The
Victorian era of the
United Kingdom marked the height of the British
Industrial Revolution and the apex of the
British Empire. Although commonly used to refer to the period of
Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901, scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of the
Reform Act 1832. The era was preceded by the
Regency era and succeeded by the
Edwardian period.
Introduction This inescapable sense of newness resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities.
Gothic Revival architecture became increasingly significant in the period, leading to the
Battle of the Styles between Gothic and
Classical ideals.
Charles Barry's architecture for the new
Palace of Westminster, which had been badly damaged in an 1834 fire, built on the medieval style of
Westminster Hall, the surviving part of the building. It constructed a narrative of cultural continuity, set in opposition to the violent disjunctions of
Revolutionary France, a comparison common to the period, as expressed in
Thomas Carlyle's
The French Revolution: A History and
Charles Dickens'
A Tale of Two Cities. Gothic was also supported by the critic
John Ruskin, who argued that it epitomised communal and inclusive social values, as opposed to Classicism, which he considered to epitomise mechanical standardisation.
The middle of the century saw
The Great Exhibition of 1851, the first
World's Fair and showcased the greatest innovations of the century. At its centre was
The Crystal Palace, an enormous, modular glass and iron structure - the first of its kind. It was condemned by Ruskin as the very model of mechanical dehumanisation in design, but later came to be presented as the prototype of
Modern architecture. The emergence of photography, which was showcased at the Great Exhibition, resulted in significant changes in Victorian art.
John Everett Millais was influenced by photography (notably in his portrait of Ruskin) as were other
Pre-Raphaelite artists. It later became associated with the
Impressionistic and
Social Realist techniques that would dominate the later years of the period in the work of artists such as
Walter Sickert and
Frank Holl.
Social institutions In 1842, a law was passed to ban women and children working in mines.
In 1849, 2,000 people a week died in a cholera epidemic.
In 1851, The Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) was held in The Crystal Palace, with great success and international attention.
In 1859,
Charles Darwin published "
The Origin of Species", which led to great religious doubt and insecurity.
In 1861,
Prince Albert died; Queen Victoria refused to go out in public for many years, and when she did she wore a widow's
bonnet instead of the crown.
In 1888, the
serial killer known as
Jack the Ripper murdered and mutilated five (and possibly more)
prostitutes on the streets of
London, leading to world-wide press coverage and hysteria. Newspapers used the deaths to bring greater focus on the plight of the unemployed and to attack police and political leaders. The killer was never caught, and the affair contributed to Sir Charles Warren's resignation.
In 1891, education became free for every child.
Events Popular forms of entertainment vary by socioeconomic class. Victorian England, like the periods before it, was interested in theatre and the arts. Music, drama, and opera were widely attended. There were, however, other forms of entertainment. Gambling at cards in establishments popularly called casinos was wildly popular during the period--so much so that evangelical and reform movements specifically targeted such establishments in their efforts to stop gambling, drinking, and prostitution.
Brass bands and 'The
bandstand' became popular in the Victorian era typically associated with the British brass band. The band stand is a simple construction which not only creates an ornamental focal point, it also serves acoustic requirements whilst providing shelter for the changeable British weather. It was common to hear the sound of a brass band whilst strolling through parklands. At this time musical recording was still very much a novelty.
Another form of entertainment involved 'spectacles' where paranormal events, such as
hypnotism, communication with the dead (by way of
mediumship or
channelling),
ghost conjuring and the like, were carried out to the delight of crowds and participants. Such activities were very popular during this time compared to others in recent Western history.
Entertainment The impetus of the Industrial Revolution had already occurred, but it was during this period that the full effects of industrialisation made themselves felt, leading to the
mass society of the
20th century. The revolution led to the rise of railways across the country and great leaps forward in
engineering, most famously by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Another great engineering feat in the Victorian Era was the
sewage system in London. It was designed by
Joseph Bazalgette in 1858. He proposed to build 82
miles of
sewerage linked with over 1,000 miles of street
sewers. Many problems were found but the sewers were completed. After this, Bazalgette designed the
Thames Embankment which housed sewers,
water pipes and the
London Underground.
During the Victorian era, science grew into the discipline it is today. In addition to the increasing professionalism of university science, many Victorian gentlemen devoted their time to the study of natural history.
