Victorian age

The life and thoughts of the Victorians

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Contents
Articles
Victorian era 1
Victorian morality 12
Victorian literature 16

References
Article Sources and Contributors 21
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 22

Article Licenses
License 23
Victorian era 1

Victorian era
Victorian Era
1837–1901

Queen Victoria, after whom the era is named.

Preceded by Georgian era

Followed by Edwardian era

Monarch Queen Victoria

Tudor period (1485–1558)

Elizabethan era (1558–1603)

Stuart period
(1603–1714)

Jacobean era
(1603–1625)
Caroline era
(1625–1642)
Georgian era (1714–1830)
British
Regency (1811–1820)

Victorian era
(1837–1901)

Edwardian era
(1901–1910)

The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death
on the 22nd of January 1901.[1] The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained
from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed an educated middle
class to develop. Some scholars extend the beginning of the period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and
political games that have come to be associated with the Victorians—back five years to the passage of the Reform
Act 1832.
Victorian era 2

The era was preceded by the Georgian period and succeeded by the Edwardian period. The latter half of the
Victorian era roughly coincided with the first portion of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe and the Gilded
Age of the United States.
The era is often characterized as a long period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica, and economic, colonial, and
industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the Crimean War, although Britain was at war every year during
this time. Towards the end of the century, the policies of New Imperialism led to increasing colonial conflicts and
eventually the Anglo-Zanzibar War and the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a
number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform and the widening of the voting franchise.
The population of England had almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901.[2] Ireland’s
population decreased rapidly, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901.[3] At the same time, around
15 million emigrants left the United Kingdom in the Victorian era and settled mostly in the United States, Canada,
and Australia.[4]
During the early part of the era, the House of Commons was headed by the two parties, the Whigs and the Tories.
From the late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the Liberals; the Tories became the Conservatives. These parties
were led by many prominent statesmen including Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston,
William Ewart Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, and Lord Salisbury. The unsolved problems relating to Irish Home
Rule played a great part in politics in the later Victorian era, particularly in view of Gladstone's determination to
achieve a political settlement. Indeed these issues would eventually lead to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the
subsequent domino effect that would play a large part in the fall of the empire.
The reign of Victoria is the longest in British history; it would be exceeded if the present monarch (Queen Elizabeth
II) remains on the throne to 2017.

Culture
Gothic Revival architecture became increasingly significant in the period, leading to the Battle of the Styles between
Gothic and Classical ideals. Charles Barry's architecture for the new Palace of Westminster, which had been badly
damaged in an 1834 fire, built in the medieval style of Westminster Hall, the surviving part of the building. It
constructed a narrative of cultural continuity, set in opposition to the violent disjunctions of Revolutionary France, a
comparison common to the period, as expressed in Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution: A History, Great
Expectations by Charles Dickens and Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Gothic was also supported by the critic
John Ruskin, who argued that it epitomised communal and inclusive social values, as opposed to Classicism, which
he considered to epitomise mechanical standardisation.
The middle of the 19th century saw The Great Exhibition of 1851, the first World's Fair, and showcased the greatest
innovations of the century. At its centre was the Crystal Palace, a modular glass and iron structure - the first of its
kind. It was condemned by Ruskin as the very model of mechanical dehumanisation in design, but later came to be
presented as the prototype of Modern architecture. The emergence of photography, which was showcased at the
Great Exhibition, resulted in significant changes in Victorian art with Queen Victoria being the first British Monarch
to be photographed. John Everett Millais was influenced by photography (notably in his portrait of Ruskin) as were
other Pre-Raphaelite artists. It later became associated with the Impressionistic and Social Realist techniques that
would dominate the later years of the period in the work of artists such as Walter Sickert and Frank Holl.
Victorian era 3

Events
1832
Passage of the first Reform Act.[5]
1837
Ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne.[5]
1840
New Zealand becomes a British colony, through the Treaty of Waitangi.
1840
Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. He had been naturalised and granted the
British style of Royal Highness beforehand. For the next 17 years, he was known as HRH Prince Albert
1840
Birth of the Queen's first child The Princess Victoria. Within months she was granted the title Princess Royal
1841
Birth of the Queen's heir-apparent The Prince Albert Edward, Duke of Cornwall (Duke of Rothesay). He was
swiftly made Prince of Wales
1842
Massacre of Elphinstone's Army by the Afghans in Afghanistan results in the death or incarceration of 16,500
soldiers and civilians.[6] The Mines Act of 1842 banned women/children from working in coal, iron, lead and
tin mining.[5] The Illustrated London News was first published.[7]
1843
Birth of The Princess Alice
1844
Birth of The Prince Alfred
1845
The Irish famine begins. Within 5 years it would become the UK's worst human disaster, with starvation and
emigration reducing the population of Ireland itself by over 50%. The famine permanently changed Ireland’s
and Scotland's demographics and became a rallying point for nationalist sentiment that pervaded British
politics for much of the following century.
1846
Repeal of the Corn Laws.[5]
1846
Birth of The Princess Helena
1848
Death of around 2,000 people a week in a cholera epidemic.
1848
Birth of The Princess Louise
1850
Restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Britain.
1850
Birth of The Prince Arthur
Victorian era 4

1851
The Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) was held at the Crystal Palace[5] , with great success and
international attention. The Victorian gold rush. In ten years the Australian population nearly tripled.[8]
1853
Birth of The Prince Leopold
1854
Crimean War: The United Kingdom declared war on Russia.
1857
The Indian Mutiny, a widespread revolt in India against the rule of the British East India Company, was
sparked by sepoys (native Indian soldiers) in the Company's army. The rebellion, involving not just sepoys but
many sectors of the Indian population as well, was largely quashed within a year. In response to the mutiny,
the East India Company was abolished in August 1858 and India came under the direct rule of the British
crown, beginning the period of the British Raj. Prince Albert was given the title The Prince Consort
1857
Birth of The Princess Beatrice
1858
The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, responded to the Orsini plot against French emperor Napoleon III, the
bombs for which were purchased in Birmingham, by attempting to make such acts a felony, but the resulting
uproar forced him to resign.
1859
Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which led to various reactions.[5] Victoria and Albert's
first grandchild, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, is born — he would later become William II, German Emperor
1861
Death of Prince Albert[5] ; Queen Victoria refused to go out in public for many years, and when she did she
wore a widow's bonnet instead of the crown.
1863
The Prince of Wales marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark at Windsor.
1866
An angry crowd in London, protesting against John Russell's resignation as Prime Minister, was barred from
Hyde Park by the police; they tore down iron railings and trampled on flower beds. Disturbances like this
convinced Derby and Disraeli of the need for further parliamentary reform.
1867
The Constitution Act, 1867 passes and British North America becomes Dominion of Canada.
1875
Britain purchased Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal[5] as the African nation was forced to raise money to pay
off its debts.
1877
The Princess Alice becomes Grand Duchess of Hesse when her husband succeeds as Louis IV, Grand Duke of
Hesse
1878
Treaty of Berlin (1878). Cyprus becomes a Crown colony. The Princess Alice dies. Princess Louise's husband
The Marchioness of Lorne is appointed Governor-General of Canada
Victorian era 5

