15 Horrific Victorian Jobs & The People Who Did Them

Victorian jobs for the lowest classes were absolutely horrific.

Victorian jobs for children were even worse, putting small kids in impossibly dangerous situations.

Luckily, there are many Victorian jobs that just don’t exist anymore, and that’s a good thing (especially the jobs in the 1800s that involved bodily fluids and corpses).

Here are the 15 worst Victorian jobs in London, most of which aren’t necessary anymore.

Stay tuned for the last one on this list, which is a difficult job which will–unfortunately–always be a part of society.

Cover image for a feature on 'the worst VICTORIAN JOBS', showcasing a montage with a heavily laden handcart on the left and a grimy chimney sweep on the right, both set against a muted background. The bold, overlaid text captures the theme of the piece, highlighting the grueling nature of labor during the Victorian era.

**TRIGGER WARNING: There are some medical illustrations that are a little gory below.**

Victorian Jobs for Children

These are the poor Victorian jobs that children often took up. The hours were long, the pay was low, and many were stuck performing this work until they died.

1. Chimney Sweeps

Historical montage titled 'CHIMNEY SWEEPS' shows two contrasting images. On the left, an adult chimney sweep in traditional attire with a full brush headgear sits on steps, his face worn and soot-covered. On the right, a young Victorian boy, likely an apprentice, eats a humble meal in a dingy room, with a cat nearby, capturing the somber reality of children employed in this hazardous job.

Quite the opposite of Mary Poppins’ cheerful Jack, Victorian chimney sweeps were mostly children, sold into the profession as “climbing boys” by their impoverished parents or taken from the workhouse.

Some were as young as three. Their “master sweep” wanted young, small, agile boys for climbing into the narrow chimneys.

The master had complete control over the young child’s life, and were compensated by the parish for teaching poor kids a trade.

Most were only bathed and had their clothes washed once a week. They were fed scraps and treated as slaves.

It was perilous: the child might get stuck, or cut, or burned, or suffocate. If they survived, they were constantly exposed to and inhaled coal dust, which caused cancer and lung disease, which they would eventually die of.

Protective laws were eventually enacted and as technology improved, the use of children as chimney sweeps eventually ended.

2. Mudlarks

Split image with the bold title 'MUDLARKS' captures the essence of Victorian child labor along the Thames. On the left, a solitary child with a hopeful expression kneels, sifting through the mud for valuables. On the right, two children, covered in grime, work together in their search. These illustrations depict the hard and often overlooked scavenging work of mudlarks in the 19th century.

This is not the same mudlarking hobbyist of today’s Instagram; this was something altogether different.

Mudlarks of the Victorian era were mostly children, scrambling up and down the banks of the Thames searching for anything to sell on. It was incredibly dangerous.

The Thames was toxic – full of excrement, industrial chemicals, offal, and worse.

The tides were unpredictable and changed rapidly, sweeping many children away as they scrapped and scraped to survive this unimaginably hard life.

Moreover, these poor kids were seen as the lowest of the low. They stank, they were hungry, and they risked everything day after day for a small trinket to sell on.

3. Piecers

Black and white photo with 'PIECERS' boldly overlaid, showing the vast interior of a Victorian textile factory. Rows of spinning frames stretch into the distance, where children, known as piecers, would work to join broken threads. The scale of the machinery and the factory's architecture underscore the demanding industrial environment where child labor was prevalent.

Children as young as 9 worked in massive textile factories as “piecers,” responsible for quickly tying broken threads together inside the machines.

These textile mills were loud, with constantly moving machinery. The piecers had to reach inside and tie the threads together quickly, lest their fingers get caught.

Pay was based on how many pieces of thread they tied together, so they had to be very fast and efficient if they wanted to be paid.

Many piecers lost fingers and hands from getting stuck in the machinery, and then were out of work altogether.

