(To be considered middle class you would normally need to have at least one servant). In 1912 well-off people lived in very comfortable houses. However, to us, middle-class homes would seem overcrowded with furniture, ornaments, and knick-knacks. Gas fires became common in the 1880s.
In 1912, class divided Britain. The land and factory owners were wealthy and powerful, while their workers lived in poverty. The two classes rarely interacted.
The middle class were the people who were doing okay and worked in offices. They probably had at least one servant and life was a lot better for them than the working class. The working class made up 80% of Britain but they owned very little. They worked in factories or shops and had very physical jobs.
People in 1912 were very aware of their class, or position, in society. Class was determined by family background, wealth, and education, among other things. On the Titanic, the price of a passenger's ticket said a lot about that person's position in society.
There were a lot of changes between 1912 (Edwardian Britain) and 1945 (postwar Britain). Patriarchal society middle class women should get married, and working class women were seen as cheap labour. Women worked during the war, and they earned a more valued place in society. First World War would start in two years.
1912. There were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes. Women were considered to be lower than men. All a well off women could do was get married; a working woman was seen as a poor person.
They had just enough money for food, rent, fuel, and clothes. They could not afford 'luxuries' such as newspapers or public transport. About 10% were living below subsistence level and could not afford an adequate diet. The surveys found that the main cause of poverty was low wages.
Regional disparities in income and the cost of living mean that salary-based measures of the middle class can vary greatly. Different income barometers describe the middle class as having income from $50,000 to $150,000 or, in some instances, $42,000 to $125,000.
April 14–15 – Sinking of the RMS Titanic: RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg in the northern Atlantic Ocean and sinks with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
The term "middle class" is first attested in James Bradshaw's 1745 pamphlet Scheme to prevent running Irish Wools to France. Another phrase used in early modern Europe was "the middling sort".
Up and down the country middle-class men managed factories, traded stock, wrote in ledgers, oversaw building sites, and sparred in the law courts.
"The middle class" is a term widely applied in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to people who occupy the middle position between those who have to labor continually in order to survive, and those who hold ancestral "blood rights" to monopolize political power, economic resources, and social privilege.
What qualifies as working or middle class varies from region to region, but country-wide, a salary of $30,000–$90,000 qualifies a single individual as middle class, with incomes below that range falling into the working class. Homer Simpson is working class.
The lower middle class is often made up of less educated people with lower incomes, such as managers, small business owners, teachers, and secretaries. The upper middle class is often made up of highly educated business and professional people with high incomes, such as doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and CEOs.
1912 Workers' rights
Not only were there bad hygiene conditions but the average person worked more than seventy hours a week. Some workers weren't even paid with money but with "truck." This was like a coupon the worker could use to buy something from their boss's shop.
The Edwardian era stands out as a time of peace and prosperity.
During the height of the feudal age there were three main social classes: the clergy – church officials, the nobles – the wealthy, and the peasants – poor farmers and workers. With the rise of towns, however, came a fourth class: the burgesses, or townspeople.
The Australian middle class has a median household income of AUD$80,000. This statistic is a key indicator of the financial health of the Australian middle class.
The Pew Research Center defines the middle class as households that earn between two-thirds and double the median U.S. household income, which was $65,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.21 Using Pew's yardstick, middle income is made up of people who make between $43,350 and $130,000.7 This is a ...
middle class. noun. Also called: bourgeoisie a social stratum that is not clearly defined but is positioned between the lower and upper classes. It consists of businessmen, professional people, etc, along with their families, and is marked by bourgeois values: Compare lower class, upper class, working class.
13 April – the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) is established by royal charter. 14–15 April – the RMS Titanic sinks: The White Star liner RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States.
The 'poorest of the poor' are those who are systematically denied equal access to their family resources in rural areas.
The very poor were treated like criminals, with nowhere else to go when they could no longer look after themselves but the workhouse. Feared by all, the workhouse was run like a prison, with strict rules and long days of hard labour.