1879
Victoria and Albert's first great-grandchild, Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen, is born.
1882
British troops began the occupation of Egypt by taking the Suez Canal, in order to secure the vital trade route
and passage to India, and the country became a protectorate.
1883
Princess Louise and Lord Lorne return from Canada
1884
The Fabian Society was founded in London by a group of middle class intellectuals, including Quaker Edward
R. Pease, Havelock Ellis, and E. Nesbit, to promote socialism.[9] Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies.
1886
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Liberal Party tries passing the First Irish Home Rule Bill, but
the bill is rejected by the House of Commons.
1888
The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murdered and mutilated five (and possibly more) prostitutes on the
streets of London.[5] Victoria's eldest daughter, the Princess Royal becomes German Empress when her
husband succeeds as Frederick III, German Emperor. Within months, Frederick dies, and their son becomes
William II, German Emperor. The widowed Vicky becomes the Dowager Empress as is known as "Empress
Frederick".
1870 - 1891
Under the Elementary Education Act 1870, basic State Education became free for every child under the age of
10.[10]
1891
Victoria and Albert's last grandchild, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, is born.
1892
The Prince of Wales' eldest son Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence dies of influenza. His place in the
succession is taken by his brother Prince George of Wales (later Duke of York and eventually George V).
1893
The Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh succeeds as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha when his uncle dies. The
Duchy skips over The Prince of Wales due to his renunciation of his succession rights to that Duchy.
1900
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dies. His nephew Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany succeeds
him, because his brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and nephew Prince Arthur of Connaught had
renounced their rights.
1901
The death of Victoria saw the end of this era, and the ascension of her eldest son, Edward, began the
Edwardian era, another time of great change.
Victorian era 6

Entertainment
Popular forms of entertainment varied by social class. Victorian Britain, like the periods before it, was interested in
theatre and the arts, and music, drama, and opera were widely attended. There were, however, other forms of
entertainment. Gambling at cards in establishments popularly called casinos was wildly popular during the period: so
much so that evangelical and reform movements specifically targeted such establishments in their efforts to stop
gambling, drinking, and prostitution.
Brass bands and 'The Bandstand' became popular in the Victorian era. The band stand was a simple construction that
not only created an ornamental focal point, but also served acoustic requirements whilst providing shelter from the
changeable British weather. It was common to hear the sound of a brass band whilst strolling through parklands. At
this time musical recording was still very much a novelty.
Another form of entertainment involved 'spectacles' where paranormal events, such as hypnotism, communication
with the dead (by way of mediumship or channelling), ghost conjuring and the like, were carried out to the delight of
crowds and participants. Such activities were more popular at this time than in other periods of recent Western
history.
Natural history becomes increasingly an "amateur" activity. Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew
into specialist hobbies such as the study of birds, butterflies, seashells (malacology/conchology), beetles and
wildflowers. Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building the large
natural history collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Many people used the train services to visit the seaside, helped by the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 which created a
number of fixed holidays which all sectors of society could enjoy. Large numbers travelling to quiet fishing villages
such as Worthing, Brighton, Morecambe and Scarborough began turning them into major tourist centres, and people
like Thomas Cook saw tourism and even overseas travel as viable businesses.

Technology and engineering

An important development during the Victorian era was the
improvement of communication links. Stage coaches, canals,
steam ships and most notably the railways all allowed goods, raw
materials and people to be moved about, rapidly facilitating trade
and industry. Trains became another important factor ordering
society, with "railway time" being the standard by which clocks
were set throughout Britain. Steam ships such as the SS Great
Britain and SS Great Western made international travel more
common but also advanced trade, so that in Britain it was not just
the luxury goods of earlier times that were imported into the
The railways changed communications and society
country but essentials such as corn from the America and meat dramatically
from Australia. One more important innovation in
communications was the Penny Black, the first postage stamp,
which standardised postage to a flat price regardless of distance sent.

Even later communication methods such as cinema, telegraph, telephones, cars and aircraft, would have an impact.
Photography was realized in 1839 by Louis Daguerre in France and William Fox Talbot in the UK. By 1900,
hand-held cameras were available.
Victorian era 7

Similar sanitation reforms, prompted by the Public Health Acts 1848

and 1869, were made in the crowded, dirty streets of the existing cities,
and soap was the main product shown in the relatively new
phenomenon of advertising. A great engineering feat in the Victorian
Era was the sewage system in London. It was designed by Joseph
Bazalgette in 1858. He proposed to build 82 mi (132 km) of sewer
system linked with over 1000 mi (1600 km) of street sewers. Many
problems were encountered but the sewers were completed. After this,
Bazalgette designed the Thames Embankment which housed sewers,
Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol
water pipes and the London Underground. During the same period
London's water supply network was expanded and improved, and a gas
network for lighting and heating was introduced in the 1880s.

The Victorians were impressed by science and progress, and felt that they could improve society in the same way as
they were improving technology. The model town of Saltaire was founded, along with others, as a planned
environment with good sanitation and many civic, educational and recreational facilities, although it lacked a pub,
which was regarded as a focus of dissent. During the Victorian era, science grew into the discipline it is today. In
addition to the increasing professionalism of university science, many Victorian gentlemen devoted their time to the
study of natural history. This study of natural history was most powerfully advanced by Charles Darwin and his
theory of evolution first published in his book On the Origin of Species in 1859.

Although initially developed in the early years of the 19th century, gas
lighting became widespread during the Victorian era in industry,
homes, public buildings and the streets. The invention of the
incandescent gas mantle in the 1890s greatly improved light output and
ensured its survival as late as the 1960s. Hundreds of gasworks were
constructed in cities and towns across the country. In 1882,
incandescent electric lights were introduced to London streets,
although it took many years before they were installed everywhere.

Health and medicine

Medicine progressed during Queen Victoria's reign.
Although nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, had been proposed as an
anaesthetic as far back as 1799 by Humphry Davy, it wasn't until 1846
when an American Dentist named William Morton started using ether Glasgow slum in 1871
on his patients that anaesthetics became common in the medical
profession.[11] In 1847 chloroform was introduced as an anaesthetic by James Young Simpson[12] . Chloroform was
favored by doctors and hospital staff because it's much less flammable than ether, but critics complained that it could
cause the patient to have a heart attack.[12] Chloroform gained in popularity in England and Germany after Dr. John
Snow gave Queen Victoria chloroform for the birth of her eighth child (Prince Leopold).[13] By 1920, chloroform
was used in 80 to 95% of all narcoses performed in UK and German-speaking countries.[12]

Anaesthetics made painless dentistry possible. At the same time the European diet grew a great deal sweeter as the
use of sugar became more widespread.[14] As a result, more and more people were having teeth pulled and needed
replacements. This gave rise to "Waterloo Teeth", which were real human teeth set into hand-carved chunks of ivory
from hippopotamus or walrus jaws.[14] [15] The teeth were obtained from executed criminals, victims of battlefields,
from grave-robbers, and were even bought directly from the desperately impoverished.[14]
Victorian era 8

Medicine also benefited from the introduction of antiseptics by Joseph Lister in 1867 in the form of Carbolic acid
(phenol).[16] He instructed the hospital staff to wear gloves and wash their hands, instruments, and dressings with a
phenol solution and, in 1869, he invented a machine that would spray carbolic acid in the operating theatre during
surgery.[16]

Poverty
19th century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by
rapid urbanization stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. The large
numbers of skilled and unskilled people looking for work kept wages
down to barely subsistence level. Available housing was scarce and
expensive, resulting in overcrowding. These problems were magnified
in London, where the population grew at record rates. Large houses
were turned into flats and tenements, and as landlords failed to
maintain these dwellings slum housing developed. Kellow Chesney Working class life in Victorian Wetherby, West
described the situation as follows: "Hideous slums, some of them acres Yorkshire
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." (The Victorian Underworld)[17]

