Education efforts were stepped up.
Jorge Royan/Wikimedia Commons
Jorge Royan/Wikimedia Commons
While schooling had traditionally been reserved for privileged children, sentiment during the 19th century increasingly saw education as a necessity for all. State-run “board” schools were established, along with church schools, during the Victorian age.
These efforts were fruitful, as nearly everyone in England was literate by the year 1900. Education continued at home as well, as many pieces of classic children’s literature were written during these decades.