The Victorian Age (1830-1901) The Victorian Age Sambourne House, London. Only connect ... New Directions

1837 Queen Victoria comes to the throne 1842 Opening of the Great Western Railway 1847 Publication of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 1853-56 The Crimean War 1838 People’s Charter calls for social reforms 1840 Marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert 1843 Charles Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol 1851 The Great Exhibition opens at Crystal Palace 1861 Prince Albert dies; Civil War begins in America Performer - Culture&Literature

The young life of Victoria 20 June 1837 King William the IV died: the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor knelt to her and told her that she was Queen. “ I shall ever remember this day as the proudest of my life” Performer - Culture&Literature

The Victorian Age The Victorian Age Queen Victoria (1818 -1901) Victoria became queen at the age of 18 (1837); she was graceful and self-assured. Her reign was the longest in British history (64 years). Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842 (24 years old) Only connect ... New Directions

Victoria and Albert Victoria and Albert married in February 1840. They were extremely devoted and had nine children. When Victoria became so visibly pregnant that she could not appear in official ceremonies, Albert took on her functions. He was her main advisor. In memory of her beloved husband she had the Albert Memorial (1876) built in London. Albert supported reform but in December 1861 he died suddenly at the age of 42.

Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842 The Victorian Age 1. Queen Victoria She perfectly embodied the 19th century qualities of middle-class femminity and domesticity with her life centred on the family: 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

Schematic View of the Victorian Age The Victorian age may be divided into three periods and two literary phases 1st period 1832-1850: general unrest conquests for social improvements and reforms in many fields (education, sanitation, factory regulation, franchise) Only Connect ... New Directions

Schematic View of the Victorian Age 2nd period 1851-1870: Years of prosperity (peace and progress) 1851: the year of the Great Exhibition held by Albert to show the scientific progress common political guide made by liberals and conservatives

Schematic View of the Victorian Age 3rd period 1870-1901: colonial expansion Why the colonisation? To solve the problem of the surplus of population at home To consolidate overseas markets

1st Period Factors of Disruptions: social unrest (free trade /liberalism: no state intervention) Exploitation of workers, children, women The spread of Socialism :Chartism Militant Trade Unionism Feminism Irish nationalism Crimean War (1854) Only Connect ... New Directions

Housed in the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, 1851 The Great Exhibition Housed in the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, 1851 It had a political purpose it showed British economic supremacy in the world. Performer - Culture&Literature

The Victorian Age The Victorian Age Crystal Palace An avant-garde prefabricated structure made of iron and glass, housed in Hyde Park (later destroyed by a fire) It exhibited goods from all the different countries of the Empire (even a stuffed elephant) and technological inventions: hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools, power looms, power reapers and steamboat engines. The Crystal Palace Only connect ... New Directions

The Great Exhibition Its grandeur does not consist in one thing, but in the unique assemblage of all things. Whatever human industry has created you find there … … It may be called a bazaar or a fair… It seems as if only magic could have gathered this mass of wealth from all the ends of the earth … … as if none but supernatural hands could have arranged this, with such a blaze and contrast of colours and marvellous power of effect. (Charlotte Brontë)

Railways In 1804 Richard Trevithick opened up the possibility of making a steam engine move itself. In 1825 Stephenson created a proper steam locomotive pulling wagons for the first time: he is considered the father of the railways. ‘Railway Mania’: in 1845, 240 acts were passed. This led to the construction of 4600 miles of track. Stephenson’s statue The Royal Albert Bridge, 1856 St. Pancras’ station

5. Victorian London Victorians often revived previous styles. Classical forms were preferred for civic and public buildings, like government offices, town halls. Gothic ones for ecclesiastical and domestic works After 1855 the Gothic revival prevailed over the classical faction. The Victoria and Albert Museum The British Museum Buckingham Palace

An area of 4 million people The British Empire During the reign of Queen Victoria, Great Britain ruled over a wide and powerful empire. An area of 4 million people more than 400 million squares miles. British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection

The growth of the British Empire England grew to become the greatest nation on the earth  “The sun never sets” in 24 hours on British soil (one fifth of the world’s territory was governed by the British)

Australia and New Zeland The British Empire 1887 Golden Jubilee 1897 Diamond Jubilee Blue countries already belonged to the UK Orange new conquered lands Boer war 1886 Hong-Kong 1841 Egypt 1882 Australia and New Zeland 1902 1877 Empress of India 1884 Sudan 1899 Burma

The British Empire After the 1857 Indian Mutiny India came under direct rule by Britain Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India in 1877.

The British also occupied The British Empire The British also occupied Australia and New Zealand parts of China – including Hong Kong in 1841 Burma in 1886 Egypt in 1882 Sudan in 1884 South Africa in 1902, after the Boer War

The British Empire The Victorians believed that the ‘races’ of the world were divided by physical and intellectual differences; some were destined to be led by others; it was an obligation imposed by God on the British to impose their superior way of life, their institutions, law and politics on native peoples.