4. Mule Scavengers

Vibrant illustration marked 'MULE SCAVENGERS' depicts children working amidst the machinery of a Victorian textile mill. A girl in the foreground reaches under a spinning mule to clear waste, while boys in the background do the same, amidst the hazardous conditions of the industrial revolution. This image powerfully conveys the dangerous jobs children performed in the era's factories.

Another children’s textile factory job, “mule scavengers” were employed for their tiny bodies. They would need to squeeze under and through the machine works of the spinning mule (the weaving machine) to collect fallen pieces of cotton.

Not only could they get crushed by the machine works, but the factory was also hot, dirty, louder than a freight train, and they worked horrendously long hours for very little pay.

Grossest Poor Victorian Jobs

These are the most vile and disgusting jobs that only the poorest of the poor performed. It was out of necessity, and the disease and danger came with the territory.

5. Leech Collectors

Colorful illustration titled 'LEECH COLLECTORS', depicting three women wading through water, collecting leeches in the rural setting of Victorian England. The central figure examines a leech in her hand, while the pastoral landscape with trees and a church steeple in the background contrasts the unpleasant nature of their occupation.

This horrid job was self-sacrificial.

Leech collectors, mostly women, took on this seasonal work by walking through bogs, marshes, streams and riverbeds, waiting for leeches to attach themselves to their own legs.

Once the leech had sucked enough blood, they could pluck them off and put them into a jar to sell to doctors.

Workers suffered extreme blood loss and contracted diseases carried by these little vampire worms. Plus, the leeches could then carry any diseases the worker had and pass them on to doctor’s patients.

Leeches are sometimes still used today (also see Call the Midwife Christmas special 2021 for a special leechy treat), but they’re cultivated in a lab and not hunted in marshes.

6. Pure Finders

Sepia-toned photograph featuring 'PURE FINDERS' as noted by the large text overlay. It shows two individuals in work clothes, sweeping and collecting horse droppings beside a horse-drawn cart on a cobbled street, indicative of the low-status job of collecting animal waste for tanning leather in the Victorian era.

This is a job we could still use in London, as no one seems to be able to pick up their dog mess.

“Pure” finders were dog poo collectors who picked through mess on the streets, and sold the poop on to tanners who used it in drying and curing leather.

The tanners rubbed it into animal hide which (counterintuitively) removed the smell of decay.

This was a decently lucrative job, and those who performed this work were seen as just as admirable as any other working class laborer.

7. Toshers

A composite image featuring Victorian 'Toshers', with the bold title 'TOSHER' spanning across. On the left, a Tosher bends over a sieve in a sewer, searching for valuables in the muck. To the right, another Tosher with a lantern peers cautiously into the sewer depths. These illustrations depict the perilous and filthy job of sewer scavenging, common among the destitute of Victorian London.

These sewer-pillagers would make their way into London’s sewers at low tide and pick through the excrement and murky water, hunting for “tosh”–anything they could sell on, copper being the most valuable.

After 1840, it became illegal to enter the sewers and police paid ransom to informants.

The toshers took to night work after that, which only made it more dangerous.

Toshers, surprisingly, sat in the upper echelons of the working class, making the equivalent of about $50 per day.

8. Matchstick Makers

Split image illustrating 'MATCHSTICK MAKER', one of the worst Victorian jobs. On the left, a group of workers, including children, pose with their tools in a matchstick factory. On the right, a detailed anatomical drawing shows the devastating effects of 'phossy jaw', a common affliction among matchstick makers due to phosphorus exposure, highlighting the grim health hazards of the job.

Women and young girls made up the majority of workers performing this dangerous job, which involved dipping wooden sticks into heated phosphorus.

Many developed “phossy jaw” from the toxic fumes: necrosis of the lower jaw, including the teeth and sometimes tongue.

Moreover, most of these factories were essentially sweatshops where girls worked unbelievably long hours and were fined for sitting, going to the bathroom, or even dropping one match.

In 1888, workers at the Bryant and May factory in Bow, East London, had enough and went on strike, marching to Parliament.

