Table of contents for All About History Book Of The Victorians 3rd Edition in All About History

During the course of Queen Victoria’s reign, Britain underwent such a remarkable period of upheaval that the nation’s influence extended to the furthest reaches of the globe. With the advances of the Industrial Revolution, trade and production boomed, lending momentum to an expanding dominion. On her deathbed in 1901, Victoria could reflect on an empire on which the sun never set. At the height of the imperial century, a quarter of the world’s surface looked to her as their leader, not least the workforce toiling in her factories and shipyards. From the living conditions of Victoria’s poor to the careers of influential figures, from the personal life of a steely monarch to the advent of the Metropolitan Police, this new edition of Book of the Victorians will transport you to…

Emerging from humble beginnings, the East India Company began as a simple enterprise of London businessmen who wanted to make money from importing spices. The company was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, and in 1601 James Lancaster led its first voyage. The company set up trade outposts in Indian settlements that slowly developed into commercial towns. Steadily increasing its territory, the company claimed vital trading ports from Aden to Penang. As its control extended, the company became the most powerful private company in history, with its own army established by Robert Clive, the first British governor of Bengal. With its great military power behind it, the company controlled India with a combination of direct rule and alliances with Indian princes. The East India Company eventually…

Russia As England expanded its territory, so did Russia. For a hundred years Russia expanded east and south, narrowing the gap between the British and Russian Empires in Central Asia. Britain soon became obsessed with protecting India, which was a rich source of goods and manpower. The competition for dominance of the states that separated them – Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet – became commonly known as The Great Game. The looming, but unlikely, threat of Russia’s attack led Britain into largely unnecessary military involvement in Afghanistan and Tibet. Germany From 1850 onward, Germany began to industrialise at an astonishing rate, transforming from a rural nation to a heavily urban one. In the space of a decade Germany’s navy grew massively and became the only one able to challenge Britain’s. Although…

Despite being one of the most beloved monarchs in British History, Victoria ruled at a time of great social change and upheaval. Not everyone was satisfied with her reign and, as such a powerful symbol of Empire, she found herself at the end of a barrel many times. Edward Oxford 1840 Victoria and Albert were travelling in a carriage along Constitution Hill when a young man fired twice upon the carriage before being seized. Oxford was deemed insane and confined “at her majesty’s pleasure.” John Francis 1842 In a very similar attempt to the first, a man attempted to fire at the royal couple in their carriage. He was apprehended by a police officer, and as he tried to seize the pistol, it went off. Francis was sentenced to death,…

Origins and legacy Founded in 1859 from a patchwork of Conservative MPs loyal to former Prime Minister Robert Peel and members of the older Whig and Radical factions of Parliament, the Liberal Party was eventually dissolved in 1988 and merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats. Beginning life as a breakaway faction of the royalist Whigs (nicknamed ‘Tories’), the Conservative Party was officially formed in 1834 by Sir Robert Peel around the defence of the Crown, the Church of England and the House of Lords. The party continues today under the same name. Supporters As reformists, the Liberal Party attracted a broad church of support from those who either felt underrepresented in the Commons or wanted to see huge changes in economic and political life, ranging…

Before Queen Victoria’s reign, an electric current could only be produced using a battery. In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that electricity could be generated by simply moving a magnet over a wire. This discovery heralded the practical use of electricity in technology. One of the most significant uses was for electric lighting in homes. In 1850 Joseph Swan, an English physicist and chemist, began experimenting with carbonised paper filaments in a glass bulb. In 1880, after decades of trial and error, he patented a design for the first incandescent light bulb. In 1891, the world’s first modern power station was completed, supplying electricity to buildings across London. This new development led to the processes of the assembly line and mass production – both key facets of the Industrial Revolution. Not…

A chain smoker, Brunel got through over 40 cigars a day. A halfsmoked one was put on display at the Being Brunel museum The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal moment in the evolution of Britain into a world superpower. Taking place from 1760 to around 1840, it was a time of tremendous transition and upheaval, with the country becoming more productive and connected than ever before. It gave individuals with the relevant capacity and wherewithal the chance to showcase their talents. One such person was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth, he was the son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, himself an engineer of some renown. The beneficiary of an affluent upbringing, Marc was determined that Isambard receive a similarly good education. Having already imparted upon…

