Creating the World Featured in The Unmarriable Kind
Life in the 1880s
The 1880s was a period of recovery following a great depression. Set in 1884 Ontario, The Unmarriable Kind follows Lucretia Goodwin, a teacher who dares to live by her own rules in a world that expects conformity. Her courage to defy convention becomes the spark that ignites a generational legacy.
The Panic of 1873 was the worst economic depression of the 19th century and was referred to as Great Depression until the 1929 depression when it was renamed the Long Depression. The panic lasted from September 1873 until late 1878 or early 1879. Some historians place the end as late as 1897 because the depression hit Europe harder and longer.
The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading on Sept. 20, 1873, for the first time in its history. The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed.
The causes are varied but include inflation, over speculation on railroads, and wars and disasters that put a strain on bank reserves. Railway and building projects stopped, banks and brokerage firms failed, businesses declared bankruptcy, unemployment rose, prices plummeted, the price of silver compared to gold dropped, and people made high bank withdrawals.
In Canada, some factories closed while others lowered wages. Still others laid off adults and replaced them with children who were cheaper to pay. Taverns located near factories offered cheap rum and whiskey, and alcohol consumption increased leading to the formation of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The price of coal and wood skyrocketed. Thousands starved during the winter, and there were riots in Ottawa, Montreal and Kingston. Montreal had the highest child mortality rate in North America with one in four infants dying before their first birthday.
Other Aspects of Life in 1880s Canada
The Dominion of Canada was a nation of 4.3 million people. To be Canadian in the 19th century was to create Canada. How was the question. Independence from the British empire was easier said than done. Canada still needed protected from the threat of annexation to the United States. A small group of Liberals wanted annexation, and half a million Québécois moved to New England. In 1871, however, the Treaty of Washington settled many of the issues the United States and Canada had with one another.
From 1871 to 1877, a series of treaties were negotiated with First Nations’ peoples, opening the door for the nation’s expansion west. The treaties were followed by surveys and the North-West Mounted Police entering the area. Founded in 1873, the North-West Mounted Police were intended to be temporary. (The service, however, is still in existence today as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It provides law enforcement in every province and territory except Ontario and Quebec). At the time, justice consisted of constables apprehending criminals and officers trying them.
The government purchased land from the First Nation’s people for the construction of a transcontinental railroad that was marred by financial problems.
Buffalo herds began disappearing by the end of the 1870s. In the span of five years, tens of millions were killed and their bones sold as fertilizer. This resulted in one in 10 natives dying on the plains during the winter of 1883-84.
Ranching became a viable profession when refrigerated ships allowed for the export of meat in 1880. In 1884, 54,000 head of live cattle were exported to the UK, a figure that doubled by the end of the century.
Multiple rebellions happened in the prairies as the region had no representation in the federal government other than the Department of the Interior. The North-West Territorial Council in Regina, Saskatchewan, handled some issues.
Back east, the standard of living increased between 1840 and 1900. As industrial output increased, prices fell, and the dollar purchased 25 percent more. Rent was high, and jobs usually were unskilled and routine. Factory work was brutal. So much so, that plants had their own prisons to lock up apprentices who breeched discipline.
Child labor laws went into effect in the 1880s, although they were impossible to enforce. Boys younger than 12 and girls younger than 14 were prohibited from working in Ontario and Quebec. In Nova Scotia, boys were required to be 10 before seeking work and 12 before working a 60-hour work week.
As the 19th century progressed, more people moved from the country to the city, the influx of workers leading to reduced wages. Annual winter freeze-ups caused layoffs same as it did in past decades.
Railways connected many of Canada’s major cities and connected Ontario to the United States.
Homes began being built in the 1870s with running water and sewer service. A decade later, they also were built with telephones and electricity. Ottawa’s first telephone book, published in 1882, contained 200 listings. By 1890, large cities were a maze of overhead of telephone, telegraph and electric wires.
By 1890, surgery was a safe, successful and sanitary medical treatment.
Compulsory smallpox vaccines went into effect in the 1870s, and Montrealers rioted in protest. Smallpox epidemics struck Montreal and Ottawa in 1885.
Emily Stowe was the first women physician to practice in Canada, opening a Toronto practice after studying medicine in New York. The Ontario Medical College for Women opened in 1883, and the University of Toronto allowed women to enroll in 1886.
Fashion in the 1880s
The 1880s marked the Second Bustle Era. A bustle is a cage or padding worn over the buttocks to make the rear of a dress project outward. They were designed to help skirts maintain their shape throughout the day and helped carry bulky fabric gathered at the back of a dress. Bustles reached their largest proportions in the mid-1880s before falling out of fashion.
Women’s fashion trends:
Velvet was a popular fabric for winter dresses
Women wore combinations, a camisole attached to drawers, under their corsets
Hair was pulled back and worn with bangs
Skirts narrowed
Collars grew higher and more fitted
Day dresses featured as many trimmings as evening gowns – lace, ribbons, bows, etc.
Men wore three-piece suits – trousers, waistcoat and jacket – but their fashion choices were little changed from the decades that proceeded and would follow. One exception is the introduction of sportswear. The blazer became popular to wear while playing sports and when at the seaside. Facial hair of all varieties was in style.