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	{{Infobox Historical Era
			Yorkshire\|Scarborough]] began turning them into major tourist centres, and people like ] saw tourism and even overseas travel as viable businesses.
	\| name = Victorian Era
	\| image = Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano.jpg
	\| caption = ], after whom the era is named.
	\| start = 1837
	\| end = 1901
	\| century=19th
	\| before = Georgian era
	\| after = Edwardian era
	\| monarch = ]
	}}
	{{Periods in English History}}
	The '''Victorian era''' of ] was the period of ]'s reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The Victorian Era style of clothing, however, ended in 1912.<ref>Swisher, Clarice, ed. ''Victorian England'' (2000).</ref> It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and political concerns to the passage of the ].

	The era was preceded by the ] and followed by the ]. The latter half of the Victorian age roughly coincided with the first portion of the '']'' era of continental Europe and the '']'' of the United States.

	Culturally there was a transition away from the ] of the Georgian period and toward ] and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and the arts.<ref>Nicholas Dixon, "From Georgian to Victorian," ''History Review,'' Dec 2010, Issue 68, pp 34–38</ref> The era is popularly associated with the ].

	In international relations the era was a long period of peace, known as the '']'', and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the ] in 1854. The end of the period saw the ]. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in the direction of gradual ], industrial reform and the widening of the ].

	Two especially important figures in this period of British history are the prime ministers Gladstone and Disraeli, whose contrasting views changed the course of history. Disraeli, favoured by the queen, was a gregarious Tory. Gladstone, his rival distrusted by the Queen, a Liberal, served more terms and oversaw much of the overall law-making of the era.

	The ] almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901.<ref>, statistics.gov.uk</ref> Scotland's population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. Ireland's population decreased rapidly, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://homepage.tinet.ie/~cronews/geog/census/popcosum.html \|title=Ireland – Population Summary \|publisher=Homepage.tinet.ie \|date= \|accessdate=2010-08-10}}</ref> At the same time, around 15 million ] left the United Kingdom in the Victorian era and settled mostly in the United States, Canada, and Australia.<ref>. National Museum of Australia</ref>

	During the early part of the era, the ] was headed by the two parties, the ] and the ]. From the late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the ]; the Tories became the ]. These parties were led by many prominent statesmen including ], Sir ], ], ], ], ], and ]. The unsolved problems relating to ] 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 ] of 1916 and the subsequent ] that would play a large part in the fall of the empire.

	==Population in the Victorian era==
	The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented demographic increase in England. The population rose from 13.897 million in 1831 to 32.528 million in 1901. Two major factors affecting population growth are fertility rates and mortality rates. England was the first country to undergo the ] and the ] and ]s.

	Many countries in the 19th century did not increase in population so rapidly and successfully throughout the Industrial Revolution. At the time, some believed this lack of growth outside Britain was due to the ‘]’ theory; ] argued before the start of the Industrial Revolution that it was the tendency of a population to expand beyond the limits of resource sustainability, at which point a crisis (such as famine, war, or epidemic) would reduce the population to a sustainable size. England escaped the ‘Malthusian trap’ because the Industrial Revolution had a positive impact on living standards. People had more money and could improve their standards; therefore, a population increase was sustainable.

	===Fertility rates===
	Fertility rates in the Victorian era increased every decade until 1901 when the rates started evening out.{{Citation needed\|date=April 2011}} There are several reasons for the increase in birth rates. One reason is biological. With living standards improving, the percentage of women who were able to have children increased. Another possible explanation is social. In the 19th century, the marriage rate increased, and the age people were getting married was very young until the end of the 19th century, when the average age of marriage started to increase again slowly. Reasons why people got married younger and more frequently are uncertain. One theory is that greater prosperity allowed people to finance marriage and new households earlier than previously possible. With more births inside marriage it seems inevitable that marriage rates and birth rates would rise together.

	Birth rates were originally measured by the ‘]’ – births per year in population per every thousand people. This is thought not to be accurate enough as key groups and their fertility rates are not clear. It also does not take into account population changes, e.g. same number of births in a smaller population (if men go to war, etc.). It was then changed to be recorded by the ‘Net Reproduction Rate’ that only measured the fertility rate of women who were capable of giving birth.