The Industrial Revolution didn’t just represent the development of industry; it also marked the transition from agrarianism to the capitalist society that we have today. While many celebrated this economic upheaval, it gathered its fair share of criticism. Championing a more equal society above the profitdriven, slave-driving capitalist economy, socialism took many forms in the Victorian period. With Karl Marx’s controversial Communist Manifesto published in 1848, radicalism was on the rise across Europe. However, in typical British style, it took a much more reserved twist across the United Kingdom. Still supportive of a democratic society, socialism in Britain was much more conservative. Marx’s radical ideas certainly intrigued Victorians, but fascinated though they were, nobody was quite ready to put Marx’s communist theories into practice at the time. Instead, Victorian socialists…

Electric lamp Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb, but he’s often mistaken for doing so. The incandescent light bulb was in fact the brainchild of Joseph Swan, a British physicist, in 1878 but early incarnations were impractical due to their short life span and high cost to manufacture. Edison, however, was the first to come up with the commercial light. He perfected the formula by using a coiled carbon filament and the first test lasted 13.5 hours. During his first demonstration, the inventor declared: “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” Edison had registered patents in his native America but they came under dispute for being based on other inventors’ works. To avoid a potential legal battle with Swan, whose British patent had…

Between the 1830s and the 1860s, it is thought that cholera was responsible for 40,000 deaths in London There can be no doubt that the shape of Britain was irrevocably altered during the Victorian period. Put simply, the population doubled from just fewer than 17 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901. The Industrial Revolution drove a new era, and people moved to where work was available, driven by poverty, disease and desperation. That city life was overcrowded is an understatement, as housing expansion struggled to keep up with demand. A manufacturer might build accommodation for their workers, but several families would still be found living under one roof. The urban landscape drastically altered as train lines were introduced and wealthier neighbourhoods moved, forcing the poorer classes into smaller…

Please Sir, I have bin up all nite with the most awful aches, pains an I got such a horrid cold sweat that won stop. I daren’t not turn up for work tomorra, but I needs to sweep the chimneys, or else the master swares he will light a fire right unnerneath me! John, aged 7 You are suffering from typhus, and I know just the thing to cure you: blistering. It’s the latest medical technique – simply scald the skin with hot pokers in order to burn away the illness. With your profession, however, you will soon choke and suffocate from inhaling chimney dust anyway, so perhaps your best bet is to pray twice daily. Dear Dr Crippin, During a delightful afternoon tea, one started to cough and perspire…

Talking back Women’s suffrage was still a century away, and any woman who dared to refuse a life of domesticity could be declared insane by their husband or father and shipped to the madhouse. Depression Those grappling with post-natal depression were treated with electroconvulsive therapy – passing a current through the brain and inducing an epileptic fit. Hysteria Physicians considered women to be the weaker sex and more susceptible to nervous breakdowns. This was the main reason asylums often had far more female patients. Spinsters Women who did not choose to live the conventional Victorian lifestyle were considered a threat to society. Without male interaction, they were classed as mentally ill.…

From taking photographs of dead relatives to opening shops selling mourning clothes, the Victorians commercialised death. This was an era of industry, with hard work being seen as the creator of fortunes. By the end of the century, there would be compulsory schooling in Britain, better literacy levels, and scientific and medical progress across the Western world. Yet at the same time, the gap between rich and poor was enormous, and poverty levels, economic depression and high mortality rates meant that many were acutely aware of the inevitability of death. This was heightened by the growth of newspapers, which covered catastrophic events such as the Great Famine in 1840s Ireland, and the deaths of the famous, the rich, and even the poor. In addition, reporters showed little restraint when writing…

Memento mori – meaning ‘remember you will die’ – were, in Victorian times, physical reminders of mortality, and could take various forms. Watches decorated with phrases relating to death, rings featuring locks of hair from deceased loved ones, brooches featuring skull designs or images – items such as these were used to both remember the dead and to remind the living that they would follow suit. At the most disturbing level to modern minds, the Victorians also took post-mortem photographs of the dearly departed, often posed with their surviving relatives. Due to the cost, this would sometimes be the only photograph ever taken of an individual.…

