The Victorian Age, 1832-1901: Overview of Social and Cultural Progress

Victorian Period Keywords

Keywords of the Victorian period are > progress, expansion, mobility, evolution of industrial society, town, cities and increase of population, optimistic embrace of progress.

Victorian Age Overview

1819: Queen Victoria born; 1830: introduction of passenger railways; 1831: The Reform Bill was defeated in the house of commons A revised bill was submitted to and passed by the house of commons in october of 1831; 1832: - The year that Reform Act become a law -> The Great Reform Act focus on providing parliamentary representation to industrial centres such as Manchester and Leeds and extending the right to vote to a property-owning men; The Penny Magazine was first distributed -> mass circulation publication; - 1833: Factory Reform Act; 1837: Victoria succeeds to the throne, Smallpox epidemic and in the same year Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist; 1840: Victoria marries Albert and The penny post established (an affordable mail service); 1843: Theatre Regulation Act and C. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol 1854: Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times 1859: Darwin's On the Origin of Species 1862: Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market 1867: Second Reform Act was approved 1869: Suez Canal opened 1884: Third Reform Act was approved 1890: Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray 1895: Oscar Wilde arrested and imprisoned for homosexuality 1901: Death of Queen Victoria

Historical Overview

In 1832 the First Reform Act was passed, event which marks the beginning of the Victorian Age. The Great Reform Act focused on providing parliamentary representation to industrial centres and extending the right to vote to a wider range of property-owning men. During the times railway lines, magazines, and mail spread through the country, and fostered a new awareness of interconnectedness between regions, populations, and classes, so did diseases: during this time, we see different outbreaks of Cholera, the first in 1831.

Queen Victoria's Reign

Queen Victoria -> an 18-year-old woman who ascended the throne in 1837 as Queen of England, she represented domestic virtue and imperial power, and was perceived as a refreshing change from her uncles and their kingdoms full of scandals, she was against the right of women to vote, but she supported many initiatives designed to better the lives and educational opportunities of the labouring class.Although the Rench Revolution had been long over when the Victorian era began, it held an influence not to be underestimated (in this period we see calls for the reform of the electoral system).

Victorian Era Reform Acts

The Victorian Era was characterised by many reform acts, some of which are:

• The New Poor Law, which refers to the poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, dramatically changed the welfare system and public assistance to those who needed it (rehabilitation of the able-bodied, rise of number of workhouses);
• Factory Reform Act which, between other things, restricted the legal number of weekly hours children could work;
• Corn Laws, 1846, which taxed imported grain to protect the income of British landowners;
• Public Health Act, 1848, which created a Central Board of Health with the power to supervise street cleaning, waste removal, and responsibility for the water supply (need to improve sanitary conditions because of the four major epidemics of cholera);
• Education Act, 1870, which provided a national system of elementary education.

Role of Women in the Victorian Period

An important role in the period was played by women, who were almost never acknowledged- women were disadvantaged economically, legally, politically and in terms of access to education.

• Florence Nightingale "The lady with the lamp" who cared for britain's soldiers
• Mary Seacole was free-black jamaican woman that despite discrimination cared for british soldiers
• Clementina Black was a labour reformer
• Helen Taylor was a advocate of suffrage for women
• Emily Faithfull was the founder of the Victorian press
• Edith Simcox was a journalist who wrote about women
• Emily Davies was the founder of the first college for women

Religion

Had a key role, the Church supported organisation as the society for the promotion of christian knowledge. Lord Ashley was a vocal critic of slavery and worked to improve conditions of factory work to provide education for children. Evangelicalism grew in religious groups that disagreed with mainstream churches. Their movement started important charitable and social reforms. BroadChurch valued an open minded intellectual inquiry such as biblical criticism. Biblical scholarships approached the old and new testaments as products of human endeavour and aspiration.

Science, Technology and Innovation

Science was one of the main objects of Victorian discussions: both amateurs and professionals were engaged in scientific discovery. By the end of the century, science had become one of the major courses in Britain's major universities. The spread of interest in science was caused by the possibility to access cheaper printed materials, the recognition of science as a profession, and greater government.support for scientific discovery and a strong relationship between industries and sciences.

