Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home (eng/ser) 

"But even if you hadn't eaten the wallpaper, you weren't safe." Funniest sentence I've heard today.

"Mom I have a cough". "No problem, just go take a tablespoon of Heroin".

I found a bottle of arsenic to be taken for the complexion in my 1896 home hidden in the basement. I gave it to has mat disposal executive for his collection.

the same type of thing is still going on today when you think about it: aspartame in food, bpa in plastic, chemicals on surfaces that we touch, but it took a bit for companies to advertise against them and for government to regulate

my aunt, in her 60s once told me that roughly about half of the items in their medicine cabinet growing up have since been taken off the market due to new health standards.

Well, what do you know. The green wallpaper was actually scarier than "The Yellow Wallpaper".

Very interesting to see how many mistakes they made. Wonder how many mistakes we've made, when people look at us, a hundred years from now...

When I was in high school (or secondary school for those of you unfamiliar), my History teacher taught us that baby coffins were more popular and more commonly purchased than adult coffins, simply due to the infant and child mortality rates.

so this is why Jane from Tarzan left...

The people (poor people who often worked from home) who made the toys were exposed to the lead paint as well, and even eating it from dipping brushes into their mouths to make points. Their kids were exposed as well while they helped to make the dolls.

this makes me wonder what killers are in our houses without us even knowing

Basically, they were HOARDERS!

A lot of the corset information here I've now learned is terribly inaccurate.

As someone who occasionally wears corsets for costumes, I can say if you wear a traditional Victorian style one you MUST be careful. I only own modified corsets that allow you to actually sit down (and not perch) and much to the dismay of the companies I purchase them from, a size or two bigger than they suggest. My health and safety is far more important than looking perfectly accurate.

one of the worst things we ever did as a society, was discourage breastfeeding.

As someone who wears a corset, I know that the biggest thing when getting a corset is to get one that FITS CORRECTLY! A well fitting corset will barely affect your breathing especially after it has been seasoned.

Anyone else watching this specifically to prep for surviving that time period on the off chance of time travel?

When the History Channel was actually about History. Interesting.

Considering the corsets, I think it really depended on you how thight you wore a corset. There is this lady "priorattire" on RU-vid who shows that corsets can be worn without restriction. But again, if you chose to squeeze the air out of your lungs, of course fainting and weakness were present.

I remember working renn. faire one summer, and we had to wear corsets as part of our costumes. The corsets we wore were made by one of the merchants there at the faire, handmade, with stiff ribbing. Yeah, even when not tightlacing, it was still exhausting, especially in the severe heat and humidity of NJ summer.

Why do people speak so softly these days in television and movies? They don't clear their throats, they don't articulate, they don't speak up, but yet music and sound effects are EXPLOSIVE! nGODAMNIT! SPEAK UP and speak clearly.

Does anyone else feel like Mrs. Beton's books she wrote on rules and advice for women of the Victorian times that it's likely she probably never did anything of advice herself in her books, or the author behind the series of those books back then?

She's my favourite BBC documentary host! Always a delight to listen to her

oh damn. I thought this was an easy 5 minute video. then I saw the opening... wow what is this. then I saw the time length. oh. this is a video for another time.

what's of interest here is the thought of what women accomplished wth constraint. It reminds me of Ginger Rodgers "she did it all in heels" also I cannot help but think of Sacagawea, who carried her baby while making every accolade possible for Lewis and Clarke

I'm actually watching this video in a corset, as it so happens! Corseting isn't all bad, as long as you stay far away from the tight-lacing extremes. It's actually helped me a lot with back pain and posture. If you're not stick-thin already and you do a 4-6 inch reduction, you're fine. You won't be moving any ribs, and the effects on your organs are not horrifically concerning. Any more than 8 inches, like they did in the Victorian Era, though, and then you're running into trouble.

51:39 a great example about how influencers are not always worthy of trust and their advices may carry disastrous consequences.

well,im glad I was not born in that era. ewwww the baby bottles.....!

I'm honestly wondering, in the next say 2-4 generations will put great great grandchildren talk about how silly teenagers were when they did the silly internet trends like 'Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge' as we do for corsets?

I've got a re print of William Morris bird and pomegranate wallpaper.that means it's the same pattern but no arsenic.