Gothic fiction was a type of horror story that originated in the late- 18th century, but peaked during the Victorian era. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) to Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1886), Victorian audiences were fed a literary diet of monsters and ghouls, both entertaining and frightening in equal measure. This genre of fiction was not restricted to Britain; in Germany, the Schauerroman (‘shudder novel’) featured similar motifs, while in Russia, Vladimir Odoevsky penned The Living Corpse in 1838, with Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy publishing The Vampire two years later. The most famous purveyor of Gothic fiction in the USA was Edgar Allan Poe, and his tales of madness were seen as following the German style of Gothic horror. The Fall Of The…

Ancient Egyptians believed in giving their dead an appropriate send-off, constructing elaborate mausolea to them, and entombing their corpses with personal possessions that might assist them in the afterlife. For the Victorians, with their morbid and complex rituals, the example of these ancient people was one to follow. Throughout the 19th century, Egyptian influences could be found in women’s mourning jewellery, which often featured obelisks or scarabs, and on tombs, mausolea, cemetery gates and even entire graveyards, which had an Egyptian style of architecture or decorative features. "These cod-scientific displays were, in reality, more about playing on people's desire to be scared and entertained" Ancient Egyptian texts were translated by German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius in the 1840s, and detailed their beliefs about death and the afterlife, showing dead bodies…

AMELIA DYER 1837-96 NICKNAMES: Ogress of Reading, The Reading Baby Farmer CRIME: After training as a nurse for many years, Dyer opened her home to young pregnant women who had conceived out of wedlock. When the babies were born she promised the mothers she would provide a safe and loving home for a one-off payment. However, instead of providing homes, Dyer killed the children and pocketed the profits. Although she aroused suspicion, she was able to avoid detection thanks to various conveniently timed stays in mental hospitals. When her crimes were finally discovered, Dyer had been responsible for 200-400+ child deaths. PUNISHMENT: Hanged from the neck until dead LAST WORDS: “I have nothing to say.” MARIA MANNING 1821-49 NICKNAME: Bermondsey Horror CRIME: Maria Manning was a Swiss domestic servant fascinated…

Import: Coffee Although Britain is known as a tea-drinking nation, in 1840, the year of Victoria's marriage, the country imported 70 million pounds of coffee, compared to 28 million pounds of tea. It wasn't until 1853, and the growth of India’s tea plantations, that tea began to overtake coffee as the nation’s preferred drink. Import: Eggs In the 19th century, Britain hadn't yet perfected modern poultry breeding methods. With British hens only laying eggs during the hotter spring and summer months, the country was forced to import some 123 million of them in 1853 alone. Export: Coal Coal was the backbone and fuel of British industrialisation and between 1860 and 1900, annual coal production rose from 80 million tons to more than 225 million. A quarter of this huge quantity…

“His expedition parties helped open up Africa to the Western world” Henry Stanley’s line “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” has become a famous remark from history Before the first missionaries began to explore the continent, Africa was a vast unknown landmass for most Europeans and people from the Americas. One of the men who helped open up the hitherto mostly unseen continent was a Scot by the name of David Livingstone. He and a select few explorers blazed a trail through the region, initiating the Scramble for Africa, which would alter the political and economic landscape of the continent forever. Born just south of Glasgow on 19 March 1813 in a tiny hamlet called Blantyre, Livingstone began working in a cotton mill at the age of ten. He was taught to…

Nana Sahib 1824-1857 (disappeared) Sahib was the adopted son of an exiled prince. When the East India Company rejected his claim to his father’s pension, to which he was supposed to be entitled, Sahib turned on the British and went on to lead the Cawnpore rebellion. He mysteriously disappeared after the capture of Cawnpore, but was hailed as a freedom fighter in India. Charles Canning 1812-1862 Serving as governor-general of India during the rebellion, Canning's calm approach led many to believe he did not understand the gravity of the situation. However, Canning saw British India safely through the storm and showed restraint when punishing the rebels, leading to greater unity between the two nations. He earned the nickname ‘Clemency Canning’ (derisively from the British) for his leniency. Begum Hazrat Mahal…