Child labour
The Victorian era became notorious for the employment of young
children in factories and mines and as chimney sweeps.[19] Child
labour, often brought about by economic hardship, played an important
role in the Industrial Revolution from its outset: Charles Dickens, for
example, worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family
in a debtors' prison. In 1840 only about 20 percent of the children in
London had any schooling. By 1860 about half of the children between
5 and 15 were in school (including Sunday school).[20] Girl pulling a coal tub in mine. From official
report of the parliamentary commission in the
The children of the poor were expected to help towards the family mid 19th century.
[18]
budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs for low wages.[17]
Agile boys were employed by the chimney sweeps; small children were employed to scramble under machinery to
retrieve cotton bobbins; and children were also employed to work in coal mines, crawling through tunnels too
narrow and low for adults. Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, or shoe blacks, or selling
matches, flowers, and other cheap goods.[17] Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades,
such as building, or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid 18th
century). Working hours were long: builders might work 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while
domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks. Many young people worked as prostitutes (the majority of prostitutes in
London were between 15 and 22 years of age).[20]

"Mother bides at home, she is troubled with bad breath, and is sair weak in her body from early labour. I
am wrought with sister and brother, it is very sore work; cannot say how many rakes or journeys I make
from pit's bottom to wall face and back, thinks about 30 or 25 on the average; the distance varies from
100 to 250 fathom. I carry about 1 cwt. and a quarter on my back; have to stoop much and creep through
water, which is frequently up to the calves of my legs." (Isabella Read, 12 years old, coal-bearer,
testimony gathered by Ashley's Mines Commission 1842)[18]
Victorian era 9

"My father has been dead about a year; my mother is living and has ten children, five lads and five lasses; the
oldest is about thirty, the youngest is four; three lasses go to mill; all the lads are colliers, two getters and three
hurriers; one lives at home and does nothing; mother does nought but look after home.
All my sisters have been hurriers, but three went to the mill. Alice went because her legs swelled from
hurrying in cold water when she was hot. I never went to day-school; I go to Sunday-school, but I cannot read
or write; I go to pit at five o'clock in the morning and come out at five in the evening; I get my breakfast of
porridge and milk first; I take my dinner with me, a cake, and eat it as I go; I do not stop or rest any time for
the purpose; I get nothing else until I get home, and then have potatoes and meat, not every day meat. I hurry
in the clothes I have now got on, trousers and ragged jacket; the bald place upon my head is made by thrusting
the corves; my legs have never swelled, but sisters' did when they went to mill; I hurry the corves a mile and
more under ground and back; they weigh 300 cwt.; I hurry 11 a-day; I wear a belt and chain at the workings, to
get the corves out;" (Patience Kershaw, 17 years old, coal-bearer, testimony gathered by Ashley's Mines
Commission 1842)[18]
Children as young as three were put to work. In coal mines children began work at the age of 5 and generally died
before the age of 25. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as 1802 and 1819, Factory Acts
were passed to limit the working hours of workhouse children in factories and cotton mills to 12 hours per day.
These acts were largely ineffective and after radical agitation, by for example the "Short Time Committees" in 1831,
a Royal Commission recommended in 1833 that children aged 11–18 should work a maximum of 12 hours per day,
children aged 9–11 a maximum of eight hours, and children under the age of nine should no longer be permitted to
work. This act, however, only applied to the textile industry, and further agitation led to another act in 1847 limiting
both adults and children to 10 hour working days.[20]

Prostitution
Beginning in the late 1840s, major news organizations, clergymen, and single women became increasingly
concerned about prostitution, which came to be known as "The Great Social Evil". Although estimates of the number
of prostitutes in London by the 1850s vary widely (in his landmark study, Prostitution, William Acton reported that
the police estimated there were 8,600 in London alone in 1857), it is enough to say that the number of women
working the streets became increasingly difficult to ignore. When the United Kingdom Census 1851 publicly
revealed a 4% demographic imbalance in favour of women (i.e., 4% more women than men), the problem of
prostitution began to shift from a moral/religious cause to a socio-economic one. The 1851 census showed that the
population of Great Britain was roughly 18 million; this meant that roughly 750,000 women would remain
unmarried simply because there were not enough men. These women came to be referred to as "superfluous women"
or "redundant women", and many essays were published discussing what, precisely, ought to be done with them.
While the Magdalene Asylums had been "reforming" prostitutes since the mid-18th century, the years between 1848
and 1870 saw a veritable explosion in the number of institutions working to "reclaim" these "fallen women" from the
streets and retrain them for entry into respectable society — usually for work as domestic servants. The theme of
prostitution and the "fallen woman" (an umbrella term used to describe any women who had sexual intercourse out
of wedlock) became a staple feature of mid-Victorian literature and politics. In the writings of Henry Mayhew,
Charles Booth, and others, prostitution began to be seen as a social problem.
When Parliament passed the first of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1864 (which allowed the local constabulary to
force any woman suspected of venereal disease to submit to its inspection), Josephine Butler's crusade to repeal the
CD Acts yoked the anti-prostitution cause with the emergent feminist movement. Butler attacked the
long-established double standard of sexual morality.
Prostitutes were often presented as victims in sentimental literature such as Thomas Hood's poem The Bridge of
Sighs, Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Mary Barton, and Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. The emphasis on the purity of
women found in such works as Coventry Patmore's The Angel in the House led to the portrayal of the prostitute and
Victorian era 10

fallen woman as soiled, corrupted, and in need of cleansing.

This emphasis on female purity was allied to the stress on the homemaking role of women, who helped to create a
space free from the pollution and corruption of the city. In this respect, the prostitute came to have symbolic
significance as the embodiment of the violation of that divide. The double standard remained in force. Divorce
legislation introduced in 1857 allowed for a man to divorce his wife for adultery, but a woman could only divorce if
adultery were accompanied by cruelty. The anonymity of the city led to a large increase in prostitution and
unsanctioned sexual relationships. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with the mechanisation and
industrialisation of modern life, portraying prostitutes as human commodities consumed and thrown away like refuse
when they were used up. Moral reform movements attempted to close down brothels, something that has sometimes
been argued to have been a factor in the concentration of street-prostitution in Whitechapel, in the East End of
London, by the 1880s.

See also
• Social history of England
• Horror Victorianorum
• Imperialism
• Neo-Victorian
• Victorian America
• Women in the Victorian era

Further reading
• Altick, Richard Daniel. Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature.
W.W. Norton & Company: 1974. ISBN 0-393-09376-X.
• Burton, Antoinette (editor). Politics and Empire in Victorian Britain: A Reader. Palgrave Macmillan: 2001. ISBN
0-312-29335-6.
• Gay, Peter, The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, 5 volumes, Oxford University Press, 1984–1989
• Janowski, Diane, Victorian Pride - Forgotten Songs of America, 6 volumes, New York History Review Press,
2007-2008.
• Flanders, Judith. Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England. W.W. Norton &
Company: 2004. ISBN 0-393-05209-5.
• Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Greenwood Press: 1996. ISBN 0-313-29467-4.
• Wilson, A. N. The Victorians. Arrow Books: 2002. ISBN 0-09-945186-7

External links
• 1876 Victorian England Revisited [21]
• Great Victorian Lives - An Era in Obituaries from The Times [22]
• Mostly-Victorian.com [23] A collection of primary-source documents drawn from Victorian periodicals.
• The Victorian Dictionary [24]
• The Victorian Web [25]
• The Twilight City [26] An exploration of vagrancy and streetwalkers in late Victorian London
• Victorians [27] British Library history resources about the Victorian era, featuring collection material and text by
Liza Picard.
• Timelines: Sources from history - British Library interactive [28]
Victorian era 11

