Sport and entertainment

 

To the upper classes, 'sport' meant killing birds and animals - shooting and fox-hunting. The landlord's hounds could chase the fox through his tenant's crops. And no-one but the landlord could take his 'game'. The laws against poaching were severe.

 

Many a young man 'of good family' lost his money and land gambling on cards, dice, or horses. After 1800, though, racing became more honest and fair. It also became a sport for all classes, not just the rich. After 1850, a trip to Epsom on Derby Day was a treat for thousands of London families.

 

In 1750, cricket was a game played on the village green. Football was more like a war between rival sides. The nineteenth century saw both games turned into formal sports, with fixed rules. By the 1890s, large crowds were turning out to watch professional players in cup-ties and test-matches. Lawn-tennis, on the other hand, was a new sport. It was invented in the 1870s as a pastime for people with big houses and gardens.

 

The theatre was popular in London in 1750. Soon after 1800, most of the large towns outside London had theatres too. But the theatre was for people with some money. After 1850, the middle class went to the music-hall where they could drink, watch the acts, and join in the songs. For working-class men, and some women, there was the public house.

 

Before 1850, working people did not take holidays. But the railways made travel quick and cheap. And the rising standard of living meant that there was more money to spend. So some people could take day-trips to the seaside. And by 1900, more and more could look forward to a week each year at Blackpool or Margate.

 

Walter Robson: Britain 1750 – 1900; Oxford University Press, 1993/2002, page 89