The son of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Vicky, Kaiser Wilhelm II was meant to be the heir that would strengthen the bonds between Britain and Germany. Instead, he ended up forging such a love-hate relationship with the nation, that he would declare war. A difficult birth had left him with a paralysed left arm and stunted growth that Princess Vicky was determined to cure. From having his arm inserted into a freshly slaughtered hare to daily electrotherapy treatments, the Kaiser was forced to endure a tormented childhood. By the age of 16, he had developed a twisted love for his mother. Uncovered letters revealed fantasies about kissing her hand in an erotic fashion, which some historians believe was his desperate plea for acceptance. Her response talked about politics and music…

The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was known to his family as Bertie. He was also known as a disappointment. His poor performance during home tutoring and interest in eating, drinking and women earned him a reputation as a playboy prince. Victoria even remarked: “Handsome I cannot think him, with that painfully small and narrow head, those immense features and total want of chin.” Their relationship became even more fraught when Albert visited his son at Cambridge and went for a walk in the rain. He returned sick, bed-bound and dead within three weeks. It was probably due to typhoid, but Edward’s mother forever blamed him for her beloved’s death. “I never can or shall look at him without a shudder,” she wrote. Consequently, when he became…

The date was 22 January 1901 and the British Empire was the largest of any in human history, but the monarch who reigned over it would not live another day. As Queen Victoria lay dying in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight she looked back on a reign that spanned over 63 years. She had seen her empire grow from a collection of scattered isles, separated by vast plains of lands and insurmountable oceans, to the greatest the world had known. It had reached over India, plucked its riches and mounted the nation as the glimmering jewel in Victoria’s crown. It had butchered its way mercilessly across Africa at the cost of thousands of British corpses and countless natives who had tried in vain to stand in its way.…

Dominance of the seas Britain employed a ‘two-power standard’ in 1889, which called for the Royal Navy to maintain a force at least equal to the combined strength of the next two largest navies in the world. This policy ensured British dominance of the seas with a string of naval bases encompassing the whole world. The sheer size and strength of the navy served its purpose, deterring any would-be competitors and confirming its position as ruler of the waves. The Industrial Revolution Britain was the first nation to harness the power of steam and the first to undergo an industrial revolution. This resulted in the mass production of low-cost goods to trade around the world. It also gave Britain’s military an array of resources like rifles, steamships and trains, equipping…

Never before had the coronation of a new British monarch drawn such incredible crowds. Aided by the new railways ploughing through the country, 400,000 people travelled to London to see their new ruler crowned. The streets were bursting with loyal subjects – men, women and children eager to catch a glimpse of the young queen. The Gold State Coach – which had been used for coronations since George IV – was a sight to behold, gleaming in the summer sun and drawn by eight magnificent cream horses. As it passed through the people, joyous shouts rang out and elegantly dressed ladies waved their handkerchiefs. All along the pavement were lines of foot and horse soldiers, while military bands played triumphant, celebratory music. Every seat was filled, every decorated balcony heavy…

ART HUR WELLESLEY, 1ST DUKE OF WELLINGTON This famous military figure shared a close relationship with Victoria during her early years. He was not only fiercely loyal to her, but he also took on a fatherly role in advising her. Victoria later wrote of him, “He was the greatest man this country ever produced.” AUGUST US, DUKE OF SUSSEX The sixth son of George III, Augustus was Victoria’s favourite uncle, and was chosen to give her away at her wedding in place of her father. Because of this close relationship, she appreciated his advice, and when he caused controversy by marrying a non-royal, Victoria made his wife Duchess of Inverness. LEOPOLD I Victoria was fond of Leopold, her maternal uncle and king of the Belgians, and would often seek his…

Victoria shirked her mother’s influence almost immediately, instead relying on the guidance of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne When Victoria ascended the throne, the monarchy was in a precarious position. Radicalists had grown in strength throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, many of them calling for an end to the Crown. Meanwhile in Europe and its colonies, republicanism had taken hold, first with the American Revolution and then with the French. The power of the British monarchy had been in steady decline ever since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Bill of Rights had made clear that the king or queen ruled only with the consent of Parliament. But it was the Reform Crisis of 1830- 32, during which Victoria’s predecessor William IV refused to pass new reform acts,…

