 A Potted History of Victorian EnglandThis is my interpretation of the history of the Victorian era - It is by no means complete, if you want a more comprehensive guide to this eventful time in English history then visit some of Lady Adena's suggestions at the bottom of the page and surf the webrings. If I've made any mistakes, forgive me and let me know. Good luck to you if you decide to research this for yourself, there are several mountains of information out there, so keep a rope handy! Most of my information comes from Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopaedia 99 and from other information sites on the web. And so it begins... OverviewFor most, the Victorian age is represented by Queen Victoria, (Alexandrina Victoria) herself, she also represented a sense of continuity for many people of the time. Her reign was long, lasting from 1837-1901. It was the longest in British history and her name was given to this period. It started with a time of depression. Expansion of the railroads was associated with discontent and conflict. The first ever working class movement, Chartism, was openly declared, the popular movement lasted from 1838-1848 and supported electoral social reform. It was the result of dissatisfaction with the Reform Act of 1832, which gave a large section of the middle classes the vote and the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which the workmen considered discriminatory. There were basically three distinct classes, Working, Middle and Upper. The Upper maintained control over the political system for much of the time, denying the lower classes of say in the political process. Middle class power did eventually increase and through organised agitation started to effect change. The working class remained without a voice. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, there was further splintering of the Working class. All the classes included a wide range of occupations varying in status and income, such as skilled and unskilled labour. Beneath these industrial workers developed an under class of 'sunken people' who lived in abject poverty. In the middle of the century, skilled workers gained enough power to establish Trade Unions to further improve their status. Unskilled workers and the under class remained open to exploitation. As such large gaps separated the classes, so moving up in the world required pretty much of a miracle! Wages would have had to have been raised enormously because of the cost of housing for the different classes to effect such a change. In 1840 the worlds first ever adhesive stamp, The Penny Black was launched with the likeness of a young Victoria. It was the foundation for the modern postal service; it cost one penny and was one of the major innovations of the period.
Literature and ScienceLiterature played an important part in this era too. One of the most noted authors was Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870); Dickens led an eventful life. He started working at the age of twelve in a shoe polish warehouse when his father went to a debtor's prison and then became a junior law clerk, which he hated. He then went on to court reporting, when his story 'A Dinner at Poplar Walk' was published in 1833, he was diverted from a possible acting career. In 1842 Dickens and his wife Catherine Hogarth travelled to America. He gave speeches against slavery and the piracy of foreign books. His novel 'Bleak House' featured one of the first detectives in literature and through his fiction helped to highlight the worst aspects of 19th century society, such as child labour. Another popular literary figure was Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) who was named Poet Laureate in the 1850's and became a peer in 1884. There were many great authors from this era, including the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley and Mark Twain. British science had Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who laid the foundation of modern evolutionary theory with the idea that life developed through a slow process of natural selection. Although he was not the first to consider this idea, he is the best known. ~ Onto Fashion, Population, Opium Wars and miscellaneous facts ~
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