Welcome to 'Growing Up in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Leicester'.

This project explores oral history interviews and photographs in order to unearth the childhood memories of those who grew up in and around Leicester at the turn of the twentieth century. It is important to note that the oral testimony we have used in constructing the project was collected from a sample of around 20 individuals who were interviewed in the 1980s. By nature, it is not always comprehensive evidence, nor is it fully representative of the entire population of late-Victorian and Edwardian Leicesterians. That said, we have made every effort to fill any "gaps" in the oral evidence with factual, contextual information. Further, most of the interviewees were from families that would then have been considered to be lower-middle or working-class. The experiences of children growing up in very wealthy Leicesterian families at the time would have been different. In this sense, we feel that these audio clips provide a fascinating picture of the life of lower-middle and working-class children in the period. 

This exhibition was created by Anna Dearden and Samuel Thompson, two University of Leicester MA History students, as part of their heritage placement with the East Midlands Oral History Archive and the David Wilson Library.

We hope this site offers you an interesting and unique insight into Leicester's past through the eyes of the children who grew up there.

Click here to read a short contextual summary about Leicester in the late-Victorian and Edwardian period.

Click here to browse through the different exhibits within the project.

Click here to search through the individual pictures and sound clips that make up this exhibition.

Click here to return to this page (the exhibition homepage).