Various liberalising political reforms took place in the UK, including expanding the electoral franchise. TheGreat Famine caused mass death inIreland early in the period. The British Empire had relatively peaceful relations with the othergreat powers. It participated in various military conflicts mainly against minor powers. The British Empire expanded during this period and was the predominant power in the world.
Victorian society valued a high standard of personal conduct across all sections of society. Theemphasis on morality gave impetus to social reform but also placed restrictions on certain groups' liberty. Prosperity rose during the period, but debilitatingundernutrition persisted. Literacy and childhood education became near universal inGreat Britain for the first time. Whilst some attempts were made to improve living conditions,slum housing and disease remained a severe problem.
The period saw significant scientific and technological development. Britain was advanced in industry and engineering in particular, but somewhat less developed in art and education. Great Britain's population increased rapidly, while Ireland's fell sharply.
In the strictest sense, the Victorian era covers the duration of Victoria's reign asQueen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from her accession on 20 June 1837—after the death of her uncle,William IV—until her death on 22 January 1901, after which she was succeeded by her eldest son,Edward VII. Her reign lasted 63 years and seven months, a longer period than any of her predecessors. The term 'Victorian' was in contemporaneous usage to describe the era.[1] The era can also be understood in a more extensive sense—the 'long Victorian era'—as a period that possessed sensibilities and characteristics distinct from the periods adjacent to it,[note 1] in which case it is sometimes dated to begin before Victoria's accession—typically from the passage of or agitation for (during the 1830s) theReform Act 1832, which introduced a wide-ranging change to theelectoral system ofEngland and Wales.[note 2] Definitions that purport a distinct sensibility or politics to the era have also created scepticism about the worth of the label 'Victorian', though there have also been defences of it.[2]
Michael Sadleir was insistent that "in truth, the Victorian period is three periods, and not one".[3] He distinguished early Victorianism—the socially and politically unsettled period from 1837 to 1850[4]—and late Victorianism (from 1880 onwards), with its new waves ofaestheticism andimperialism,[5] from the Victorian heyday: mid-Victorianism, 1851 to 1879. He saw the latter period as characterised by a distinctive mixture of prosperity, domesticprudery, and complacency[6]—whatG. M. Trevelyan called the 'mid-Victorian decades of quiet politics and roaring prosperity'.[7]
TheReform Act,[note 3] which made various changes to the electoral system including expanding the franchise, had been passed in 1832.[8] The franchise was expanded again by theSecond Reform Act[note 4] in 1867.[9] TheThird Reform Act in 1884 introduced a general principle of one vote per household. All these acts and others simplified the electoral system and reduced corruption. Historian Bruce L Kinzer describes these reforms as putting the United Kingdom on the path towards becoming a democracy. The traditional aristocratic ruling class attempted to maintain as much influence as possible while gradually allowing the middle- and working-classes a role in politics. However, all women and a large minority of men remained outside the system into the early 20th century.[10]
Cities were given greater political autonomy and thelabour movement was legalised.[11] From 1845 to 1852, thePotato Famine caused mass starvation, disease and death in Ireland, sparking large-scale emigration.[12] TheCorn Laws were repealed in response to this.[13] Across the British Empire, reform included rapid expansion, the complete abolition of slavery in the African possessions and the end oftransportation of convicts to Australia. Restrictions on colonial trade were loosened and responsible (i.e. semi-autonomous) government was introduced in some territories.[14][15]
Throughout most of the 19th century Britain was the most powerful country in the world.[16] The period from1815 to 1914, known as thePax Britannica, was a time of relatively peaceful relations between the world'sgreat powers. This is particularly true of Britain's interactions with the others.[17] The only war in which the British Empire fought against another major power was theCrimean War, from 1853 to 1856.[18][14] There were various revolts and violent conflicts within the British Empire,[14][15] and Britain participated in wars against minor powers.[19][14][15] It also took part in the diplomatic struggles of theGreat Game[19] and theScramble for Africa.[14][15]
In 1840, Queen Victoria married her German cousinPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple had nine children, who themselves married into various royal families, and the queen thus became known as the 'grandmother of Europe'.[20][11] In 1861, Albert died.[19] Victoria went into mourning and withdrew from public life for ten years.[11] In 1871, withrepublican sentiments growing in Britain, she began to return to public life. In her later years, her popularity soared as she became a symbol of the British Empire. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901.[20]