Rudyard Kipling: The White Man’s Burden A poem written in 1899 to give advice to the United States on the occasion of the annexation of the Philippines It contains the author’s famous phrase, ‘the white man’s burden’ The bard of the English Empire and came to symbolise the belief in the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. Performer - Culture&Literature

GENERALLY: A stable political period Queen Victoria always reigned constitutionally, respecting the decisions of parliament The queen reigned, representing the country, with the stabilizing function of a mediator above party politics She was beloved by her people, a model of respectability, hard word and sense of duty Parliament actually ruled the country Only Connect ... New Directions

A stable political period The Victorian Age A stable political period Two main parties The liberals (ex whigs) and the Conservatives (ex tories) alternated in power The liberals (Gladstone) were more interested in domestic policy and reforms (also home rule for Ireland, even if Parliament rejected this bill for three times) The Conservatives (Disraeli) were more interested in foreign policy and colonial expansion (the most necessary thing for the nation’s greatness) But both parties carried out reforms to better the situation of the country Gladstone= Ireland 1869 = equality of all religions 1870 = facilitation of peasant ownership of land to avoid agrarian agitation 1870= Education Act (need of elementary education) 1880 =Compulsory Elementary Education Act 1871= Trade Unions 1872 = Secret Ballot 1884= Third Reform Bill Only Connect ... New Directions Only connect ... New Directions

An age of social and political reforms The Victorian Age An age of social and political reforms After the 1st Reform Bill (1832) workers still not represented in parliament – Bitterly disappointed, they turned to CHARTISM (1838-48) People’s Charter mainly for: universal male suffrage secret ballot payment for MPs. Abolition of property qualification to become MP Too advanced ideas at this time → THE MOVEMENT FAILED. Only result = Repeal of Corn laws (which imposed high tariffs on imported grain and resulted in a high cost of bread) Corn laws= they had defended the priviledge of the landed gentry. High price for bread. Only Connect ... New Directions Only connect ... New Directions

A stable political period An age of SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS The Victorian Age A stable political period An age of SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 1832: The First Reform Act granted the vote to almost all male members of the middle-class (owners of a certain amount of property) 1833: The Factory Act regulated child labour in factories. (children = no more than 8 hours a day ; people under 18 = not more than 11/12 hours a day) 1834: Poor Law Amendment established a system of workhouses for poor people. 1847: Ten Hours’ Act (not more than10 hours for everybody)

3. An age of social and political reforms TheVictorian Age 3. An age of social and political reforms 1867: The Second Reform Act gave the vote to all working men in the towns (miners and agricultural workers were excluded) 1870 : Elementary Act ( necessity of state primary education) 1880 : Compulsory Elementary Education Act 1871: Trade Union Act legalised trades unions (they helped workers, still not represented in parliament. 1875: Public Heath Act to provide sanitation and clean water (to limit epidemics of cholera and typhoid) 1884: The Third Reform Act granted the right to vote to all male workers (+ secret ballot, payment of MP’s)

The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869) The Victorian Age The Victorian Age 4. The woman’s question 1869 = Elizabeth Stanton  The National Women’s Suffrage Movement (Suffragette movement) = an organization set up by the women who were fighting to get the right to vote (quite violent, alienating the sympathy of many) Women’s suffrage did not happen until 1918. Suffragettes The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869) Only connect ... New Directions

The Victorian Age Socialist movements At the end of the century the idea of socialism spread out among radical intellectuals who founded the FABIAN SOCIETY (1884) (from Fabius Maximus the temporizer = gradual reforms, not revolution, people were to be persuaded) (G.B.Shaw = the theatre of ideas) 1906 = a socialist branch of the liberal party became the LABOUR PARTY (fighting for the workers’ rights) Only connect ... New Directions

3. Charles Darwin and evolution Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Charles Darwin His theory of natural selection discarded the version of creation given by the Bible, it seemed to show that the strongest survived and the weakest deserved to be defeated. Stress on the godless element of chance involved in evolutionary variation. Performer - Culture&Literature

3. Charles Darwin and evolution 1871: The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Theory of evolution all living creatures have taken their forms through a slow process of change and adaptation in a struggle for survival; favourable physical conditions determine the survival of a species; unfavourable ones determine its extinction; man evolved, like any other animal, from less highly organised forms, namely from a monkey. Performer - Culture&Literature

Positive aspects of the age The Victorian Age The Victorian Age Positive aspects of the age YEARS OF PROSPERITY (1848-1870) THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD Economical progress: Free Trade world market dominated by British goods/products (wollens from Yorkshire, cotton from Lancashire, metal products (iron and steel) from Sheffield, Birmingham); Banking/insurance/shipping (London) In 1901 the Usa became the leader, but Britain remained the first in manufacturing. Britain’s economy challenged by the the cheaper wheat from the American praires and the importation of refrigerated meat from Argentina. Workers in a Tobacco Factory Only Connec ... New Directions Only connect ... New Directions

Positive aspects of the age The Victorian Age The Victorian Age Positive aspects of the age 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 locomotives; building of a network of railways (goods easily transported, people travelled for work and leisure; the middle classes started living in the suburbs; newspapers easily distributed; The building of London underground began in 1854; steel steam ships more quickly transported goods overseas Workers in a Tobacco Factory Only Connect ... New Directions Only connect ... New Directions

Negative aspects of the age: The Victorian Age Negative aspects of the age: High cost in human terms Pollution in towns due to factory activity. Homeless Boys (1880) London in 1872

Negative aspects of the age The Victorian Age Negative aspects of the age Slums, Lack of hygienic conditions: houses were overcrowded (whole families in ONE room), most people lived in miserable conditions; poor houses shared water supplies. Ceaseless Work – 12 hors a day, 6 days a week Working children - Brutal exploitation: thousands employed in textile factories, in mines as trappers (4/5 year-olds) or as beast of burden (older children) , as chimney sweepers (about 5 years old, often sold by their parents, the smaller the better, to clean the soot – They died of illness or stuck inside, smothered by the soot or the smoke. NB: a typical English tradition, not used in other countries where man operated ropes or machines were used) Workhouses – the very poor (hard job, little food, a place to sleep)