	The evening out of fertility rates at the beginning of the 20th century was mainly a result of a few big changes: forms of birth control became available, and people's attitude towards sex altered (Bradlaw and Besant published ‘Fruits of Philosophy’, which is a publication about birth control.) ] also became a more widely used practice – with attitudes becoming less negative towards it. Finally, the state banned child labour – attitudes to children changed as they were no longer seen as economical assets.

	===Mortality rates===
	The ] in England changed greatly through the 19th century. There was no catastrophic epidemic or famine in England or Scotland in the 19th century – it was the first century in which a major epidemic did not occur throughout the whole country, with deaths per 1000 of population per year in England and Wales dropping from 21.9 from 1848–54 to 17 in 1901 (contrasting with, for instance, 5.4 in 1971).<ref name=victorian_mortality>{{cite journal\|journal=Social History of Medicine\|year=1988\|volume=1\|pages=1–37\|title=The importance of social intervention in Britain's mortality decline c.1850–1914: A re-interpretation of the role of public health\|first=Simon\|last=Szreter\|doi=10.1093/shm/1.1.1}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> Class had a big effect on mortality rates as the ]es had a lower rate of premature death early in the 19th century than poorer classes did.<ref>Robert W. Fogel, ''The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100: Europe, America, and the Third World'' (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time) (2004) p 40</ref>

	Environmental and health standards rose throughout the Victorian era; improvements in nutrition may also have played a role, although the importance of this is debated.<ref name=victorian_mortality/> Sewage works were improved as was the quality of drinking water. With a healthier environment, diseases were caught less easily and did not spread as much. Technology was also improving because the population had more money to spend on medical technology (for example, techniques to prevent death in childbirth so more women and children survived), which also led to a greater number of cures for diseases. However, a ] epidemic took place in London in 1848–49 killing 14,137, and subsequently in 1853 killing 10,738. This anomaly was attributed to the closure and replacement of ]s by the modern ].<ref>Peter Vinten-Johansen et al. ''Cholera, chloroform, and the science of medicine: a life of John Snow'' (2003) p 355</ref>

	==Culture==
	{{See also\|Victorianism\|Victorian architecture\|Victorian decorative arts\|Victorian fashion}}
	] became increasingly significant during the period, leading to the ] between Gothic and ] ideals. ]'s architecture for the new ], which had been badly damaged in an ], was built in the ] of ], the surviving part of the building. It constructed a narrative of cultural continuity, set in opposition to the violent disjunctions of ], a comparison common to the period, as expressed in ]'s '']'' and ]' '']'' and '']''. Gothic was also supported by critic ], 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 ] of 1851, the first ], which showcased the greatest innovations of the century. At its centre was ], 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 ]. The ], showcased at the Great Exhibition, resulted in significant changes in Victorian art with Queen Victoria being the first British monarch to be photographed. ] was influenced by photography (notably in his portrait of Ruskin) as were other ] artists. It later became associated with the ] and ] techniques that would dominate the later years of the period in the work of artists such as ] and ].

	Industrialization brought with it a burgeoning middle class whose increase in numbers had a significant effect on the social strata itself: cultural norms, lifestyle, values and morality. Identifiable characteristics came to define, in particular, the middle class home. Previously, in town and city, residential space was adjacent to or incorporated into the work site, virtually occupying the same geographical space. The difference between private life and commerce was a fluid one distinguished by an informal demarcation of function. In the Victorian era, English family life increasingly became compartmentalized, the home a self-contained structure housing a nuclear family extended according to need and circumstance to include blood relations. The concept of “privacy” became a hallmark of the middle class life. “...The English home closed up and darkened over the decade (1850s), the cult of domesticity matched by a cult of privacy.” Bourgeois existence was a world of interior space, heavily curtained off and wary of intrusion, and opened only by invitation for viewing on occasions such as parties or teas.<ref>Summerscale, Kate, “The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher,” Walker & Company, 2009, p. 109-110</ref> “The essential, unknowablility of each individual, and society’s collaboration in the maintenance of a façade behind which lurked innumerable mysteries, were the themes which preoccupied many mid-century novelists.” <ref>Summerscale, Kate, “The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher,” Walker & Company, 2009, quoted from Notes: Wohl, A., “The Victorian Family: Structure and Stresses”, Palgrave Macmillan, 1978</ref>