Queen Victoria was very much taken with Disraeli, describing him as “full of poetry, romance and chivalry” From the very second they first met, they despised one another. Benjamin Disraeli (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a dilettante with gentlemanly pretensions, an author of critically mauled romantic fiction, and dinner party dandy who fancied himself as a politician. William Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a man of insufferable purpose, pious, abrasive, self-righteous and regarded as a ‘prig’ by those who knew him. “Their feud, from simmering resentment to all-out warfare, would change the shape of Britain and its Parliament” Victoria was less impressed with Gladstone, complaining that “he always addresses me as if I were a public meeting” If the fey and theatrical Disraeli…

Using a pros and cons list, Darwin debated whether to marry. Ultimately he decided a wife was “better than a dog” “It was his literary achievement that captured the imagination of the public” Science and religion aren’t known for going hand in hand, and Charles Darwin’s revolutionary ideas about evolution widened the divide between the two, sparking controversy at a time when religion was paramount in people’s lives. Renowned for his theory of evolution, Darwin’s beliefs contradicted the Victorian belief in God’s divine creation. While many clergymen branded Darwin a blasphemer, however, his ideas were quickly accepted by many, going on to form the basis of natural science as it is today. Born on 12 February 1808, Charles Darwin was raised in a wealthy, liberal-minded family. Despite being brought up…

The temperance movement began before the Victorian age, but the era saw it gather momentum and backing as the Industrial Revolution began. From factory bosses concerned about the performance of their workers and local groups driven by religious zeal to wealthy philanthropists concerned about public drunkenness, the Victorian era saw several strong and driven temperance groups appear. The first total abstinence movement began in Preston in 1832, following the Beer Act of 1830 (which meant a license to sell beer cost just two guineas). It was here that the Temperance Pledge was signed by a group led by Joseph Livesey. It was one of his fellows who coined the word ‘teetotalism’. With the rise in literacy, their printed polemics, many created by artist George Cruikshank, on the dangers of alcohol,…

From sandcastles to fish and chips, promenades to pleasure piers, many of the things best associated with a trip to the British seaside have their roots in the Victorian summer holiday. However, while we take these seaside attractions for granted now — even looking back on them as old fashioned — many of them were considered revolutionary at the time, some even an affront to common decency. This led to some puritanical restrictions, but not even Victorian morality could hold back the tide of change that was rolling in. Peacocking on the prom Trips to the seaside were nothing new at the beginning of the Victorian era, at least for the upper classes. In fact, ‘taking the waters’ for your health was so popular during the Georgian period that Jane…

Ask any Victorian doctor and he will tell you, the best way to fend off an illness is to take a healthy dose of mercury, arsenic or wine mixed with Class-A drugs. In the 1800s, the remedies have the same outcome as most of the diseases: an early grave. Death was so common that many people were buried by the time they were 20. Mortality rates were particularly high in the cities, where the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the steam engine saw factories spring up all over London. People packed their bags and left the countryside in search of opportunity. What they found was a desperate need for more housing. Many were forced to live in cramped conditions, close to filthy rivers and smoke-belching factories. This led medical…

Phrenology was the belief that the shape of someone’s head could reveal their character traits. It was thought that the brain was made up of many organs, and that the skull mirrored their functions. By feeling the bumps on their noggins, phrenologists claimed to know people’s strengths and weaknesses, their moral and religious beliefs, and more. People would queue up to have their heads read for guidance in life and love. Even the great inventor Thomas Edison said: “I never knew I had an inventive talent until phrenology told me so. I was a stranger to myself until then.”…