Anyone else wondering how the poisoned wallpaper wasn't caught sooner? If it was poisoning people just sitting near it what was going on in the factory and with the wallpaperers themselves? How were they not dropping like flies?

Right, no need idealizing the "good old days". More than anything else, they were dark and dangerous, for men at war and at work, and no less for women / mothers and children at home. Praised be hygiene ("Aaamen!!!") and 21st-century medicine, nourishment and technique - if used with good sense.

excellent documentary about Victorian homes excellent the other day I watched about the dangers in the hidden killers in The Tudor home this is a wonderful set of documentaries BBC good stuff thanks for posting

When I was a child still my school had to remove lead paint from the building they closed down part of the school for a while.

This woman is beautiful and I can't believe how pretty her hair is.

I really wanted to see more of the wallpaper patterns.

Someone should do a documentary on today's home dangers & products. There are similarly many.

my gosh the british government is slow in banning deathly items...now I know not to step foot in a british home unless its after the 1970's

Bleach. "how do I kill germs on my baby's toys?" "spray bleach on it. it kills everything."

All that glitters is not gold

I had dozens and dozens of Lead Soldiers and played with them constantly ,the Paint used to come off but I still played on them also Dad was constantly painting and I would be there with my little Brush . Now I know why I'm a Dunce! We still had the old Gas pipes connected to the wall lamps in our Hallway. Also no hot water and Coal fires and I can tell you in real cold they only take the chill out of a Room, you would get as close as you can and then roast at the front and freeze at the back of your body. We lived in a basement and Dad was fighting the rising damp all the time and forever wallpapering with his little helper. About damp one of my sisters died of pneumonia at 2 years old .

God, she is so beautiful. The series is amazing and so interesting but I just cannot get over how gorgeous this host is. lol!

OMG!!! Arsenic in wallpapers.....So scary and dangerous....

Those subtitles in the middle of the screen...

The corset testing was very interesting. But I don’t think you can compare a “5 minute” test to that of a Victorian’s vitals whose body became used to the corset. She would have trained her body to have become somewhat more used to the fit. I’m not saying it was good for the Victorian, just more adjusted.

It was amusing watching her speak of the evils of corsetry while tottering around on heels.

I wear corsets all the time, they are not uncomfortable if they FIT you. The only reason a corset would hurt is if it was too small, does not fit your body, or is not made well. Buy from reputable corset makers. Timeless Trends and Mystic City are great. Anything from Ebay, Amazon, or China will be cheap and uncomfortable. You should never order a corset that is made in small, medium, and large sizing, it goes by the measurements of your body, not a general size. The most important thing is that the measurements of the corset to not be smaller than your bone structure. My underbust measurement is 32" and my hips are 38" so all of my corsets have those measurements when fully closed for my bone structure to not be obstructed. My breathing is not obstructed because again, the corset fits my ribs, it only reduces at the smallest part of my waist where there is naturally a lot of squish.

Frighteningly fascinating! Suzannah Lipscomb is an amazing historian! I enjoy every single one of her programs very very much!

@58:30, what I was thinking all along! yikes. What are we oblivious to today!?

It's amazing anyone survived the different ages and what insane things they did for beauty and "fashionable." Wonder what future generations will think about us?

I wonder what our hidden killers are gonna be when our descendants look upon our history.

Corsets are not inherently dangerous in their design. When (should) one properly consider the back braces for scoliosis treatment (rigid, non-adjustable and can leave marks on the skin) corsets are an absolute haven. They are quite comfortable and easily adjustable by loosening the lacing at the back yet they are very supportive to the back and if an overbust style, then one can get better bust support and in turn back support due to the design of the corset. This isn’t to say that all corsets are equal in design and build as properly boned and properly fitted corsets are better in every way while tubular "corsets" boned with subpar plastic boning (not all plastic boning is equal- synthetic whalebone gives similar structural support to how real whalebone gives as opposed to cheaply made plastic that are common for use in zip ties) while corsets from Timeless Trends, Mystic City, Orchard Corset and true corsets from Shaperx on Amazon are made with flat and spiral steel give quite impressive back support for just their underbust lines while overbust models from the first three companies provide wonderful bust support and in turn additional back support by supporting the bust by a garment that spreads the weight of the bust over the body by how the corset is patterned and sewed together. Also, a word to note- corsets should NEVER be worn against bare skin. Additionally, tightlacing of corsets during the Victorian and Edwardian Era was rarely done while the silhouette of the times was created through the heavy use of padding at the bust, hips and rear-end. The portrayal of corsets in this show along with many "doctor" shows gives a false portrayal of corsets and only serves to give a fear of a garment that is comfortable and gives support when properly made and worn.

