Clémentine of Belgium, Princess Napoléon

Princess Clémentine of Belgium was the third daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, and Marie Henriette of Austria. She was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of Wettin in the branch of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; as such she was also styled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony.

Black became the standard rural color

During the second half of the 19th century, black became the dominant color for everyday clothing in the Flemish countryside, replacing the colorful styles of previous eras. Typical daily attire for rural men included trousers, vests, smocks, and hats, while women wore skirts, aprons, blouses, and shawls.

Festive Sunday attire for rural Belgians

Rural residents typically owned one set of festive Sunday clothes used for both church services and mourning. Men often wore a shiny blue smock on Sundays, while women wore a traditional regional cap.

Explosion of brass bands in Belgium

Between 1830 and 1860, brass bands (harmonies and fanfares) spread rapidly in villages, and a true explosion in their numbers occurred between 1860 and 1880, with 1,203 wind bands recorded by 1880.

Introduction of the accordion

Starting around 1850, the accordion was introduced, functioning as a small orchestra that allowed playing in multiple keys with the left hand handling the accompaniment.

A Long Journey to the Coast

To travel from Brussels to Ostend, one had to take a stagecoach to Ghent in the middle of the night, ride a canal boat to Bruges, and transfer to another canal boat to reach Ostend by evening.

Punctual Canal Boat Travel

Canal barges were slow, typically moving at 3 to 4 km per hour, but they were remarkably punctual, as skippers followed a strict schedule and did not wait for latecomers.

Children ruling the household for a day

On the children's festival day, Allerkinderendag, children were permitted to rule the household, tease servants, and even tell the cook what to prepare for dinner. They could also wear their parents' clothes and walk from door to door.

Crowded worker housing near Brussels

In some workers' homes near Brussels, a family of nine lived and slept in a small room barely larger than the space occupied by their two looms. They kept their food and live rabbits in a tiny adjacent space, where the family also slept on a mattress suspended above a loom.

Bread Spending Gap Between Classes

While laboring families spent roughly 30 percent of their total income on bread, wealthy families spent less than 2 percent.

Cheap Mussels for the Poor

In the 1800s, mussels were a very affordable food for the poor, costing as little as two and a half centimes for a hundred.

Daily food costs for a family

In 1873, a Ghent textile worker's family spent approximately 45 centimes daily on lunch, consisting of soup with bacon and potatoes with vinegar sauce. Breakfast, afternoon tea, and supper for the family cost 1.20 francs daily, totaling 603.25 francs per year for all food.

Housing rent costs for workers

A textile worker family's annual rent for their dwelling rose to 109.50 francs by 1873, with some reports noting further increases to 2 francs per week around 1877.

Child labor and changing industrial trades

Children as young as 6 to 8 years old worked underground in mines to transport coal through narrow passages, while in villages like Vottem, metal workers transitioned from making iron forks to gun making for better pay. A skilled fork maker might earn 7 to 8 francs a week, while industrial workers could earn 3 to 5 francs per day.

Grueling hours and the truck system

Workers, including young children, typically endured 12 to 14-hour workdays in factories and mines to supplement meager family incomes. Parents were often held captive by the truck system, where wages were partially paid in vouchers valid only at employer-owned shops.