References
[1] Swisher, Clarice, ed. Victorian England. San Diego, CA : Greenhaven Press, 2000.
[2] The UK population: past, present and future (http:/ / www. statistics. gov. uk/ downloads/ theme_compendia/ fom2005/
01_FOPM_Population. pdf), statistics.gov.uk
[3] Ireland - Population Summary (http:/ / homepage. tinet. ie/ ~cronews/ geog/ census/ popcosum. html)
[4] Exiles and Emigrants (http:/ / www. nma. gov. au/ exhibitions/ past_exhibitions/ exiles_and_emigrants/ ). National Museum of Australia
[5] Swisher, Clarice, ed. Victorian England. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. pgs 248-250
[6] 1841: A window on Victorian Britain (http:/ / www. independent. co. uk/ news/ uk/ this-britain/ 1841-a-window-on-victorian-britain-475516.
html)
[7] Illustrated London News (http:/ / www. iln. org. uk)
[8] California Gold Rush (http:/ / eh. net/ encyclopedia/ article/ whaples. goldrush). Robert Whaples, Wake Forest University.
[9] Is this what Labour's next Clause four should say? (http:/ / www. fabians. org. uk/ publications/ extracts/
is-this-what-labours-next-clause-four-should-say)
[10] "1870 Education Act" (http:/ / www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/ Leducation70. htm). . Retrieved 2009-09-27.
[11] Dr William Green Morton (1819 - 68) (http:/ / www. general-anaesthesia. com/ images/ william-morton. html)
[12] History of chloroform anaesthesia (http:/ / www. general-anaesthesia. com/ chloroform. html)
[13] Anesthesia and Queen Victoria (http:/ / www. ph. ucla. edu/ epi/ snow/ victoria. html)
[14] BBC - h2g2 - Waterloo Teeth: A History of Dentures (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ dna/ h2g2/ A5103271)
[15] Waterloo Teeth (http:/ / www. historyhome. co. uk/ c-eight/ france/ teeth. htm)
[16] Joseph Lister (http:/ / web. ukonline. co. uk/ b. gardner/ Lister. html)
[17] Barbara Daniels, Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era (http:/ / www. hiddenlives. org. uk/ articles/ poverty. html)
[18] Testimony Gathered by Ashley's Mines Commission (http:/ / www. victorianweb. org/ history/ ashley. html) Laura Del Col, West Virginia
University
[19] Laura Del Col, West Virginia University, The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth-Century England (http:/ / www. usp. nus. edu. sg/
victorian/ history/ workers1. html)
[20] Child Labor (http:/ / www. victorianweb. org/ history/ hist8. html) David Cody, Hartwick College
[21] http:/ / logicmgmt. com/ 1876/ splash. htm
[22] http:/ / cma. timesonline. co. uk:9080/ tol/ arts_and_entertainment/ books/ article2482136. ece?token=466288862
[23] http:/ / www. mostly-victorian. com/
[24] http:/ / www. victorianlondon. org/
[25] http:/ / www. victorianweb. org/
[26] http:/ / www. historicaleye. com/ Lost1. html
[27] http:/ / www. bl. uk/ learning/ histcitizen/ victorians/ victorianhome. html
[28] http:/ / www. bl. uk/ timeline/
Victorian morality 12

Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people
living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign (1837 - 1901) and of
the moral climate of Great Britain throughout the 19th century in
general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous
Georgian period. Victorian morality can describe any set of values
that espouse sexual restraint, low tolerance of crime and a strict
social code of conduct. Due to the prominence of the British
Empire, many of these values were spread across the world.

The term "Victorian" was first used during the 1851 Great
Exposition in London, where Victorian inventions and morals
were shown to the world.[1] Victorian values were developed in all
facets of Victorian living. The morality and values of the
Victorians can be classed under Religion, Morality, Elitism,
Industrialism and Improvement. These values take root in
Victorian morality, creating an overall change in the British
Empire.

Historians now regard the Victorian era as a time of many Queen Victoria
contradictions, such as the widespread cultivation of an outward Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Empress of India
appearance of dignity and restraint together with the prevalence of
social phenomena such as prostitution and child labour. A plethora
of social movements arose from attempts to improve the prevailing harsh living conditions for many under a rigid
class system.

Historical background
The term Victorian has acquired a range of connotations, including that of a particularly
strict set of moral standards, often hypocritically applied. This stems from the image of
Queen Victoria—and her husband, Prince Albert[2] .
Two hundred years earlier the Puritan movement, which led to the installment of Oliver
Cromwell, had temporarily overthrown the British monarchy. During England’s years
under Cromwell, the law imposed a strict moral code on the people (such as abolishing
Christmas as too indulgent of the sensual pleasures).
When the monarchy was restored, a period of loose living and debauchery appeared to be
a reaction to the earlier repression. (See: Charles II of England) The two social forces of
Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Puritanism and libertinism continued to motivate the collective psyche of Great Britain
Prince Consort from the Restoration onward. This was particularly significant in the public perceptions
of the later Hanoverian monarchs who immediately preceded Queen Victoria. For
instance, her uncle, George IV, was commonly perceived as a pleasure-seeking playboy, whose conduct in office
was the cause of much scandal.
Victorian morality 13

Description
Victorian prudery sometimes went so far as to deem it improper to say "leg" in mixed company; instead, the
preferred euphemism “limb” was used. Such ideas even pervaded seemingly unrelated aspects of daily life: there is a
myth, started by Frances Trollope's "Domestic Manners of the Americans," and later applied to the British, that
furniture such as tables were covered with embroidery and tablecloths so that table legs were hidden from view, but
no historical evidence suggest that this was actually practiced. Those going for a swim in the sea at the beach would
use a bathing machine. However, historians Peter Gay and Michael Mason both point out that we often confuse
Victorian etiquette for a lack of knowledge. For example, despite the use of the bathing machine, it was still possible
to see people bathing nude. Another example of the gap between common preconceptions of Victorian sexuality and
historical record is that, contrary to what might be expected, Queen Victoria liked to draw and collect male nude
figure drawings and even gave one to her husband as a present[3] .
Verbal or written communication of emotion or sexual feelings was also often proscribed so people instead used the
language of flowers. However they also wrote explicit erotica, perhaps the most famous being the racy tell-all My
Secret Life by the pseudonym Walter (allegedly Henry Spencer Ashbee), and the magazine The Pearl, which was
published for several years and reprinted as a paperback book in the 1960s. Victorian erotica also survives in private
letters archived in museums and even in a study of women's orgasms. Some current historians now believe that the
myth of Victorian repression can be traced back to early twentieth-century views, such as those of Lytton Strachey, a
member of the Bloomsbury Group, who wrote Eminent Victorians.
Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, only four years after the Abolition of slavery in the British Empire. The
anti-slavery movement had campaigned for years to achieve the ban, succeeding with a partial abolition in 1807 and
the full ban on slave trade, but not slave ownership, in 1833. It took so long because the anti-slavery morality was
pitted against powerful economic interests which claimed their businesses would be destroyed if they were not
permitted to exploit slave labor. Eventually, plantation owners in the Caribbean received £20 million in
compensation.
In Victoria's time, the Royal Navy patrolled the Atlantic Ocean, stopping any ships that it suspected of trading
African slaves to the Americas and freeing any slaves found. The British had set up a Crown Colony in West
Africa—Sierra Leone—and transported freed slaves there. Freed slaves from Nova Scotia founded and named the
capital of Sierra Leone "Freetown". Many people living at that time argued that the living conditions of workers in
English factories seemed worse than those endured by some slaves.
Throughout the whole Victorian Era, homosexuals were regarded as abominations and homosexuality was illegal.
Homosexual acts were a capital offence until 1861. A few famous men from the British Isles, such as Oscar Wilde,
had homosexual liaisons. Toward the end of the century, many large trials were held on the subject. Wilde, for
example, was sentenced to two years' hard labour for homosexual relations.
In the same way, throughout the Victorian Era, movements for justice, freedom, and other strong moral values
opposed greed, exploitation, and cynicism. The writings of Charles Dickens, in particular, observed and recorded
these conditions. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels carried out much of their analysis of capitalism in and as a reaction
to Victorian Britain.