Photography was realised in 1839 by
Louis Daguerre in France and
William Fox Talbot in
England. By 1900, hand-held
cameras were available.
Although initially developed in the early years of the 19th century,
gas lighting became widespread during the Victorian era in industry, homes, public buildings and the streets. The invention of the
incandescent gas
mantle in the 1890s greatly improved light output and ensured its survival as late as the 1960s. Hundreds of gas works were constructed in cities and towns across the country. In 1882, incandescent
electric lights were introduced to London streets, although it took many years before they were installed everywhere.
Science, technology and engineering Beginning in the late 1840s, major news organisations, clergymen and single women became increasingly interested in
prostitution, which came to be known as "The Great Social Evil." Although estimates of the number of prostitutes in London by the 1850s vary widely (in his landmark study,
Prostitution,
William Acton reported that the police estimated there were 8,600 in 1857 London alone), it is enough to say that the number of women working the streets became increasingly difficult to ignore.
When the 1851 census publicly revealed a 4% demographic imbalance in favour of women (i.e. 4% more women than men), the problem of prostitution began to shift from a moral/religious cause to a
socio-economic one. The 1851 census showed that the population of Great Britain was roughly 18 million; this meant that roughly 750,000 women would remain unmarried simply because there were not enough men. These women came to be referred to as "superfluous women" or "redundant women," and many essays were published discussing what, precisely, ought to be done with them.
While the Magdalen Hospital had been "reforming" prostitutes since the mid-18th century, the years between 1848 and 1870 saw a veritable explosion in the number of institutions working to "reclaim" these "fallen women" from the streets and retrain them for entry into respectable society—usually for work as domestic servants. The theme of prostitution and the "fallen woman" (an umbrella term used to describe any women who had
sexual intercourse out of
wedlock) became a staple feature of mid-Victorian
literature and
politics. In the writings of
Henry Mayhew,
Charles Booth and others,
prostitution began to be seen as a
social problem, rather than just a fact of urban life.
When
Parliament passed the first of the
Contagious Diseases Acts in 1864 (which allowed the local constabulary to force any woman suspected of
venereal disease to submit to its inspection),
Josephine Butler's crusade to repeal the CD Acts yoked the anti-prostitution cause with the emergent
feminist movement. Butler attacked the long-established
double standard of sexual morality.
Prostitutes were often presented as victims in
sentimental literature such
Thomas Hood's poem
The Bridge of Sighs,
Elizabeth Gaskell's novel
Mary Barton and
Dickens' novel
Oliver Twist. The emphasis on the purity of women found in such works as
Coventry Patmore's
The Angel in the House led to the portrayal of the prostitute and fallen woman as soiled, corrupted, and in need of cleansing.
This emphasis on female purity was allied to the stress on the
homemaking role of women, who helped to create a space free from the
pollution and
corruption of the city. In this respect the prostitute came to have symbolic significance as the embodiment of the violation of that divide. The double standard remained in force.
Divorce legislation introduced in 1857 allowed for a man to divorce his wife for
adultery, but a woman could only divorce if adultery was accompanied by
cruelty. The anonymity of the city led to a large increase in prostitution and unsanctioned sexual relationships. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with the mechanisation and industrialisation of modern life, portraying prostitutes as human commodities consumed and thrown away like refuse when they were used up. Moral reform movements attempted to close down
brothels, something that has sometimes been argued to have been a factor in the concentration of street-prostitution in
Whitechapel by the late 1880s.
By the time the CD Acts were repealed in 1886, Victorian England had been completely transformed. This era, which at its outset looked no different from the century before it, would end resembling far more the era that would follow.
See also Altick, Richard Daniel.
Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature. W.W. Norton & Company: 1974.
ISBN 0-393-09376-X.
Burton, Antoinette (editor).
Politics and Empire in Victorian Britain: A Reader. Palgrave Macmillan: 2001.
ISBN 0-312-29335-6.
Gay, Peter,
The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, 5 volumes, Oxford University Press, 1984-1989
Flanders, Judith.
Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England. W.W. Norton & Company: 2004.
ISBN 0-393-05209-5.
Mitchell, Sally.
Daily Life in Victorian England. Greenwood Press: 1996.
ISBN 0-313-29467-4.
Wilson, A. N. The Victorians. Arrow Books: 2002.
ISBN 0-09-945186-7
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