The Victorians spent as much money as they were able to on saying goodbye to the dead, and to preserving their memories. The wealthiest would opt for a grand mausoleum, while those who were less well-off might instead commission a gravestone or memorial for their loved ones. Sculptures of angels were particularly popular, signifying a guide to heaven, and sleeping children, flowers and doves, were inscribed onto headstones as well. This desire to establish something permanent was all the more poignant given the fears of grave robbing. The body snatchers were prominent in early-19th-century Britain, but also in the US, and made money from selling fresh cadavers to medical schools. Prior to the Victorian period, anatomy students would use criminals who had been hanged. However, as the numbers of students…

Dracula Count Dracula, a vampire, was a creature caught between life and death. He is thought to reflect fears of immigration and sexual promiscuity. Being bitten is akin to being diseased, with ‘cures’ being sought to make the bitten well again. Mr Hyde The mysterious, hunchbacked Hyde is the alterego of Dr Jekyll, who has created a potion that enables him to become this repulsive being. Hyde represented both sex – something Victorians were keen to ‘hide’ – and the supernatural. Frankenstein’s monster Victor Frankenstein’s creation of a monster made of body parts from dead criminals reflected concerns about body snatchers, and how medicine and science – in particular, the development of electricity – could be used for evil as well as good. Heathcliff The anti-hero of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff…

“Pankhurst believed that the women’s right to influence policy-making was the only way society would be reformed” Emmeline Pankhurst was sent to finishing school in Paris. Her headmistress felt girls’ education should be as thorough as boys’ “We are here, not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to be law-makers.” Those immortal words by Emmeline Pankhurst encapsulated the Suffragette Movement. As their iron-willed leader, she fought for women’s right to vote in the United Kingdom – by any means. The motto was “Deeds, not words”, and a campaign of vandalism, violent protests and arson reigned. Pankhurst saw it as her duty to break the law in order to draw attention to the reasons behind her actions; a belief that would see her arrested on countless occasions…

Unsolved murders in 19th-century London were not uncommon. The vast majority of victims were prostitutes, and the bodies of these fallen women were found so often that it’s impossible to estimate just how many were murdered. But there was one set of prostitute murders so sinister and horrifying that the mystery surrounding the killer’s identity fascinates people to this day. When the corpse of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered on 31 August 1888, it was butchered so horrifically that it was deemed the work “of a madman.” It was treated as yet another prostitute murder until a week later, when a similarly butchered corpse was found. The police soon realised they weren’t dealing with a random act of violence, but a serial killer. As the horrors of the murders filled…

Following her death, the Queen lay in state in the dining room at Osborne House, where the air was heavy with the scent of lilies. Lying in state is a tradition where the coffin is placed on view so the public can pay their respects – but she requested that it would not be public. After eight days, her coffin was taken to the royal yacht, Alberta, on 1 February 1901. It journeyed across The Solent to Portsmouth, while battleships and cruisers boomed salutes on either side and crowds of mourners covered the Southsea Common and the beach. The next day, the coffin was taken by train to Victoria station and began its procession by gun carriage across London. King Edward VII and the Kaiser led the way, as thousands…

Dickens appeared to be superstitious about his sleep. He slept facing north, thinking it would improve his writing He named some of his children after literary figures, such as Alfred Tennyson, Henry Fielding and Edward Bulwer- Lytton Oliver Twist. Nicholas Nickleby. Great Expectations. David Copperfield. A Christmas Carol. These names are all immediately familiar for the impact they have had – and continue to have – on literature and popular culture. They also go some way towards evaluating the life of Charles Dickens himself. Not only does his name live on due to the enduring nature of his fiction; the social commentary contained within his writing provides one of the most illuminating perceptions of the Victorian age, an era that ultimately defined much of how we live today. Born on…

Victoria was never meant to be queen. Her father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son with a jaded past, and with so many brothers it was assumed he and his children would never see the throne. Victoria’s mother, the duchess of Kent, was a princess of a German Principality, and no doubt wished to bear her husband a son, rather than the solitary daughter they had. With her father’s death less than a year after her birth, her mother became the dominant figure in her childhood. The duchess was keen to give her daughter a respectable upbringing befitting any upper-class girl, and she was educated in languages, writing, music, history, drawing, arithmetic, geography and religion. Despite being described as energetic and warm-hearted, Victoria had few friends her…

