The novels of Charles Dickens document people's great fear of poverty during the 19th century. Even those who were bringing good salaries would put part of their earnings in case they fell upon hard times. They would put the family silver in locked drawers in case they ever had to take it to the pawnbroker's shop. A wife who was afraid of her husband's drinking habits would keep anything she came which her family could fall in a crisis. Generous gifts could always be pawned at a later date. Some women even turned to prostitution so that they could lay treats for their children.
The average 19th century family had to do many things which we would now regard as necessities. They certainly had to pass the opportunity of family holidays. There were numerous officials who would bring money owed, but no state departments to give income support or social security benefits.
The hardest thing for men to cut was also the cause of family ruin. They could do with all the food in the pantry, but they could not give the bottle.
Alcoholism figures prominently in novels of this period, but readers liked happy endings. Consequently, mobility is not always downwards. There are also many “rags to riches” stories where orphans come for unexpected fortunes and take from discredited landlords as the owners of large estates. Let's hope these heroes don't take drinking and become like the pigs in George Orwell's “Animal Farm”.