Upper-class Victorians often felt that "the working man" (or woman) was in constant need of reform. Otherwise, he would surely fritter away his meager salary on drink (hence the articles on establishing alternative coffee houses). Improvements to the conditions of the working class nearly always included references to improving their morals as well. There was also little agreement on how much "improvement" the working class ought to receive or achieve. The Weald and Downland Museum in Kent, for example, has examples of houses constructed for "working class families," based on strict ideas of how much space such families needed in a home. (Not much!)

Labour and Relaxation, by Ernest Hartmell (Cassell's Family Paper, 1859)

On the need for relaxation and entertainment, and some suggestions on how labouring classes can obtain them.

Mechanics' Institutes, by James Thomas (Cassell's Family Paper, 1859)

What mechanics might need or desire in a social union.

Sanitary Reform, by James Walker (Cassell's Family Paper, 1860)

Why improved dwellings are needed by the working classes, and the importance of cleanliness to morals.

Hot Rolls and Their Consequences (Leisure Hour, 1860)

The consequences are not of eating hot rolls, but of the health risks to the hundreds of bakers who labor through the night in London to have them ready by morning.

On the Club (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1875)

Efforts to establish "working-men's clubs" as alternatives to public houses.

People's Cafés (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Cafés established to provide a "counter-attraction to gin-palaces and public houses."

Coffee Taverns (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

"The object is to furnish a comfortable, cheerful place for working men to use after work or during meal times, where cheap and wholesome food can be obtained, and where newspapers and periodicals can be seen: in a word, to give them light, warmth, and comfort--without gin."

Coffee Taverns and the Temperance Movement (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1879)

• See also The Temperance Movement