Studies in the Quality of Life in Victorian Britain and Ireland

Female students of geology in Victorian Dublin

“…The increase in printed press at this time added to the rise in the level of general education of the Irish public (Kelly 2017). This, in turn, increased the level of literacy across the population -the level of female illiteracy reduced from 35.9% in 1871 to 26.5% in 1881 (Jordan 2000), and the preceding two decades saw the beginning of this trend. While primary education was accessible, it was more difficult for females to access education beyond the primary level until intermediate schools for girls opened in the 1860s, generally under the patronage of either a Catholic religious order or an Anglican society (Raftery et al 2010).…”

Quality of Life and Mortality Among Children

“…The tool used here to explore the social matrix within which young Irish children died is the QUALEIRE index of quality of life (Jordan 2000). Composed of 14 variables in four domains this index, as with the VICQUAL index in the previous chapter, provides a longitudinal, or time, series of information estimating the condition of the general population of Ireland.…”

“…Wage data from nineteenth century Ireland do not appear to have been gathered systematically across the 32 counties until Bowley's (1900) account. See Jordan (2000). There was a one-time survey by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1870.…”