sharing was widely practiced in all areas up to the 19th century, until the advent of giving the child his or her own room and the crib. In many parts of the world, bed-sharing simply has the practical benefit of keeping the child warm at night.
A scullery maid's life was generally one of drudgery and servitude, She arose very early in the morning (often at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.) and after a day of scrubbing and carrying water and heavy pots, she would stumble into her simple attic bed at 10:00 p.m.
Rats and other vermin flourished inside the walls of medieval towns. Castles — designed to withstand a siege — often contained stores of surplus grain, vegetables, and herbs. Along with their cool, dark interior, these stores provided a superb habitat for rats and mice.
It was normal for servants to be given only one day off a month! Only wealthy Victorians could afford to have servants. They often lived in large houses with many rooms and huge gardens.
All but the poorest households employed servants, who usually lived in, sleeping in attics, kitchens and basements. Pay was low but included their keep and often their clothing. Work was hard and hours long. A maid would often have to rise at two in the morning on a washing day so as to be finished by the evening.
It was the beginning of the end. Domestic service dropped by more than half between 1940 and 1950. After the war, wages remained high. In a bid to sidestep labor laws, employers paid nannies and cleaners under the table instead of hiring servants full-time.