	===Funeral customs===
	In Victorian times people often booked formal funeral photographers when they could afford it. The memorial ] of the ] was taken to create the last visual remembrance of the person, and would usually be displayed in the ] afterward. Occasionally the photographer took pictures of the family at the funeral as well, as this was one of the few times that people would all be together.{{Citation needed\|date=May 2012}}

	==Events==
	;1832: Passage of the first ].<ref name="greenhavenpress">Swisher, Clarice, ed. ''Victorian England''. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. pp. 248–250</ref>
	;1837: Ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne.<ref name="greenhavenpress"/>
	;1840: ] marries ]. He had been ] and granted the British style of '']'' beforehand. For the next 17 years, he was known as ''HRH'' Prince Albert.
	;1840: Birth of the Queen's first child '']''. Within months she was granted the title '']''.
	;1840: ] becomes a British colony, through the ].
	;1841: Birth of the Queen's heir-apparent '']''. He was swiftly made '']''. Sir ] founds the ] dynasty of ].<ref>{{Cite news \|title=Anthony Brooke \|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8365045/Anthony-Brooke.html \|newspaper=] \|date=8 July 2012}}</ref>
	;1842: ]. The ] by the ] in ] results in the death or incarceration of 16,500 soldiers and civilians.<small><ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/1841-a-window-on-victorian-britain-475516.html \|title=1841: A window on Victorian Britain \|publisher=Independent.co.uk \|date=2006-04-25 \|accessdate=2010-08-10 \| location=London \| first=Paul \| last=Vallely}}</ref></small> The ] banned women/children from working in ], ], ] and ] ].<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> '']'' was first published.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.iln.org.uk \|title=Illustrated London News \|publisher=Iln.org.uk \|date= \|accessdate=2010-08-10}}</ref>
	;1843: Birth of ]
	;1844: Birth of ]
	;1845: The ] begins. Within 5 years it would become the UK's ], 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 ].<ref name="greenhavenpress"/>
	;1846: Birth of ]
	;1848: Death of around 2,000 people a week in a ] ].
	;1848: Birth of ]
	;1850: Restoration of the ] hierarchy in Britain.
	;1850: Birth of ]
	;1851: ] (the first World's Fair) is held at the Crystal Palace,<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> with great success and international attention. The ]. In ten years the ]n population nearly tripled.<ref>. Robert Whaples, Wake Forest University.</ref>
	;1853: Birth of ]
	;1854: ]: The United Kingdom declares war on ].
	;1857: The ], a widespread revolt in ] against the rule of the ], is sparked by '']s'' (native Indian soldiers) in the Company's army. The rebellion, involving not just sepoys but many sectors of the Indian population as well, is largely quashed within a year. In response to the ], the East India Company is abolished in August 1858 and India comes under the direct rule of the ], beginning the period of the ]. ] is given the title ''The ]''
	;1857: Birth of ]
	;1858: The ], Lord Palmerston, responds to the ] against French emperor ], the bombs for which were purchased in ], by attempting to make such acts a ]; the resulting uproar forces him to resign.
	;1859: ] publishes '']'', which leads to ].<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> Victoria and Albert's first grandchild, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, is born — he later became ]. ] publishes ], a defense of the famous ].
	;1861: Death of ];<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> Queen Victoria refuses to go out in public for many years, and when she did she wore a widow's ] instead of the crown.
	;1863: ] marries ] at ].
	;1865: ] is published.
	;1866: An angry crowd in ], protesting against ]'s resignation as Prime Minister, is barred from ] by the ]; they tear down iron ] and trample on ]. Disturbances like this convince Derby and Disraeli of the need for further parliamentary reform.
	;1867: The ] passes and ] becomes ].
	;1875: Britain purchased ]'s shares in the ]<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> as the ]n nation was forced to raise money to pay off its ].
	;1876: Scottish-born inventor ] patents the ].
	;1877: ] becomes Grand Duchess of Hesse when her husband succeeds as ]
	;1878: ]. ] becomes a ]. The Princess Alice dies. ]'s husband ] is appointed ]. First incandescent ] by ].
	;1879: The ] is the first major encounter in the ]. Victoria and Albert's first great-grandchild, ], is born.
	;1882: ] begin the ] by taking the Suez Canal, in order to secure the vital ] and passage to India, and the country becomes a ].
	;1883: ] and ] return from ]
	;1884: The ] is founded in London by a group of middle class intellectuals, including ] ], ], and ], to promote ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.fabians.org.uk/publications/extracts/is-this-what-labours-next-clause-four-should-say \|title=Is this what Labour's next Clause four should say? \|publisher=Fabians.org.uk \|date= \|accessdate=2010-08-10}}</ref> ] dies.
	;1886: Prime Minister ] and the Liberal Party tries passing the ], but the ] rejects it.
	;1888: The ] known as ] murders and mutilates five (and possibly more) ] on the streets of London.<ref name="greenhavenpress"/> Victoria's eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, becomes German Empress when her husband succeeds as ]. Within months, Frederick dies, and their son becomes ]. The widowed Vicky becomes the ] Empress as is known as "Empress Frederick".
	;1870 – 1891: Under the ], basic ] becomes free for every child under the age of 10.<ref name="1870 Edu">{{cite web\|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Leducation70.htm\|title=1870 Education Act\|accessdate=2009-09-27}}</ref>
	;1891: Victoria and Albert's last grandchild, ], is born.
	;1892: The Prince of Wales' eldest son ] dies of ].
	;1893: ] succeeds as ] when his uncle dies. The Duchy skips over ] due to his renunciation of his succession rights to that Duchy.
	;1898: British and Egyptian troops led by ] defeat the ]st forces at the battle of Omdurman, thus establishing British dominance in the ]. Winston Churchill takes part in the British cavalry charge at Omdurman.
	;1899: The ] is fought between the British Empire and the two independent ] republics.
	;1900: ] dies. His nephew ] succeeds him, because his brother ] and nephew ] had renounced their rights.
	;1901: The death of Victoria sees the end of this era. The ascension of her eldest son, Edward, begins the ]; albeit considerably shorter, this was another time of great change.