Religious morality
Religious morality changed drastically during the Victorian Era. When Victoria took the throne the Anglican Church
was very powerful—running schools and universities, and with high ranking churchmen holding offices in the House
of Lords.[4] The Church's power continued to rule in rural areas throughout the Victorian Era; however that was not
the case in industrialized cities.[5] In the cities those against the Church were many and dissent was rampant.[6] The
dissenting sects were against what the Anglican church was using its power for[7] . The Church demanded obedience
to God, submissiveness and resignation with the goal of making people more malleable to the will of the Church.[8]
Victorian morality 14

The Church aimed to appease the will of the elite and cared little if at all about the needs and wants of the lower,
peasant class.[9] Thus emerged Methodism, Congregationalism, The Society of Friends (Quakers) and
Presbyterianism.[10] The Methodists and Presbyterians in particular stressed personal salvation through direct
individual faith in Jesus Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection on the behalf of sinners, as taught in the New
Testament Gospels and the writings of the Apostles Peter, James and Paul. [11] This stress on individualism is seen
throughout the Victorian Era and becomes even more developed in Middle Class life.
The "Crisis of Faith" would hit religion and the citizens' Faith like a brick. The Crisis of Faith was brought about in
1859 with Charles Darwin's work On the Origin of Species; his theory was (in the basic form) that the Natural World
had become what it was through gradual change over eons.[12] He stated that natural selection and survival of the
fittest were the reasons man had survived so long.[13] His theory of evolution based on empirical evidence would call
into question Christian beliefs and Victorian values.[14] People whose lives became totally uprooted felt the need to
find a new system on which to base their values and morality.[15] Unable to completely lose Faith, they combined
both their religious beliefs with individual duty -- [16] duty to one's God, fellow man, social class, neighbour, the
poor and the ill.[17]

The Elite and Middle Class Values

The Victorian Era began with the elite in total control of society and its politics.[18] The Elite class was made up of
300 families which were firmly established as the traditional ruling class.[19] However, the development of new
types of values, such as individualism, introduced changes throughout the Victorian Era. The idea of the self-made
man [20] became dominant in the middle class. Similar to the American Dream, the idea is that, if they work hard
enough, all men can become wealthy.

Upper Class Values

The Upper Class (the Elite) valued history, heritage, lineage and the continuity of their family line.[21] The Elite
believed that they were born to rule through divine right and they wanted this right to continue.[22] The Elite had a
paternalistic view of society; seeing themselves as the father of the family of society.[23] Noblesse Oblige was their
belief that it was the Elite's duty to take care of society.[24] The Elite hoped to continue tradition and the status quo,
through institutions such as the law of primogeniture (first born son inherits everything).[25] The Elite intended to
stay on top and wealthy.[26] However, when a financial crisis threatened their position, they adapted and opened up
their ranks to the wealthiest of the middle class, allowing them to buy a place within the ranks of the Elite [27] The
Elite were landed gentry and so did not have to work but enjoyed a life of luxury and leisure.[28] While the Elite
continued enjoying their traditional values, Victorian Values changed and the Elite began to recognize the middle
class.

Middle Class Values

The Victorian Era was a time when the middle class grew rapidly in influence. The middle class valued progress,
laissez-faire politics, sportsmanship, business competition, religious piety, hope, honesty, decency, charity, cozy
domesticity (family), materialism, class consciousness, self-respect and deferential conformity to reasonable
traditions.[29] The middle class came to dominate life because of the new enthusiasm it generated among the growing
population.[30] The middle class was stratified based on earnings. Upper middle class businessmen were respected as
self-made men and with their new found wealth they were able to buy their way into the unhappy tolerance of the
elite.[31] The new middle class was often overtly materialistic and enjoyed showing off its wealth through houses
filled with such things as expensive furniture, wall coverings, paintings,[32] thus reflecting a behaviour known as
conspicuous consumption. Stiff competition became a normal facet of life not reserved for business, but in all of
society; the winner would be the person who could keep up with the Joneses.[33] In this way the Victorian Era laid
the foundation for the modern mass consumption economies of the western world. At the same time, the growing
Victorian morality 15

Middle Class's appetite for personal improvement to match its new wealth would lead to an explosion in the sale of
self-help books.

References
• Peter Gay, The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
• Merriman, J (2004). A History of Modern Europe; From the French Revolution to the Present New York,
London: W.W. Norton & Company.
• Bayley, S (2008). Victorian Values: An Introduction Montreal: Dawson College.

See also
• Neo-Victorian
• Sexual norm
• Victorianism

References
[1] Merriman 2004,p. 749.
[2] Merriman 2004, p. 747.
[3] Peter Gay, The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
[4] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 108
[5] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 108
[6] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 108
[7] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 109
[8] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 109
[9] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 109
[10] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 109
[11] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 109
[12] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 112
[13] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 112
[14] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 113
[15] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 113
[16] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 113
[17] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 113
[18] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 146
[19] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 147
[20] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 200
[21] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[22] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[23] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[24] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[25] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[26] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[27] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[28] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 154
[29] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 200-201
[30] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 200
[31] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 200
[32] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 201-202
[33] Bayley, S. 2008, p. 202
Victorian literature 16

Victorian literature
Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and corresponds to
the Victorian era. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different
literature of the 20th century.
The 19th century saw the novel become the leading form of literature in English. The works by pre-Victorian writers
such as Jane Austen and Walter Scott had perfected both closely-observed social satire and adventure stories.
Popular works opened a market for the novel amongst a reading public. The 19th century is often regarded as a high
point in British literature as well as in other countries such as France, the United States and Russia. Books, and
novels in particular, became ubiquitous, and the "Victorian novelist" created legacy works with continuing appeal.
Significant Victorian novelists and poets include: Matthew Arnold, the Brontë sisters (Emily, Anne and Charlotte
Brontë), Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Joseph Conrad, Edward Bulwer-Lytton,
Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, George Eliot, George Meredith, Elizabeth Gaskell, George
Gissing, Richard Jefferies, Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker,
Algernon Charles Swinburne, Philip Meadows Taylor, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Thackeray, Anthony
Trollope, George MacDonald, G.M. Hopkins, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and H. G. Wells (although many people
consider his writing to be more of the Edwardian age).