1837 BECOMING QUEEN Lord Hatherton wrote of this gown, “…dressed in a plain black silk gown with a white muslin collar and a thin black scarf. I never saw her look so well.” 1838 CORONATION Victoria presented a striking regal picture during her coronation, draped in a royal crimson robe with ermine fur and bordered with gold lace. 1840 CEREMONIAL EVENTS Victoria would often wear this riding habit when reviewing troops. Elizabeth II continued this tradition by wearing a similar style for the same purpose. 1840 WEDDING TO ALBERT For her wedding, Victoria chose a white dress, very unusual for the time as most brides wore vibrant colours, setting a trend for countless brides to follow. 1851 OPENING OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE Victoria often wore flounced skirts that widened the…

Cold Hot Lord Melbourne 1834 • Apr 1835 – Aug 1841 The Whig Melbourne was home secretary from 1830 until he replaced Lord Grey as prime minister in 1834. He became a mentor to the young and newly crowned Victoria, who said she loved him “like a father”. Benjamin Disraeli Feb 1868 – Dec 1868 • Feb 1874 – Apr 1880 Disraeli was pivotal in the creation of the Conservative party. Upon first securing power in 1868, he set out to woo and flatter the queen. In turn, Victoria deeply admired and appreciated him. Sir Robert Peel Aug 1841 – Jun 1846 The pair got off to a bad start when the newly elected Tory PM asked Victoria to make some changes to her household, in which most of her…

Born to Isaac and Maria D’Israeli, Sephardic Jews with roots in Italy, young Benjamin (who later dropped the apostrophe from his surname) converted to Christianity aged 12 after his father had a falling out with his synagogue. However, anti-Semitism remained part of the background hum of his life, making his ascension of high office even more remarkable. At one of his very first political events, someone mounted a piece of pork on a stick and wafted it under his nose. Disraeli, to his credit, didn’t even flinch. This level of discourse was later adopted by Gladstone, taunting “Ben the Jew, leader of the Tory crew” and claiming “he was holding British foreign policy hostage to his Jewish sympathies.” At the time of Disraeli entering the Commons, only Christians could become…

Only 40% of people born in the 1850s lived until their 60s One in four people who contracted tuberculosis (known as consumption) would die of it In 1901, 84% of males were employed, while the remaining 16% were either retired or ‘unoccupied’ In 1878, 1,490 workers were killed in mining accidents The average wage in the 1850s was 15 shillings a week Children often earned only five shillings a week A law in 1874 meant people could work a maximum of a 56-hour week Population A boom borne of industrial change 3% of people lived in towns & cities Population 32.5 million in 1901 77% of people lived in towns & cities Population 13.9 million in 1831 50 Average life expectancy 40 Average life expectancy After IR Before IR…

Radio Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi had heard about the existence of so-called radio waves that travel through the air and it made him wonder whether sound could travel the same way, via air waves. He built two machines, one that could transmit messages and another that could receive them and managed to make a bell ring across the room using this method. Excited by his initial success, he worked on increasing the distance but no one wanted to invest to help him develop his machines, so he moved to Britain where his technology was welcomed by the army and the Post Office. He registered for a patent in 1901, then set about making a radio wave transmitter and a receiver to convert the waves into electricity, which then turned into…

The promenade A combination of exercise and showing off, ‘promenading’ was a chance to take in the sea air, meet friends and make a fashion statement. Unattached or unmarried young ladies and girls were chaperoned at first, but it was later common for groups of both working class men and women on organised trips to use a stroll along ‘the prom’ to meet and flirt. Punch and Judy While this slapstick puppet show about an anarchic clown and his family is from 16th-century Italy, it became a British seaside attraction in the early 1800s. This was partly thanks to new mobile booths that the operator could quickly dismantle to search for new audiences. To suit Victorian tastes, Punch’s old adversary, the devil, was replaced with a crocodile and his mistress,…

The inaccuracies of medical practices meant there was a real risk of a premature burial in the 19th century. To determine death, one technique included applying hot bread to the soles of the feet and checking for a reaction, so it’s not surprising the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial was established in 1896. They campaigned for reforms to ensure people were actually dead before the final nail in the coffin, reflecting fears across the West. A number of safety coffin designs were proposed to enable the prematurely buried to escape.…