Victorian styled corsets may have lost there popularity but structured under garments were still a part of ladies fashion for many centuries. With the rise of the 60's structural under garments became unpopular with the sexual revolution.

@46:38 the face i pull when the irish guy gets his poison detection gun out. he loves that thing.

Corsets themselves were not to blame. Tight lacing wasn't possible until metal eyelets were invented in the Victorian era. Doctors at the time warned against it, and it was considered immodest. Some still did, like extreme beauty trends today that are bad for health. Luckily, it wasn't really common. Unluckily, cartoons from the era depicting the practice are thought of as the norm today. It's sort of like if a historian looked at Kimm Kardashian and said 'yup, every 21st century woman did all the things she did to look how she did' against all evidence. Corsets are great, can help with posture and breathing. Like bra burning is mocked today, because some ladies just need the extra support to avoid back pain, hopefully some day raging against corsets will be seen as propaganda and unnecessary moral panic (corsets help with my scoliosis while keeping fashionable, so I am biased).

Dr Spock in the 1950's was THE baby expert to follow, and he did a LOT OF DAMAGE.

I live in a house that was built when my great grandparents were still young (and my landlord is a tight pursed ass). The basement sweet was never used because the wall paper contained arsenic. Up until last year the house still ran on a coal furnace. It's creepy because the basement hasn't been touched almost since it was built so there's all these old wooden toys and one of those creepy porcelain dolls.

They always show the wealthy homes from the Victorian times. Most people did not live that way.

on the surprise that William Morris - who advocated going back to nature/basics - was a miner of Arsenic: Arsenic IS natural.

Very interesting documentary.

Tight laced corset look so amazing, I love those old pictures of the corset it's so fascinating.

So, the "poor" were healthier?

My grandmother was one of those women who refused to wear a corset. She told me that she had tried it, because well.. as a woman you wore a corset. But she noticed that she couldn't do her normal daily things properly, so it had to come off. " I was leaning over the bed and gasping for air while making the bed." My mom was a nurse and took care of the elderly. She told me that people who had worn a corset all their lives, couldn't live without them. She had to put the corsets on many of those old ladies. And yes, you sometimes had to use a foot to get those things right. It was comon practice in those days of the corset, that a man would stand behind a woman before she would receive bad news. In general women fainted when they heard bad news. My gran told me that.

The problem back then is the same problem today- greed...only profit, ones capital, mattered...

the first time I saw this woman, the first thing I thought was "wow she is so beautiful!" I wish I were as pretty as she tbh, im jealous

Uhhhh. No, in actuality the women who tight-laced corsets to dangerous standards were very few and considered to be vain. As for all the papers and pamphlets that had pictures of women with tiny waists it's the same with today and photoshopping in magazines. Also because I wear a corset on a daily basis my cardio has actually improved as my body has adapted in the same way that people in higher altitudes adapt to having less oxygen. I spend maybe less than a minute lacing up my corset. I can do pretty much any kind of physical activity in it. This has a lot of misinformation for a seemingly reputable source.

sounds a lot like what's happening with fluoride in drinking water, pesticides in GMO's and many "medicines" today...more money and better cover ups though...

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Judging by the comments, more than a few people have chewed lead paint in thier lifetime.

Unfortunately, working class children were factory fodder, no childhood.

I like the show itself, but sometimes they are over-dramatic.