The Victorian era saw a rapidly growingmiddle class who became an important cultural influence, to a significant extent replacing thearistocracy as British society's dominant class.[21][22] A distinctive middle-class lifestyle developed that influenced what society valued as a whole.[21][23] Increased importance was placed on the value of the family, and the idea that marriage should be based on romantic love gained popularity.[24][25] A clear separation was established between the home and the workplace, which had often not been the case before.[23] The home was seen as a private environment,[23] where housewives provided their husbands with a respite from the troubles of the outside world.[24] Within this ideal, women were expected to focus on domestic matters and to rely on men as breadwinners.[26][27] Women had limited legal rights in most areas of life, and afeminist movement developed.[27][28] Parental authority was seen as important, but children were givenlegal protections against abuse and neglect for the first time towards the end of the period.[29] Access to education increased rapidly during the 19th century. State-funded schools were established in England and Wales for the first time. Education became compulsory for pre-teenaged children in England, Scotland and Wales. Literacy rates increased rapidly, and had become nearly universal by the end of the century.[30][31] Private education for wealthier children, boys and more gradually girls, became more formalised over the course of the century.[30]
Religion and social issues
The growing middle class and strongevangelical movement placed great emphasis on a respectable and moral code of behaviour. This included features such as charity, personal responsibility, controlled habits,[note 5]child discipline and self-criticism.[22][32] As well as personal improvement, importance was given to social reform.[33]Utilitarianism was another philosophy that saw itself as based on science rather than on morality, but also emphasised social progress.[34][35] An alliance formed between these two ideological strands.[36] The reformers emphasised causes such as improving the conditions of women and children, giving police reform priority over harsh punishment to prevent crime, religious equality, and political reform in order to establish a democracy.[37] The political legacy of the reform movement was to link thenonconformists (part of the evangelical movement) in England and Wales with theLiberal Party.[38] This continued until theFirst World War.[39] ThePresbyterians played a similar role as a religious voice for reform in Scotland.[40]
Religion was politically controversial during this era, with Nonconformists pushing for thedisestablishment of theChurch of England.[41] Nonconformists comprised about half of church attendees in England in 1851,[note 6][42] and gradually the legal discrimination that had been established against them outside of Scotland was removed.[43][44][45][46] Legal restrictions onRoman Catholics were also largelyremoved. The number of Catholics grew in Great Britain due toconversions andimmigration from Ireland.[41] Secularism and doubts about the accuracy of theOld Testament grew among people with higher levels of education.[47] Northern English and Scottish academics tended to be more religiously conservative, whilst agnosticism and even atheism (though its promotion was illegal)[48] gained appeal among academics in the south.[49] Historians refer to a 'Victorian Crisis of Faith', a period when religious views had to readjust to accommodate new scientific knowledge and criticism of the Bible.[50]
Popular culture
A variety of reading materials grew in popularity during the period, including novels,[51] women's magazines,[52] children's literature,[53] and newspapers.[54] Much literature, includingchapbooks, was distributed on the street.[55][56] Music was also very popular, with genres such asfolk music,broadsides,music halls,brass bands,theater music andchoral music having mass appeal. What is now calledclassical music was somewhat undeveloped compared to parts of Europe but did have significant support.[57] Many sports were introduced or popularised during the Victorian era.[58] They became important to male identity.[59] Examples includedcricket,[60]football,[61]rugby,[62]tennis[63] andcycling.[64] The idea of women participating in sport did not fit well with the Victorian view of femininity, but their involvement did increase as the period progressed.[65]
For the middle classes, many leisure activities such astable games could be done in the home whiledomestic holidays to rural locations such as theLake District andScottish Highlands were increasingly practical.[66] The working classes had their own culture separate from that of their richer counterparts, various cheaper forms of entertainment and recreational activities provided byphilanthropy. Trips to resorts such asBlackpool were increasingly popular towards the end of period.[67]Photography became an increasingly accessible and popular part of everyday life.[68] Initially the industrial revolution increased working hours, but over the course of the 19th century a variety of political and economic changes caused them to fall back down to and in some cases below pre-industrial levels, creating more time for leisure.[69]
Before the Industrial Revolution, daily life had changed little for hundreds of years. The 19th century saw rapid technological development with a wide range of new inventions. This led Great Britain to become the foremost industrial and trading nation of the time.[70] Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era (1850–1870) as Britain's 'Golden Years',[71][72] withnational income per person increasing by half. This prosperity was driven by increased industrialisation, especially in textiles and machinery, along with exports to the empire and elsewhere.[73] The positive economic conditions, as well as a fashion among employers for providing welfare services to their workers, led to relative social stability.[73][74] TheChartist movement for working-class men to be given the right to vote, which had been prominent in the early Victorian period, dissipated.[73] Government involvement in the economy was limited.[74] Only in thepost-World War II period, around a century later, did the country experience substantial economic growth again.[72] But whilst industry was well developed, education and the arts were mediocre.[74] Wage rates continued to improve in the later 19th century: real wages (after taking inflation into account) were 65 per cent higher in 1901 compared to 1871. Much of the money was saved, as the number of depositors in savings banks rose from 430,000 in 1831 to 5.2 million in 1887, and their deposits from £14 million to over £90 million.[75]
Child labour
This illustration of a childdrawer (a type ofhurrier) pulling a coal tub was originally published in the Children's Employment Commission (Mines) 1842 report.
