The Victorian Age (1830-1901)

Victoria became queen at the age of 18; she was graceful and self-assured.

Her reign was the longest in British history.

The Victorian Age

Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842

1. Queen Victoria

The Victorian Age

1. Queen Victoria In 1840 she married a

German prince, Albert of Saxe-Coburg.

They had nine children and their modest family life provided a model of respectability.

During this time Britain changed dramatically.

Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842

2. The growth of the British Empire

• England grew to become the greatest nation on earth “The sun never sets on England”.

The Victorian Age

British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.

2. The growth of the British Empire

• British Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India.

The Victorian Age

British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.

2. The growth of the British Empire

• Great Britain imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world.

The Victorian Age

British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.

2. The growth of the British Empire

• By the mid-1800s, Great Britain 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.

The Victorian Age

Only Connect ... New Directions

British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.

2. The growth of the British Empire

• Because of England’s success, the British felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world.

The Victorian Age

British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.

• 1832: The First Reform Act granted the vote to almost all male members of middle-class.

• 1833: The Factory Act regulated child labour in factories.

• 1834: Poor Law Amendment established a system of workhouses for poor people.

3. An age of social and political reforms

The Victorian Age

3. An age of social and political reforms

The Victorian Age

• 1867: The Second Reform Act gave the vote to skilled working men.

• 1871: Trade Union Act legalised trades unions.

• 1884: The Third Reform Act granted the right to vote to all male householders.

• Women’s suffrage did not happen until 1918.

The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869)

4. The woman’s question

The Victorian Age

Suffragettes

Industrial revolution: factory system emerged; for the first time in Britain’s history there were more people who lived in cities than in the countryside.

Technological advances: introduction of steam hammers and locomotives; building of a network of railways.

Workers in a Tobacco Factory

5. Positive aspects of the age

The Victorian Age

5. Positive aspects of the age

The Victorian Age

Economical progress: Britain became the greatest economical power in the world; in 1901 the Usa became the leader, but Britain remained the first in manufacturing.

Workers in a Tobacco Factory

Crystal Palace was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851; it was destroyed by fire in 1936.

6. Crystal Palace

The Victorian Age

The Crystal Palace

6. Crystal Palace

The Victorian Age

It was made of iron and glass, exhibited hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools, power looms, power reapers and steamboat engines.

The Crystal Palace

It had a political purpose it showed British economic supremacy in the world.

6. Crystal Palace

The Victorian Age

The Crystal Palace

Pollution in towns due to factory activity.

London in 1872Homeless Boys (1880)

7. Negative aspects of the age

The Victorian Age

7. Negative aspects of the age

The Victorian Age

Lack of hygienic conditions: houses were overcrowded, most people lived in miserable conditions; poor houses shared water supplies.

London in 1872Homeless Boys (1880)

• Epidemics, like cholera, thyphoid, caused a high mortality in towns. They came to a peak in the Great Stink of 1858.

• This expression was used to describe the terrible smell in London, coming from the Thames.

• The “Miasmas”, exhalations from decaying matter, poisoned the air.

8. The “Great Stink”

Caricature appearing on the magazine «Punch» in 1858

The Victorian Age

• The Victorians were great moralisers they supported: personal duty, hard work, decorum, respectability, chastity.

9. The Victorian compromise

The Victorian Age

W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, 1853-4, London, Tate Britain.

• ‘Victorian’, synonym for prude, stood for extreme repression; even furniture legs had to be concealed under heavy cloth not to be “suggestive”.

• New ideas were discussed & debated by a large part of society.

9. The Victorian compromise

The Victorian Age

W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, 1853-4, London, Tate Britain.

• The middle-class was obsessed with gentility, respectability, decorum.

• Respectability distinguished the middle from the lower class.

9. The Victorian compromise

The Victorian Age

John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.

Decorum meant:

a.Victorian private lives were

dominated by an authoritarian

father.

b.Women were subject to male

authority; they were expected to

marry and make home a “refuge”

for their husbands.

9. The Victorian compromise

The Victorian Age

John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.

John Stuart Mill and his ideas based on Bentham’s

Utilitarianism.

10. Key thinkers

The Victorian Age

John Stuart Mill

Karl Marx and his studies about the harm caused by industrialism in man’s life.

10. Key thinkers

The Victorian Age

Karl Marx

Charles Darwin and the theory of natural

selection.

10. Key thinkers

The Victorian Age

Charles Darwin

11. The rise of the novel

• There was a communion of interests and opinions

between the writers and their readers.

• The Victorians were avid consumers of literature. They

borrowed books from circulating libraries and read

various periodicals.

The Victorian Age

11. The rise of the novel

• Novels made their first appearance in instalments on

the pages of periodicals.

• The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a

comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier between

«right» and «wrong», light and darkness.

The Victorian Age

11. The rise of the novel

• The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists was

the town.

• Victorian writers concentrated on the creation of

characters and achieved a deeper analysis of their

inner life.

The Victorian Age

12. Poetry

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: the most popular

Victorian poet. He wrote narrative poems.

The Victorian Age

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, by George Frederic Watts (died 1904), given to the National Portrait Gallery,

London in 1895.

12. Poetry

Robert Browning: he raised the dramatic

monologue to new heights making it a vehicle for a

deep psychological study.

The Victorian Age

Robert Browning

12. Poetry

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: she wrote love sonnets valued

for their lyric beauty.

The Victorian Age

Elizabeth Barrett Browning