THE VICTORIAN ERA

1837 - 1901

QUEEN VICTORIA

She had the longest reign in British history

Became queen at the age of 18; she was graceful and self-

assured. She also had a gift for drawing and painting

Throughout her reign, she maintained a sense of dignity and

decorum that restored the average person’s high opinion of

the monarchy after a series of horrible, ineffective leaders

1840-Victoria married a German prince, Albert, who became not

king, but Prince-consortAfter he died in 1861, she sank

into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of

her life

THE VICTORIAN ERA

England became wealthiest nation

British Empire expansion • “The sun never sets on England.”• Queen-empress over 200 million people living

outside Great Britain• India, North America, South Pacific, etc.

THE GROWTH OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

England grew to become the greatest nation on

earth

Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand,

Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and

India

England built a very large navy and merchant fleet

(for trade and colonization).

THE GROWTH OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world.By the mid-1800s, England was the largest exporter and importer of goods in the world. It was the primary manufacturer of goods and the wealthiest country in the world.Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Factory systems emerged

The shift in the English economy moved away from

agriculture and toward the production of

manufactured goods

Great Exhibition of 1851-Prince Albert-housed in the

Crystal Palace (made of glass and iron) exhibited

hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools, power

looms, power reapers, and steamboat engines.

THE VICTORIAN ERA

Industrial Revolution - booms & depressions Created new towns, goods, wealth, jobs for people climbing through middle classSocial & economic changes expressed in gradual political reforms

History of the British Empire

SOCIAL & POLITICAL REFORM

1832-First Reform Act-extended the vote to most middle-

class men

1833-Britain abolished slavery/Factory Act-regulated

child labor in factories

1834-Poor Law-Amendment applied a system of

workhouses for poor people

1871-Trade Union Act-made it legal for laborers to

organize to protect their rights

SOCIAL & POLITICAL REFORM

Women for suffrage – did not succeed until 1918 (30 & over)

Universal adult suffrage 1928 extended vote to women at age 21Factory Acts – limited child & women labor

State supported schools est. in 1870; compulsory in 1880; free in 1891

Literacy rate increased from 40% to 90% from 1840-1900.

VICTORIAN SOCIETY

What was the expectation?

How did they live?

SOCIETY

Decorum – powerful ideas about authority• Victorian private lives – autocratic father figure• Women – subject to male authority• Middle-class women expected to marry & make home a “refuge”

for husband• Women had few occupations open to them• Unmarried women often portrayed by comedy by male writers

• Vile Victorians Fashion• Vile Victorians• Victorian Slang

SOCIAL CLASS

Working “Lower” Class- men and women perform daily

labor and get paid dail or weekly wages for their work.

Middle Class – Men performed mental or “clean” work,

paid monthly or annually.

Upper Class – Did not work, income came from inherited

land and investments.

CHILDREN

The children in poor families had to work from getting up in the

morning to going to sleep in the night. They worked in caves, coal

mines and as chimney sweepers and many more hard jobs, at

what would now be two pence a day!! And that goes to their

parents to pay for the family. But most children didn’t live long

because there was no medicines or equipment to help with

diseases. Children had to go to the workhouse, it wasn’t nice

there at all it was cold, wet and smelt badly. Victorian children

didn’t have good clothes. Vile Victorians Chile Labor

SCHOOL

Many children in early Victorian times never went to school at all and more than

half of them grew up unable to read or write.

Children from rich families were luckier than poor children. Nannies looked after

them, and they had toys and books. A governess would get paid to teach the children

of rich families at home.

Then, when the boys were old enough, they were sent away to a public school such

as Eton or Rugby.

The daughters were kept at home and taught singing, piano playing and sewing.

Victorian School Punishments

GentlemenTutored at home until

they go to the University.

Subjects• Literature,

Languages of Roman & Greek. Mathematics, Philosophy, and Law

EDUCATION

LadiesAlmost entirely at home.

Boarding schools… No

Universities.

Subjects• French, Art, Music,

embroidery, use of globes, sewing and accounting.

Slowly, things changed for poorer children, by the

end of the Victorian age all children under 12 had to

go to school. Now everybody could learn how to read

and write, and how to count properly. The teachers

in schools had a cane used to punish children by

hitting them on the hand. They didn’t write on paper

but on slates.

WORKHOUSE. The word alone was calculated to send

a shudder down the spine of any honest 19th century

worker. It signified the end of the line, the final indignity.

It said:

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

The mental picture of the gaunt, forbidding workhouse

is one of the abiding impressions of Victorian England..

Just what was the workhouse?

It was a public institution which housed and fed people

who were unable to support themselves. If these people

were otherwise fit, they were put to work. But these simple

facts hide a tale of horror and despair.

Until the 16th century, there were no state provision for

the welfare of the poor. What relief there was, was provided

by the church, but that soon came to an end as well.

INTERESTING FACTS

1848: Women begin attending University of London1850: Life Insurance introduced1851: Gold discovered1860: Florence Nightingale founds school for nurses1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone1877: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph1886: Wimbledon opens1888: Jack the Ripper stalks London’s East End1901: Queen Victoria dies