Novelists
Charles Dickens is a prime exemplar of Victorian novelist. Extraordinarily popular in his day with his characters
taking on a life of their own beyond the page, Dickens is still one of the most popular and read authors of that time.
His first real novel, The Pickwick Papers, written at only twenty-five, was an overnight success, and all his
subsequent works sold extremely well. He worked diligently and prolifically to produce entertaining writing the
public wanted, but also to offer commentary on social challenges of the era. The comedy of his first novel has a
satirical edge which pervades his writings. These deal with the plight of the poor and oppressed and end with a ghost
story cut short by his death. The slow trend in his fiction towards darker themes is mirrored in much of the writing of
the century, and literature after his death in 1870 is notably different from that at the start of the era.
William Thackeray was Dickens's great rival at the time. With a similar style but a slightly more detached, acerbic
and barbed satirical view of his characters, he also tended to depict situations of a more middle class flavour than
Dickens. He is best known for his novel Vanity Fair, subtitled A Novel without a Hero, which is also an example of a
form popular in Victorian literature: the historical novel, in which very recent history is depicted. Anthony Trollope
tended to write about a slightly different part of the structure, namely the landowning and professional classes.
Away from the big cities and the literary society, Haworth in West
Yorkshire held a powerhouse of novel writing: the home of the Brontë
family. Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë had time in their short lives
to produce masterpieces of fiction although these were not immediately
appreciated by Victorian critics. Wuthering Heights, Emily's only
work, in particular has violence, passion, the supernatural, heightened
emotion and emotional distance, an unusual mix for any novel but
particularly at this time. It is a prime example of Gothic Romanticism
from a woman's point of view during this period of time, examining
class, myth, and gender. Another important writer of the period was
The Brontë sisters wrote fiction rather different
George Eliot, a pseudonym which concealed a woman, Mary Ann
from that common at the time.
Evans, who wished to write novels which would be taken seriously
Victorian literature 17

rather than the romances which women of the time were supposed to write.

The style of the Victorian novel

Victorian novels tend to be idealized portraits of difficult lives in which hard work, perseverance, love and luck win
out in the end; virtue would be rewarded and wrongdoers are suitably punished. They tended to be of an improving
nature with a central moral lesson at heart. While this formula was the basis for much of earlier Victorian fiction, the
situation became more complex as the century progressed.

Other Literature

Children's literature
The Victorians are sometimes credited with 'inventing childhood', partly via their efforts to stop child labour and the
introduction of compulsory education. As children began to be able to read, literature for young people became a
growth industry, with not only established writers producing works for children (such as Dickens' A Child's History
of England) but also a new group of dedicated children's authors. Writers like Lewis Carroll, R. M. Ballantyne and
Anna Sewell wrote mainly for children, although they had an adult following. Other authors such as Anthony Hope
and Robert Louis Stevenson wrote mainly for adults, but their adventure novels are now generally classified as for
children. Other genres include nonsense verse, poetry which required a child-like interest (e.g. Lewis Carroll).
School stories flourished: Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays and Kipling's Stalky & Co. are classics.

Poetry and drama

Poetry in a sense settled down from the upheavals of the romantic era
and much of the work of the time is seen as a bridge between this
earlier era and the modernist poetry of the next century. Alfred Lord
Tennyson held the poet laureateship for over forty years and his verse
became rather stale by the end but his early work is rightly praised.
Some Victorian poetry highly regarded at the time such as Invictus is
now seen as jingoistic and bombastic but Tennyson's Charge of the
Light Brigade was a fierce criticism of a famous military blunder; a
pillar of the establishment not failing to attack the establishment.
Comic verse abounded in the Victorian era. Magazines such as Punch
magazine and Fun magazine teemed with humorous invention[1] and
were aimed at a well-educated readership.[2] The most famous
collection of Victorian comic verse is the Bab Ballads.[3]

The husband and wife poetry team of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and
Robert Browning conducted their love affair through verse and
Lord Tennyson, the Poet Laureate
produced many tender and passionate poems. Both Matthew Arnold
and Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote poems which sit somewhere in
between the exultation of nature of the romantic Poetry and the Georgian Poetry of the early 20th century. Arnold's
works hearken forward to some of the themes of these later poets while Hopkins drew inspiration from verse forms
of Old English poetry such as Beowulf.

The reclaiming of the past was a major part of Victorian literature with an interest in both classical literature but also
the medieval literature of England. The Victorians loved the heroic, chivalrous stories of knights of old and they
hoped to regain some of that noble, courtly behaviour and impress it upon the people both at home and in the wider
empire. The best example of this is Alfred Tennyson's Idylls of the King which blended the stories of King Arthur,
Victorian literature 18

particularly those by Thomas Malory, with contemporary concerns and ideas. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood also
drew on myth and folklore for their art with Dante Gabriel Rossetti contemporaneously regarded as the chief poet
amongst them, although his sister Christina is now held by scholars to be a stronger poet.
In drama, farces, musical burlesques, extravaganzas and comic operas competed with Shakespeare productions and
serious drama by the likes of James Planché and Thomas William Robertson. In 1855, the German Reed
Entertainments began a process of elevating the level of (formerly risqué) musical theatre in Britain that culminated
in the famous series of comic operas by Gilbert and Sullivan and were followed by the 1890s with the first
Edwardian musical comedies. The first play to achieve 500 consecutive performances was the London comedy Our
Boys by H. J. Byron, opening in 1875. Its astonishing new record of 1,362 performances was bested in 1892 by
Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas.[4] After W. S. Gilbert, Oscar Wilde became the leading poet and dramatist of
the late Victorian period.[3] Wilde's plays, in particular, stand apart from the many now forgotten plays of Victorian
times and have a much closer relationship to those of the Edwardian dramatists such as George Bernard Shaw, many
of whose most important works were written in the 20th century. Wilde's 1895 comic masterpiece, The Importance
of Being Earnest, was the greatest of the plays in which he held an ironic mirror to the aristocracy while displaying
virtuosic mastery of wit and paradoxical wisdom. It has remained extremely popular.

Science, philosophy and discovery

The Victorian era was an important time for the development of
science and the Victorians had a mission to describe and classify the
entire natural world. Much of this writing does not rise to the level of
being regarded as literature but one book in particular, Charles
Darwin's On the Origin of Species, remains famous. The theory of
evolution contained within the work shook many of the ideas the
Victorians had about themselves and their place in the world. Although
it took a long time to be widely accepted, it would dramatically change
subsequent thought and literature.

Other important non-fiction works of the time are the philosophical

writings of John Stuart Mill covering logic, economics, liberty and
utilitarianism. The large and influential histories of Thomas Carlyle:
The French Revolution, A History, On Heroes and Hero Worship and
Thomas Babington Macaulay: The History of England from the Charles Darwin's work On the Origin of Species
Accession of James II. The greater number of novels that contained affected society and thought in the Victoria era,
overt criticism of religion did not stifle a vigorous list of publications and still does today.

on the subject of religion. Two of the most important of these are John
Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning who both wished to revitalise Anglicanism with a return to the Roman
Catholic Church. In a somewhat opposite direction, the ideas of socialism were permeating political thought at the
time with Friedrich Engels writing his Condition of the Working Classes in England and William Morris writing the
early socialist utopian novel News from Nowhere. One other important and monumental work begun in this era was
the Oxford English Dictionary which would eventually become the most important historical dictionary of the
English language.
Victorian literature 19

Nature writing
In the U.S.A., Henry David Thoreau's works and Susan Fenimore Cooper's Rural Hours (1850) were canonical
influences on Victorian nature writing. In the U.K., Philip Gosse and Sarah Bowdich Lee were two of the most
popular nature writers in the early part of the Victorian era.[5] The Illustrated London News, founded in 1842, was
the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper and often published articles and illustrations dealing with nature; in the
second half of the nineteenth century, books, articles, and illustrations on nature became widespread and popular
among an increasingly urbanized reading public.

