THE VICTORIAN ERA 1837 - 1901. QUEEN VICTORIA She had the longest reign in British history Became...
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Transcript of THE VICTORIAN ERA 1837 - 1901. QUEEN VICTORIA She had the longest reign in British history Became...
THE VICTORIAN ERA
1837 - 1901
QUEEN VICTORIA
She had the longest reign in British history
Became queen at the age of 18; she was graceful and self-
assured. She also had a gift for drawing and painting
Throughout her reign, she maintained a sense of dignity and
decorum that restored the average person’s high opinion of
the monarchy after a series of horrible, ineffective leaders
1840-Victoria married a German prince, Albert, who became not
king, but Prince-consortAfter he died in 1861, she sank
into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of
her life
THE VICTORIAN ERA
England became wealthiest nation
British Empire expansion • “The sun never sets on England.”• Queen-empress over 200 million people living
outside Great Britain• India, North America, South Pacific, etc.
THE GROWTH OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
England grew to become the greatest nation on
earth
Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and
India
England built a very large navy and merchant fleet
(for trade and colonization).
THE GROWTH OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world.By the mid-1800s, England 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.Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Factory systems emerged
The shift in the English economy moved away from
agriculture and toward the production of
manufactured goods
Great Exhibition of 1851-Prince Albert-housed in the
Crystal Palace (made of glass and iron) exhibited
hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools, power
looms, power reapers, and steamboat engines.
THE VICTORIAN ERA
Industrial Revolution - booms & depressions Created new towns, goods, wealth, jobs for people climbing through middle classSocial & economic changes expressed in gradual political reforms
History of the British Empire
SOCIAL & POLITICAL REFORM
1832-First Reform Act-extended the vote to most middle-
class men
1833-Britain abolished slavery/Factory Act-regulated
child labor in factories
1834-Poor Law-Amendment applied a system of
workhouses for poor people
1871-Trade Union Act-made it legal for laborers to
organize to protect their rights
SOCIAL & POLITICAL REFORM
Women for suffrage – did not succeed until 1918 (30 & over)
Universal adult suffrage 1928 extended vote to women at age 21Factory Acts – limited child & women labor
State supported schools est. in 1870; compulsory in 1880; free in 1891
Literacy rate increased from 40% to 90% from 1840-1900.
VICTORIAN SOCIETY
What was the expectation?
How did they live?
SOCIETY
Decorum – powerful ideas about authority• Victorian private lives – autocratic father figure• Women – subject to male authority• Middle-class women expected to marry & make home a “refuge”
for husband• Women had few occupations open to them• Unmarried women often portrayed by comedy by male writers
• Vile Victorians Fashion• Vile Victorians• Victorian Slang
SOCIAL CLASS
Working “Lower” Class- men and women perform daily
labor and get paid dail or weekly wages for their work.
Middle Class – Men performed mental or “clean” work,
paid monthly or annually.
Upper Class – Did not work, income came from inherited
land and investments.
CHILDREN
The children in poor families had to work from getting up in the
morning to going to sleep in the night. They worked in caves, coal
mines and as chimney sweepers and many more hard jobs, at
what would now be two pence a day!! And that goes to their
parents to pay for the family. But most children didn’t live long
because there was no medicines or equipment to help with
diseases. Children had to go to the workhouse, it wasn’t nice
there at all it was cold, wet and smelt badly. Victorian children
didn’t have good clothes. Vile Victorians Chile Labor
SCHOOL
Many children in early Victorian times never went to school at all and more than
half of them grew up unable to read or write.
Children from rich families were luckier than poor children. Nannies looked after
them, and they had toys and books. A governess would get paid to teach the children
of rich families at home.
Then, when the boys were old enough, they were sent away to a public school such
as Eton or Rugby.
The daughters were kept at home and taught singing, piano playing and sewing.
Victorian School Punishments
GentlemenTutored at home until
they go to the University.
Subjects• Literature,
Languages of Roman & Greek. Mathematics, Philosophy, and Law
EDUCATION
LadiesAlmost entirely at home.
Boarding schools… No
Universities.
Subjects• French, Art, Music,
embroidery, use of globes, sewing and accounting.
Slowly, things changed for poorer children, by the
end of the Victorian age all children under 12 had to
go to school. Now everybody could learn how to read
and write, and how to count properly. The teachers
in schools had a cane used to punish children by
hitting them on the hand. They didn’t write on paper
but on slates.
WORKHOUSE. The word alone was calculated to send
a shudder down the spine of any honest 19th century
worker. It signified the end of the line, the final indignity.
It said:
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
The mental picture of the gaunt, forbidding workhouse
is one of the abiding impressions of Victorian England..
Just what was the workhouse?
It was a public institution which housed and fed people
who were unable to support themselves. If these people
were otherwise fit, they were put to work. But these simple
facts hide a tale of horror and despair.
Until the 16th century, there were no state provision for
the welfare of the poor. What relief there was, was provided
by the church, but that soon came to an end as well.
INTERESTING FACTS
1848: Women begin attending University of London1850: Life Insurance introduced1851: Gold discovered1860: Florence Nightingale founds school for nurses1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone1877: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph1886: Wimbledon opens1888: Jack the Ripper stalks London’s East End1901: Queen Victoria dies