They gained widespread public support, and even though conditions didn’t improve dramatically right away, they paved the way for women forming unions. We owe the matchgirls a debt of gratitude.

9. Rat Catchers

A split Victorian illustration with 'RAT CATCHER' boldly emblazoned across the top. On the left, a man crouches in the sewers setting a trap, depicting the gritty task of rat-catching. On the right, a scene of 'ratting' at 'The Graham Arms, Graham Street' shows a man encouraging dogs to hunt rats, observed by an intrigued audience. This image vividly portrays the harsh realities of rat catchers, a low-income Victorian job.

Rat catching could be lucrative, but you needed tools of the trade. Namely, a dog – usually a small terrier who could fit in tight spaces with a high prey drive.

Rat catching was usually performed by young adults or teens, and they could charge wealthy Londoners a pretty penny to rid their mansions of vermin.

They could either kill them with arsenic once they were caught, or sell them to rat-baiters, who ran gambling rings around pits filled with dogs and rats.

This job was not without its risks: rat bites could pass on diseases, infection, and even kill you. But if you had a dog, you could earn a decent wage.

10. Night Soil Men

Black and white photo of 'Night Soil Men' in Victorian London, identified by the bold text 'NIGHT SOIL MEN' at the top. The image captures men with carts and buckets, engaged in the undesirable job of collecting human waste at night, a task vital for urban sanitation. The dreary setting and attire of the workers reflect the grim reality of low-wage Victorian jobs

In a packed city with no sewers for human waste, someone had to clean it up. And “night soil men” did just that.

Under cover of darkness, night soil men trudged into basement cesspools or outdoor privy pits and scooped the mess out by the bucketful.

Why “night soil”? Since Victorian London was still stuck in the miasma theory of disease, they had to work at night so as not to get people sick with the smell of shit during the day.

After they filled their carts with excrement, they either dumped them in the Thames (where the young mudlarks were trotting around barefoot) or sold it to farmers out of town as fertilizer.

This job was dirty, they often got sick, and were paid very little for such a gross, disgusting job. But someone had to do it.

Other Victorian Era Jobs

Here’s some poor Victorian jobs that were such a product of their time, and thankfully no longer exist today!

11. Rag and Bone Men

Historical montage with 'RAG & BONE MEN' in bold letters, portraying one of the worst Victorian jobs. To the left, a man pulls a cart heaped with sacks and rags, symbolizing the physical toll of the job. On the right, an illustration shows a rag and bone man bending over a pile of refuse, scavenging for materials. Together, these images depict the harsh and dirty work of collecting discarded items to sell for a meager living.

This Victorian job involved toting a cart, sometimes by a horse or pony if you were lucky, around the city streets searching for anything to sell on: rags, bones, glass and metal.

Sometimes they were also called “bone-grubbers” or “totters.”

Rags could be turned into paper or cardboard, and bones could be used for soapmaking or for forging knife handles and toys.

These men were known to be greasy and smelly, and typically lived in lodging houses where they kept their daily hoard to sort through.

They usually had a boss–a “master rag-picker,” who paid them a meager sum and went on to sell their finds by weight.

12. Resurrectionists

Illustration of Victorian-era 'Resurrectionists' at work, with the word 'RESURRECTIONISTS' prominently displayed across the top. The scene depicts shadowy figures exhuming a body, hinting at the macabre and unsanitary conditions of this historical job, suitable for an article about gross Victorian jobs in London.

Also called “body snatchers,” resurrectionists stole bodies from graveyards to sell to anatomists.

Surgeons in training needed bodies to practice with, but too few were allocated to the colleges (only hanged criminals, of which there weren’t enough).

A massive black market operated underground in which resurrectionists snuck into graveyards, dug up bodies, and stealthily brought them to the surgeons.

Not only were they at risk of getting caught by the authorities, but they also only dug up fresh bodies, and exposed themselves to all manner of diseases.

There was such a shortage of bodies that some resurrectionists turned to murder, such as the London Burkers.