Supernatural and fantastic literature

The old Gothic tales that came out of the late nineteenth century are the first examples of the genre of fantastic
fiction. These tales often centered on larger-than-life characters such as Sherlock Holmes, famous detective of the
times, Barry Lee, big time gang leader, Sexton Blake, Phileas Fogg, and other fictional characters of the era, such as
Dracula, Edward Hyde, The Invisible Man, and many other fictional characters who often had exotic enemies to foil.
Spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a particular type of story-writing known as gothic.
Gothic literature combines romance and horror in attempt to thrill and terrify the reader. Possible features in a gothic
novel are foreign monsters, ghosts, curses, hidden rooms and witchcraft. Gothic tales usually take place in locations
such as castles, monasteries, and cemeteries, although the gothic monsters sometimes cross over into the real world,
making appearances in cities such as London and Paris.

The influence of Victorian literature

Writers from the United States and the British colonies of Australia, New
Zealand and Canada were influenced by the literature of Britain and are often
classed as a part of Victorian literature, although they were gradually
developing their own distinctive voices. Victorian writers of Canadian literature
include Grant Allen, Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill. Australian
literature has the poets Adam Lindsay Gordon and Banjo Paterson, who wrote
Waltzing Matilda and New Zealand literature includes Thomas Bracken and
Frederick Edward Maning. From the sphere of literature of the United States
during this time are some of the country's greats including: Emily Dickinson,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Henry James, Herman
Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain and Walt
Whitman.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote The problem with the classification of Victorian literature is great difference
Victorian fiction outside of Victoria's
between the early works of the period and the later works which had more in
domains.
common with the writers of the Edwardian period and many writers straddle
this divide. People such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells,
Bram Stoker, H. Rider Haggard, Jerome K. Jerome and Joseph Conrad all wrote some of their important works
during Victoria's reign but the sensibility of their writing is frequently regarded as Edwardian.

The persistent popular embrace of Victorian literature has had a profound influence on modern literature and media.
Writers such as Dickens and the Brontë sisters still sell robustly on most book resellers' lists and are frequently
adapted into films and television productions, both directly and in modernized retellings. In addition, many modern
novels such as A Great and Terrible Beauty demonstrate that the intricate cultural mores of the Victorian era finds a
home in the modern cultural psyche.
Victorian literature 20

External links
• The Victorian Web [6]
• Victorian Women Writers Project [7]
• Victorian Studies Bibliography [8]
• Victorian Links [9]
• Victorian Short Fiction Project [10]
• Mostly-Victorian.com [11] - Victorian literature from magazines such as The Strand.
united nations soldier markku ensio pekkala 131153-1038 finland

References
[1] Spielmann, M. H. The History of "Punch" (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 23881), from Project Gutenberg
[2] Vann, J. Don. "Comic Periodicals," Victorian Periodicals & Victorian Society (Aldershot: Scholar Press, 1994)
[3] Stedman, Jane W. (1996). W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre, pp. 26–29. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816174-3
[4] Article on long-runs in the theatre before 1920 (http:/ / www. stagebeauty. net/ th-frames. html?http& & & www. stagebeauty. net/ th-longr.
html)
[5] Dawson, Carl (1979). Victorian High Noon: English Literature in 1850. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U. Press.
[6] http:/ / www. victorianweb. org/ index. html
[7] http:/ / www. indiana. edu/ %7Eletrs/ vwwp/
[8] http:/ / www. letrs. indiana. edu/ web/ v/ victbib/
[9] http:/ / www. sylviamilne. co. uk/ vic. htm
[10] http:/ / vsfp. ctlbyu. org/ index. php?title=Main_Page
[11] http:/ / www. mostly-victorian. com/ fiction. shtml
Article Sources and Contributors 21

Article Sources and Contributors

Victorian era  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=358201887  Contributors: -- April, 1029384756, 15lsoucy, 16@r, 21655, 243MG, 29thirty, 5 albert square, 80N, A Train, A.C.
Norman, ABF, ALJ42, AThing, Abcdefghij123, Abeg92, Ablonus, Academic Challenger, Accordion Noir, Accurizer, Acroterion, Actionscribe, Addihockey10, AdjustShift, Ahoerstemeier,
Aillema, Aitias, Ajplmr, Alansohn, Alex Bakharev, Alex.muller, Alicee185, Allan McInnes, Allan340, Allstarecho, Ambuj.Saxena, Amzltd, AndonicO, Andrea105, Andrewpeirce01, AndyZ,
Anetode, Animum, Anna.lobbenberg, AnnaKucsma, AnonGuy, Antandrus, Antonio Lopez, Aphraim, Arcturus, ArielGold, Arthana, Asmithguy, Astral, Atlant, Atomicdor, Awt27690, Aymatth2,
AzaToth, BTLizard, Baiji, Bakilas, BananaFiend, Barek, BarretBonden, Bart133, Bastin, Baudrillard, Bearcat, Beaumont, Beckyroo86, Ben Ben, Bentaguayre, Berean Hunter, Berylgosney,
Betacommand, Bfigura's puppy, Bhadani, Bhamv, Bibliomaniac15, Bigtimepeace, Bill37212, Bishonen, Bishzilla, Bitogoth, Blackcat52, BlueBib, Bobblewik, Bobianite, Bobo192, Bogey97,
Bongwarrior, BoomerAB, BorgQueen, Brendanconway, Brewersfrek11, BriKaBraK, Brianga, Brunnock, Bucephalus, Buchanan-Hermit, CIreland, CWesling, CWii, Caltas, Calvin 1998,
CambridgeBayWeather, Camw, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canationalist, CanisRufus, Capricorn42, CardinalDan, CarrieShuster, Cartinia, Catdude, Catgut, Cayzle, Ceoil, Chairman S.,
Charles Matthews, CharlotteWebb, Chillum, Chris Roy, Chris16447, Chrislk02, Chwech, Ckatz, CliffC, Closedmouth, Cnyborg, Coemgenus, Coffee, CombatCraig, Cometstyles,
CommonsDelinker, Computerjoe, Conversion script, Corbertholt, Corebowe, Coren, Crazycomputers, CryptoDerk, Cue the Strings, CupStanley, Cureden, Cyberdemon88, Cyfal, D, DG, DJ
Clayworth, DJSupreme23, DVD R W, Da monster under your bed, Dadude3320, Dagonet, Danbarnesdavies, DanielEng, DanielFrankham, Danieltheforesthigh, Danski14, Darth Panda, Das48,
Dat789, Dave, Dave souza, Davewho2, David Underdown, David.Mestel, DeadEyeArrow, Deb, Debresser, December21st2012Freak, Delldot, Deor, DerHexer, Derek Ross, Diloretta, Dimadick,
Discospinster, Djnjwd, Dlae, Dngchl, Doczilla, Doktor Faustus, DonBarton, DoubleBlue, Dpaajones, DragonflySixtyseven, DreamGuy, DreamMan, Drini, Dudecrush57, Dudesleeper,
Dylanstinkslikepoop, Dysepsion, EJF, ESkog, EarthPerson, Edivorce, Edward, Edward321, Eeekster, Eganvt, Eggfoojung, Ehrenkater, Elephantdogcatfish, Eliz81, Elonka, Elysianfields,
Emmyemma101, Emperor, Enalzorz, Envemem, Epbr123, Eric-Wester, Ericdn, Erik9, Evercat, Everyking, Evil Monkey, Excirial, Extraordinary Machine, Fallenlou, Fieldday-sunday,
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Joeydw65, Johann Wolfgang, John, John254, JohnCD, Johnbibby, Johnleemk, Johnweedy, Joolz, Jordanmills, Jpbowen, Jredmond, Juliancolton, JuneGloom07, Junipers Liege, Just zis Guy, you
know?, JustAGal, KCinDC, Kaguya-chan, Kaly99, Kanonkas, Kbdank71, Kbthompson, Kcordina, Keegan, Keilana, Kesac, Kewp, Khoikhoi, Khukri, Killiondude, King Pickle, King of Hearts,
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Olly150, Onevalefan, Orbital Hitman, Osbus, Ossmann, OverlordQ, Oxymoron83, Ozone77, PGPirate, Pablothegreat85, Paedia, Paigerocks2, Parent5446, Patmancav66, Patstuart, Paul Barlow,
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Tarquin, Tasc, Tastymules, Teambls3, Techman224, Tedder, Tellyaddict, Textorus, Thanaton, The Evil IP address, The Thing That Should Not Be, The stuart, TheDJ, TheDragonMaster,
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TigerShark, TigressofIndia, Tim!, Timrollpickering, Timsterap4, Tintagle, Titoxd, Tobby72, Toddst1, Tom harrison, Tom87020, Tomayres, Tomsega, ToohrVyk, Trainra, Trakesht, Travelbird,
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VictorianLady, Vilerage, Vivio Testarossa, Voice of All, Voyagerfan5761, WJBscribe, Waggers, Washburnmav, Wayward, Weeewoo15, Weregerbil, Wereon, Wes5550, Wgfcrafty, Wiki alf,
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YeshuaDavid, Yintan, Zainboy, Zanter, Zawwar, ZenerV, Zenohockey, Zigger, ZombieLeChuck, Zugy, Zzuuzz, 2923 anonymous edits