Charles Darwin's Influence

Charles Darwin's On the origin of species by means of natural selection represents a landmark in the history of science, but many of its ideas were in circulation before its publication in 1859. Robert Chambers plotted the evolution of earth from clouds of interstellar gas through a series of geologic ages. Thomas Henry Huxley major contributions to ethnology and physiology and that all living beings' diversities are bound together by a physical unity. Herbert Spencer drew clear demarcation between the religious embrace of mystery and scientific admission of what cannot be known.

Technological Innovations and Medical Advancements

Scientific discoveries of various sorts were behind the many technological innovations that occurred throughout the period. The famous 'Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations' displayed thousands of exhibits, many of them representing Britain and its colonies (the 'workshop of the world'), when it opened in 1851. Scientific research also facilitated the development of important forms of medical technology, such as the stethoscope, the microscope, and anaesthesia. Louis Pasteur's study of germ theory in the mid-century likewise proved enormously influential. Both men and women took up scientific hobbies (collecting animals and plants, sketching plants and animals, joining societies of like-minded individuals).

Technologies of Travel, Commerce and the British Empire

All borders were eliminated as thousands of miles or railway lines were opened and telecommunications became better to connect people from all countries. 1837: Creation of the Great Western Railway by Brunel; 1863: creation of the underground rail travel Travel services gave men and women unparalleled opportunities; 1870: creation of the telegraph 1869: Suez Canal opened and travellers could journey from Britain to Asia in just a few weeks.

British Imperialism and Colonialism

India was one of the main attractions of the British; in the 1850s "the Indian Mutiny", known in India as the First War for Independence, consisted of a group of soldiers who disobeyed commands from the British because they went against their religious morals. British soldiers were taken aback but quickly regained control of the cities, using equal force than what had been used against them. The British narrative that emerged out of the conflict helped to shape beliefs and perceptions about colonialism, gender, and race in both Britain and India. Africa was another major interest point for colonization and missionary activity; Britain actively competed with Belgium, France, and Germany for the control of territories and goods in Africa.

Print Technology and the Press

During the Victorian Period we witnessed an increase in numbers in published books, periodicals, and newspapers, thanks to the new printing technology, which enables the production and selling of products at a lower price, with the consequence of a larger range of population buying reading materials. The term "bestseller" came into being late in the century. Urban centres, increasingly well served by railways, offered readership markets for publishers, bookshops, libraries, and newsagents. Cheap prints of popular fiction, history and biography made reading material even more accessible. A new publishing format is the one of installment: books published in chapters in newspapers. Papers and magazines were often filled with advertisements, from medical cures, to soaps, books, writing utensils, baby equipment, technological inventions ...

Literary Overview

Writers throughout Victoria's reign continued to be influenced by the work of romantic era authors; their subjects, preoccupation with liberty, individualism, subjectivity, the relationship between the man and the natural world, provided inspiration for the generations that succeeded them. Shakespeare too was an enormous influence on Victorian writers: there were hundreds of editions, anthologies and productions of his work, many authors were indebted to Shakespearean modes of characterisation and use of language; his image and his language also found their way onto everyday household objects. One of the most successful works of the time are Dicken's Pickwick Papers, a sequence of loosely related adventures written for serialization in a periodical. One of the main reasons why the papers gained so much attention is the format they were published in: by publishing a chapter in periodicals, the audience had time to make up speculations and stir them among the community, which led to ever more people to engage with the work. A handful of firms dominated the literary market, monopolising the types of literature in circulation. Some smaller firms emerged with high-brow speciality interests, aimed at a particular public. The Victorian Era is considered the golden age for children's literature (Alice in Wonderland, The Princess and the Goblin, The Water-Babies). The popularity of children's books was shaped by technologies and illustrations. Books were cheaper, but still not accessible from the poorer part of the population, so the act of borrowing and lending books became a trend.

The Victorian Novel

If poetry was the main genre of literature during the Romantic period, the Victorian era is dominated by Novels. Novelists talked about complex topics and problems such as socio-economic problems of urban life like prostitution, drug addiction, starvation, slum conditions and crime.