13. Picking Oakum

Detailed Victorian engraving titled 'OAKUM PICKING' depicts a group of men, seated in rows, painstakingly untwisting old ropes to salvage the fibers. An overseer stands to the right, gesturing as if addressing the workers. This image encapsulates the tedious and labor-intensive job of oakum picking, often undertaken by the poor and imprisoned as one of the worst jobs of the era.

Oakum picking is a job thankfully long gone. It was the tedious task of picking apart old rope by hand to remove the oakum – tarred bits of fiber – which were used for caulking ships.

Oakum picking was a common workhouse and prison job, where you had to sit for 14+ hours per day working your fingers to the bone.

You were required to pick a certain weight per day or risk further punishment. Prisoners were already subjected to horrendous conditions in Victorian prisons, and had to pick pounds of tiny fibers or risk going without food or water.

The Absolute Worst Victorian Jobs

These last two Victorian era jobs were the worst of the worst. Once you started doing them, there was little hope of ever getting out alive.

14. The Workhouse

Historical black and white photo titled 'THE WORKHOUSE', showing rows of women in uniform clothing and bonnets seated at long tables, engaged in laborious tasks. The vast, crowded room and their solemn expressions convey the dismal conditions of workhouses, where the destitute were given menial tasks in exchange for basic sustenance, representing one of the most deplorable Victorian jobs.

What began as a charitable endeavour quickly turned into prisons for the poor.

The Workhouse system began in the 1600s to help the less fortunate, but by the Victorian period was a vast system of prison-like structures where the poorest of the poor were housed.

The Workhouse was the last resort for those who couldn’t support themselves, but it did nothing to assist Victorian lives, and only enabled the cycle of poverty to continue.

Once you entered the workhouse, you were separated from your family and housed by gender and age. Young children were put to work, women were tasked with caretaking older people, and men were to perform manual labor like rock-breaking and oakum picking.

The horrendous history of the ‘Workhouse Howl’ stems from this barbaric system, where most people who entered left in a coffin, never seeing their families or children again.

15. Sex Work

Victorian-era illustration juxtaposing the allure and the perils of sex work. On the left, a group of women in period attire suggests the façade of glamor, while on the right, a close-up of a person's face with visible signs of disease underscores the harsh and dangerous realities faced by sex workers. This image is powerful for an article on the most dangerous Victorian jobs.

People who resorted to sex work (called “prostitution” back then–I don’t use that term unless it is in historical context) in the Victorian era didn’t have any other choice.

For Victorian women, there were few jobs, education was limited, and if you didn’t have a husband, you didn’t have a place in society.

If you had to choose between starving yourself and your children, or performing sex work, you would choose the latter.

Some were employed in upscale brothels, but most were on their own on the dangerous streets.

Brothels for men were especially rare, so men and young boys were more often on their own. But neither males nor females were protected by the authorities.

Not only could sex workers get beat up or murdered, but STIs like syphilis were common and most were untreatable.

For male sex workers–”rent boys”–violence and STIs were also devastatingly common.

One surprising cause of sex work was, in a tragic bit of irony: rape.

If a woman was raped in Victorian England, it was seen as a reputation-ruining scandal and not a crime. The victim was cast out, and often had nothing left but to sell her body, especially if she bore an “illegitimate” child from the rape.

Unfortunately, sex work is still a job, and has been since the beginning of time. But today, sex workers today have some protections. Still not enough, but some.

The Worst Victorian Jobs (Thankfully) Don’t Exist Anymore

Almost every occupation on this list of Victorian jobs is long gone. The last rag and bone man went out of business in the 1980s, night soil men were replaced with a comprehensive sewer system, and rat catchers were put out of business by London’s foxes.

The poor still struggle in London, and all over the world. But at least orphans don’t have to crawl down hot chimneys anymore, and there are more workers rights written into law.

We may pine for the days of quaint Victorian London, but as you can see by this list, the underbelly of the city was dark, dangerous, and absolutely horrifying.

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