Town looks back at class divide in Victorian heyday

But Harrogate’s booming tourism industry for the wealthy eager to take advantage of the town’s famous spas also gave the working classes the chance to carve out new careers.

A new exhibition, called Two Nations, examines the lives of both the rich and poor in Harrogate during the Victorian period.

Artefacts from the era are on show at the town’s Royal Pump Room Museum to showcase the surge in tourism, which was aided by the development of the railways.

Some of the more unusual objects include a visitors’ book recording the weights of visitors, and a glass bottle containing a fragment from an ox roasted on The Stray to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887.

The Ox roast was provided by industrialist Samson Fox of Grove House in Harrogate, who was the mayor between 1889 and 1892.

Other exhibits on show include items from domestic life, ranging from Victorian irons to kitchen utensils.

A special section of the exhibition gives children the chance to dress up in Victorian-style clothes.

The Two Nations exhibition, which began on Saturday, runs until December 23.

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