Children had always played a role in economic life butexploitation of their labour became especially intense during the Victorian era. Children were put to work in a wide range of occupations, but particularly associated with this period are factories. Employing children had advantages, as they were cheap, had limited ability to resist harsh working conditions, and could enter spaces too small for adults. Some accounts exist of happy upbringings involving child labour, but conditions were generally poor. Pay was low, punishments severe, work was dangerous and disrupted children's development (often leaving them too tired to play even in their free time). Early labour could do lifelong harm; even in the 1960s and '70s, the elderly people of industrial towns were noted for their often unusually short stature, deformed physiques, and diseases associated with unhealthy working conditions.[76] Reformers wanted the children in school; in 1840 only about 20 per cent of the children in London had any schooling.[77] By the 1850s, around half of the children in England and Wales were in school (not includingSunday school).[78] From the 1833 Factory Act onwards, attempts were made to get child labourers into part time education, though this was often difficult to achieve.[79] Only in the 1870s and 1880s did children begin to be compelled into school.[78] Work continued to inhibit children's schooling into the early 20th century.[76]
19th-century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by rapid urbanisation stimulated by the Industrial Revolution.[80] In the1901 census, more than three out of every four people were classified as living in an urban area, compared to one in five a century earlier.[81] Historian Richard A. Soloway wrote that "Great Britain had become the most urbanized country in the West."[82] The rapid growth in the urban population included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centres such asEdinburgh and London.[81][83] Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants.[84] Overcrowding was a major problem with seven or eight people frequently sleeping in a single room. Until at least the 1880s, sanitation was inadequate in areas such as water supply and disposal of sewage. This all had a negative effect on health, especially that of the impoverished young. For instance, of the babies born inLiverpool in 1851, only 45 per cent survived to age 20.[85] Conditions were particularly bad in London, where the population rose sharply and poorly maintained, overcrowded dwellings became slum housing.Kellow Chesney wrote of the situation:[86]
Hideous slums, some of them acres wide, some no more than crannies of obscure misery, make up a substantial part of the metropolis... In big, once handsome houses, thirty or more people of all ages may inhabit a single room
Hunger and poor diet was a common aspect of life across the UK in the Victorian period, especially in the 1840s, but the mass starvation seen in theGreat Famine in Ireland was unique.[87][85] Levels of poverty fell significantly during the 19th century from as much as two thirds of the population in 1800 to less than a third by 1901. However, 1890s studies suggested that almost 10% of the urban population lived in a state of desperation lacking the food necessary to maintain basic physical functions. Attitudes towards the poor were often unsympathetic and they were frequently blamed for their situation. In that spirit, thePoor Law Amendment Act 1834 had been deliberately designed to punish them and would remain the basis for welfare provision into the 20th century. While many people were prone to vices, not least alcoholism, historian Bernard A. Cook argues that the main reason for 19th century poverty was that typical wages for much of the population were simply too low. Barely enough to provide a subsistence living in good times, let alone save up for bad.[85]
Improvements were made over time to housing along with the management of sewage and water eventually giving the UK the most advanced system of public health protection anywhere in the world.[88] The quality and safety of household lighting improved over the period withoil lamps becoming the norm in the early 1860s,gas lighting in the 1890s andelectric lights beginning to appear in the homes of the richest by the end of the period.[89] Medicine advanced rapidly during the 19th century andgerm theory was developed for the first time. Doctors became more specialised and the number of hospitals grew.[88] The overall number of deaths fell by about 20%. The life expectancy of women increased from around 42 to 55 and 40 to 56 for men.[note 7][82] In spite of this, themortality rate fell only marginally, from 20.8 per thousand in 1850 to 18.2 by the end of the century. Urbanisation aided the spread of diseases and squalid living conditions in many places exacerbated the problem.[88] The population of England, Scotland and Wales grew rapidly during the 19th century.[90] Various factors are considered contributary to this, including a risingfertility rate (though it was falling by the end of the period),[82] the lack of a catastrophic pandemic or famine in the island of Great Britain during the 19th century for the first time in history,[91] improved nutrition,[91] and a lower overall mortality rate.[91] Ireland's population shrank significantly, mostly due to emigration and the Great Famine.[92]