"these are silent killers in our office ..." Michael: "You are a silent killer"

Chilling eye opener! Thank you so much for sharing this. I love the science they use to measure the damaging effects of arsenic gas, lead and the corset. My Gps always had the old steam piped heat in their home and to this day, I always loved it. My first apartment had steamed heat and I just love it. I hated central heating, it's dry and caused a great deal of havoc with my respiratory problem. It always made the house so warm and I could lay my clothes on the water heaters and have toasty warm clothes to put on with out burning them. Our home was built in the 1940's, we tested every room and every room has lead. It sucks. We repainted over most of it. But I seriously am still in shock the fact that we import everything from China and it's filled with lead. Other countries will not have anything to do with importing from China because of that and other health and child labor problems. Knowing all that we do about how dangerous and toxic things are, we still turn a blind eye to it. it's sad, it's really hard to get away from because everything in the U.S (Well not everything but a majority including our flag) says "Made In China" and they use lead unfortunately. It's a wonder we are not all lead poisoned ,alcoholic, arsenic ingested, wall paper eating corset wearing, ADHD effected, zombies.....

Appreciate the early technology consumers, who suffered and died, before we learned about safety! 😢

Amazing documentary! I ran it back a few times to make sure I heard everything correctly. I was aware of some of these things because of my background. I sent the link to a friend so I could warn her about her own particular era for collecting. Did you hear that Missy? Arsenic!

corsets look nice but not when they're tied so tight that you have a 12 inch waist that just looks ridiculous

Thank you for this most informative video. That lifestyle was horrifying.

And after he washes his hands, that arsenic goes down the drain into the water AHHHHH

Every era is a part of our evolution. The only thing we can hope for, is that we learn from previous mistakes.

The Victorian era is my favorite! I never realized how dangerous it was. I'd still go back if it was possible!

This is so great to know. I had no idea about all of this . Great work.

Now days feeding bottles are made out of plastic, wonder how good that is for your baby!

I was about to make mention "would have been a wonderful time to start an interior design firm". Not so much it seems😷 Love your work. I used to watch you on, I believe the travel channel, or, History channel?! Always intrigued by the history, research, footwork. Thank you. Good stuff. #CE Next up for me 'Hidden killers Of The Edwardian Home'. I think I'll snuggle in and spend the evening w you, and on the eve of "The bachelor" finale.

My grandmother born in January 1885 considered the colour green was bad luck. She refused to wear green clothes and did not like anything like curtains, sheets, towels etc being green. We never asked her about the wallpaper. Having watched this video, I wonder if this was the reason.

I really liked this it was interesting!

Outstanding video! Stuff we never learned in school history lessons!

My grandmum and mum often spoke of the bad things like gas, wall paper and other things. And joyfully partook of laudanum. They dosed me with it as well. The stuff was instantly addicting. It was opium. As for breast feeding...no decent woman would do so.

leaded gasoline anyone?lead&tin in canned goods. copper lined cooking pots.

Thank you! This was so informative and really helped me out alot with my studies ^^ amazing 🌟

The presenter is a goddess.

So, this is why women fainted so often during the corset era! My mom was Victorian in another time. lol. She doesn't wear a corset, but a lot of layers, even in the summertime.

I love this series!! I wish their were more then just these few episodes

17:00 from arsenic walpaper to lead wall paint.

Corsets were precursors of the girdle.

The Victorian era is interesting, because it`s a time when society was emerging from ignorance about the world into a science explained world.

In one of the papers that said four died of gas poisoning and then they put it's an extraordinary occurrence like it didnt happen often? it happened all the time! a lot of these people were misled to believe that all these items were safe when they weren't! SMH

After all the wars and chaos; the world seems to have not fully gained peace still. I hope that humanity's effort to better life in the future will not be diminished by humans themselves.

About the corsets ... they state in this program that there are cases where the rib broke and pierced the lung. OK, lets think about this. While a corset does have steel boning in it, it is still basically a bit of fabric. If there was enough force to break a rib, the fabric would give way long before the rib broke. And when they say the "rib" broke, are they talking about a rib (or bone) inside the chest or are they talking about the boning (the steel rib) in the corset breaking because the steel (or the whale bone in original corsets) broke. That's not very clear to me at all. Now I do historical reenacting and I have a corset that I wear during reenactments or for an afternoon at the historic village. I can guarantee you that it is not possible to tighten my corset tight enough to break anything other than the seams of the fabric.This kind of mis-information really, *really* annoys me!!

It wasn't until around when Britain banned lead in paint that the USA bothered to ban it as well.

And in our time, asbestos, saccharine, lead and the release of greenhouse gases. In 100 years it will be written how ignorant we were.