Victorian morality  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=360321230  Contributors: 80N, ADM, Alan Liefting, Alex43223, Amolnaik3k, Anas Salloum, Autobogg, Bob bobato,
Bongwarrior, Brandon, Britannicus, Btball, Bubba hotep, Bvernon199, Bzero, CertainMiracle, CesarB, Chadbrochill13, Chick Bowen, ChrisDHDR, CliffC, CommonsDelinker, Conscious,
Corker1, Darkfight, Darkspots, Deftera, Delldot, Demeter, Devil Master, Dfc.mx, Doktor Faustus, Donreed, DreamGuy, Eivindsol, Epbr123, Ericross, Everyking, FlareNUKE, GCarty, GideonF,
GoldenMew, Granpuff, Gregbard, Gregghofcc, Haabet, Hmains, Hoomanator, Hut 8.5, Icecradle, Ignus, Ildtxlvoieuuioet, Infrogmation, Ixfd64, Ja 62, Jaiwills, Jcrook1987, Jeremy Bolwell,
Jmannc3, John Bentley, Jordanmills, KF, Kerowyn, Lear's Fool, Leonard^Bloom, Livlivliv, MDolson22, Marcica, Mark7-2, Mcferran, Mhavril39, Munci, Nakon, Neoakamai, Nineteenthly,
Norwegianzealot, Outnup, Parkerbrothers, Paul Barlow, Pearle, Pedant17, Pharos, Pi zza314159, Pirateface101, RG2, RekishiEJ, RockyMM, SPro87, Scienceman123, Shanes, Skomorokh,
Sundar, Themagicalamount, TheoClarke, Underwater, Victorianezine, VzjrZ, Wayland, Wereon, WhisperToMe, Zafiroblue05, Zigger, Zora, Zotdragon, ΑΩ, 195 anonymous edits

Victorian literature  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=361898764  Contributors: 24fan24, AboutFaace, Acampbell1953, Aitias, Alasdair, Alice Roper, AndrewHowse, Ann
Stouter, B, Benedictwest, Bishonen, BrainyBabe, BullyTheLittleStuffedBull, Capricorn42, Charles Matthews, Chris the speller, Conscious, Crackerbelly, Dawn Bard, Dentris, DoctorElmo,
DonBarton, Duplode, Dysepsion, ERcheck, ESkog, Edofedinburgh, Enwilson, Epbr123, Fuzheado, Geniac, Girlwithgreeneyes, Hall Monitor, Hetar, Hkim43, Icairns, Infrogmation, Iralith, Jagged
85, Jahsonic, Jebba, Jeffrey Mall, Jermanyw, Kaiba, Khukri, Kriak, Kross, Kungfuadam, Lando Calrissian, LittleOldMe old, LordZarth, Lox, Makehornet, Mandarax, MarnetteD, Melfrench,
MeltBanana, Mentifisto, Michielodb, Mnemeson, Mud4t, Nakon, Namelessnobody, NewEnglandYankee, Ohnoitsjamie, Panth0r, Papercutbiology, Philip Trueman, Piano non troppo,
PoccilScript, Poeloq, Postdlf, Quatrocentu, RainbowOfLight, Ral315, Raymond, Reveriethegreat, Rgammans, Rich Farmbrough, Riczan, Rjwilmsi, Robertfinch58, Roseclearfield, RoyBoy,
S.Camus, Sarahb87, SchfiftyThree, SilhouetteSaloon, Slakr, Softlavender, Soulconcern1, Spiderguy, Ssilvers, Suddha, The Rambling Man, Tide rolls, TurabianNights, Uff linstonwaite, Uncle
Milty, Versus22, Wikibofh, Wikiborg4711, Yorick8080, Yuckfoo, Zoicon5, 340 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 22

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Queen Victoria 1887.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Queen_Victoria_1887.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Alexander Bassano (1829–1913)
Image:Tudors.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tudors.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploader was Isis at en.wikipedia
Image:Elizabeth_I_(Armada_Portrait).jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Elizabeth_I_(Armada_Portrait).jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: George Gower
Image:James_I_of_England_by_Daniel_Mytens.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:James_I_of_England_by_Daniel_Mytens.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: See
description
Image:Carolus I.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carolus_I.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Blad, Jguk, Kilom691
Image:The.circus.bath.arp.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The.circus.bath.arp.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Arpingstone
Image:George IV bust1.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:George_IV_bust1.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Thomas Lawrence 1769 – 1830
Image:Edward vii england.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Edward_vii_england.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: G.dallorto, Gabbe, Gryffindor, Muriel Gottrop,
1 anonymous edits
Image:Stephenson's Rocket.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stephenson's_Rocket.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Taken by
w:en:User:William M. Connolley on 13 March 2004. 21:40, 15 March 2004 . . William M. Connolley (Talk) . . 800x600 (94640 bytes) ("Stephensons Rocket" taken in London Science Museum)
Image:Clifton.bridge.arp.750pix.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Clifton.bridge.arp.750pix.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User Arpingstone on
en.wikipedia
Image:Slum_in_Glasgow,_1871.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Slum_in_Glasgow,_1871.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: DieBuche, Kürschner, Túrelio
Image:Bishopgate.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bishopgate.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: C. Lodge (d.1906)
Image:coaltub.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coaltub.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Original uploader was Peaceupnorth at en.wikipedia
File:Queen Victoria 1887.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Queen_Victoria_1887.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Alexander Bassano (1829–1913)
File:Prince Albert-1842.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Prince_Albert-1842.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Amsal, AndreasPraefcke, DrKiernan, PKM,
Pharos, 4 anonymous edits
File:Сёстры Бронте.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Сёстры_Бронте.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Patrick Branwell Brontë
Image:Alfred Tennyson 2.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Alfred_Tennyson_2.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Dbenbenn, Fayenatic london, Makthorpe,
Siebrand, Wst
Image:Charles Darwin aged 51.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Charles_Darwin_aged_51.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Diwas, Fastfission,
Infrogmation, Kurpfalzbilder.de, Ragesoss, Ryz, Sandpiper, 5 anonymous edits
Image:Beecher-Stowe.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Beecher-Stowe.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: not specified
License 23

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
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