The professionalisation of scientific study began in parts of Europe following theFrench Revolution but was slow to reach Britain.William Whewell coined the term 'scientist' in 1833 to refer to those who studied what was generally then known as natural philosophy, but it took a while to catch on. Having been previously dominated by amateurs with a separate income, theRoyal Society admitted only professionals from 1847 onwards.[95] The British biologistThomas Henry Huxley indicated in 1852 that it remained difficult to earn a living as a scientist alone.[49] Scientific knowledge and debates such as that aboutCharles Darwin'sOn the Origin of Species (1859), which sought to explain biological evolution by natural selection, gained a high profile in the public consciousness. Simplified (and at times inaccurate)popular science was increasingly distributed through a variety of publications which caused tension with the professionals.[95] There were significant advances in various fields of research, includingstatistics,[96]elasticity,[97]refrigeration,[98]natural history,[49]electromagnetism,[99] andlogic.[100]
Industry
A railway crew (1873)
Known as the 'workshop of the world', Britain was uniquely advanced in technology in the mid-19th century.[101] Engineering, having developed into a profession in the 18th century, gained new profile and prestige in this period.[102] The Victorian era saw methods of communication and transportation develop significantly. In 1837,William Fothergill Cooke andCharles Wheatstone invented the firsttelegraph system. This system, which used electrical currents to transmit coded messages, quickly spread across Britain, appearing in every town and post office. A worldwide network developed towards the end of the century. In 1876,an American patented thetelephone. A little over a decade later, 26,000 telephones were in service in Britain. Multiple switchboards were installed in every major town and city.[70]Guglielmo Marconi developed early radio broadcasting at the end of the period.[103] The railways were important economically in the Victorian era, allowing goods, raw materials, and people to be moved around, stimulating trade and industry. They were also a major employer and industry in their own right.[104]
If we lift our skirts they level their eye-glasses at our ankles (1854), cartoon suggesting that men saw women lifting their dresses as a titillating opportunity to see some of their body shape.
Expected standards of personal conduct changed in around the first half of the 19th century, with good manners and self-restraint becoming much more common.[105] Historians have suggested various contributing factors, such as Britain'smajor conflicts with France during the early 19th century, meaning that the distracting temptations of sinful behaviour had to be avoided in order to focus on the war effort, and the evangelical movement's push for moral improvement.[106] There is evidence that the expected standards of moral behaviour were reflected in action as well as rhetoric across all classes of society.[107][108] For instance, an analysis suggested that less than 5% of working class couples cohabited before marriage.[108]
HistorianHarold Perkin argued that the change in moral standards led by the middle of the 19th century to 'diminished cruelty to animals, criminals, lunatics, and children (in that order)'.[105] Legal restrictions were placed on cruelty to animals.[109][110][111] Restrictions were placed on the working hours of child labourers in the 1830s and 1840s.[112][113] Further interventions took place throughout the century to increase the level of child protection.[114] Use of thedeath penalty also decreased.[105] Crime rates fell significantly in the second half of the 19th century. SociologistChristie Davies linked this change to attempts to morally educate the population, especially atSunday schools.[115]
Sexual behaviour
Contrary to popular belief, Victorian society understood that both men and women enjoyedcopulation.[116] Chastity was expected of women, whilst attitudes to male sexual behaviour were more relaxed.[117] The development of police forces led to a rise in prosecutions for illegalsodomy in the middle of the 19th century.[118] Male sexuality became a favourite subject of medical researchers' study.[119] For the first time, all male homosexual acts were outlawed.[120] Concern about sexual exploitation of adolescent girls increased during the period, especially following thewhite slavery scandal, which contributed to the increasing of the age of consentfrom 13 to 16.[121]
At a time when job options for women were limited and generally low-paying, some women, particularly those without familial support, took to prostitution to support themselves. Attitudes in public life and among the general population to prostitution varied. Evidence about prostitutes' situation also varies. One contemporary study argues that the trade was a short-term stepping stone to a different lifestyle for many women, while another, more recent study argues they were subject to physical abuse, financial exploitation, state persecution, and difficult working conditions. Due to worries aboutvenereal disease, especially among soldiers, women suspected of prostitution were for a period between the 1860s and 1880s subject to spot compulsory examinations forsexually transmitted infections, and detainment if they were found to be infected. This caused a great deal of resentment among women in general due to the principle underlying the checks, that women had to be controlled in order to be safe for sexual use by men, and the checks were opposed by some of the earliest feminist campaigning.[121]
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![Buildings originally built as Llanfyllin workhouse, a state-funded home for the destitute which operated from 1838 to 1930.[93][94]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLlanfyllin_Workhouse_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3098623.jpg)