Opening in 1897, Paris’s Théâtre du Grand-Guignol shocked and thrilled audiences with murder and torture so realistic it made people vomit and faint. It was originally designed to explore subjects not normally seen as fit for theatre – criminals, prostitutes and sinister asylums – to criticise the social inequalities of the era; its name was taken from a violent French puppet, in the style of English Punch and Judy, but the plays were strictly for adults. The building had originally been a chapel, and the ‘confessional’-style boxes, Gothic style and angels flanking the stage, bearing witness to the brutal acts, only added to the eerie ambience. Some plays looked at the individual consciousness and the passage from one existence to another, and this was key to the theatre’s success. Death…

LIVINGSTONE ARRIVES IN AFRICA AFRICA 1841 A Scottish missionary, David Livingstone was drawn to the great unexplored plains of Africa to spread Christianity to the populace. He was also staunchly opposed to the slave trade and tirelessly petitioned to have it abolished. His journey to instil Christian beliefs in the people of Africa led him across the Kalahari and he followed the Zambezi River to its source at the Indian Ocean. The first European to cross southern Africa, his adventures mapped much of the unexplored territory, which would be hugely important later when European powers began to scramble for territory there. He became obsessed with locating the source of the Nile but died before accomplishing this feat. His heart was buried in the African village in which he died. Second…

Day one: 6 April 1865 Set sail today. Several of the crew had to be replaced at the last moment as a great number of men refused to set sail on board a ‘dangerous ship’. Rumour has it that they’ll be arrested and found guilty of desertion, so I kept my head down and stayed in the shadows until we set sail. Day two: 7 April 1865 There are some new fellows on board this fancy steamship: ‘marine engineers’. Apparently they used to be train drivers! These new chaps work the ship’s engines, but to be honest, us oldtimers are a bit confused how they fit into the ship’s ranks. Day three: 8 April 1865 There were some mighty strong winds that blew the seas into a frenzy last night.…

The Royal Navy adopts anaesthetic 1847 While serving in a Royal Navy hospital in Malta, surgeon Thomas Spencer Wells records administering anaesthetic to 106 patients who are suffering with varying wounds and ailments – this is the first time that ether is used in the British armed forces. The Crimean War 1853-56 At the outset of the Crimean War, the British Army suffers terribly from disease and exposure to the harsh Russian weather. Anaesthetic is used widely by French, Turkish, Russian and British armies, though initially the administration of heavy doses often kill patients outright. By the war’s end, a much better understanding of the use of chloroform for operations has developed. Military medical reforms begin 1857 After observing the terrible conditions wounded soldiers experienced on the front line, Florence…

Born in 1828 with the birth name Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi was the daughter of a man who served the Bithur court of the Maratha Peshwa, and she was raised as his daughter. A clever and athletic girl, she received training in horse riding, archery and swordsmanship. Lakshmibai married the aging Maharaja of Jhansi in 1842, but by 1853 he was dead. Instead of honouring the rights of his recently adopted son, the British East India Company used the Doctrine of Lapse policy to seize the Jhansi state and left the Rani with orders to vacate her palace. When the Indian Mutiny broke out, opposition to British rule soon focused on the recently annexed Jhansi. At first, the Rani was reluctant to raise the flag. However, in 1857, men of…

R M Ballantyne 1825-1894 The Coral Island (1858) Ballantyne was a Scottish writer whose most famous book was The Coral Island. Ballantyne’s heroes embodied an ideal of self-reliance and moral integrity that chimed very powerfully with the image that was communicated about the kind of person that the British Empire was built on. H Rider Haggard 1856-1925 King Solomon’s Mi nes (1885) An iconic Africa-set treasure hunt adventure story featuring the rifle-toting hero Allan Quatermain, King Solomon’s Mines captured public excitement around the boom in archaeology in the Middle East and Africa. The novel also expresses the typical racial prejudice shown towards Africans at the time. Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-1892 The Charge of the Li ght Brigade Tennyson was the Poet Laureate and friend to Queen Victoria. In 1855 The…