	==Entertainment==
	{{Unreferenced section\|date=March 2010}}
	Popular forms of entertainment varied by ]. Victorian Britain, like the periods before it, was interested in literature (see ], ] and ]), ] and ] (see ] and ]), and ], ], and ] were widely attended. ] was the most popular British ] composer of the period, while the most popular ] was a series of fourteen ] by ], although there was also ] and the beginning of ] in the 1890s. Drama ranged from ] to ] (see ]). There were, however, other forms of entertainment. Gentlemen went to dining clubs, like the ] or the ]. ] at cards in establishments popularly called ]s was wildly popular during the period: so much so that evangelical and reform movements specifically targeted such establishments in their efforts to stop gambling, ], and prostitution.
	] performing at ], 1847\|right]]
	] and 'The ]' 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 ]. It was common to hear the sound of a brass band whilst strolling through ]. At this time musical recording was still very much a novelty.

	The Victorian era marked the golden age of the British ]. ] in Lambeth, London, featuring equestrian acts in a 42-foot wide circus ring, was the epicentre of the 19th century circus. The permanent structure sustained three fires but as an institution lasted a full century, with ] and ] managing the theatre in the middle part of the century. ] would also build his own 14,000-person arena, known commonly as Batty's Hippodrome, in Kensington Gardens and draw crowds from the ]. Travelling circuses, like ]'s, dominated the British provinces, Scotland, and Ireland (Fanque would enjoy fame again in the 20th century when John Lennon would buy an 1843 poster advertising his circus and adapt the lyrics for ] song, '']''). Fanque also stands out as a black man who achieved great success and enjoyed great admiration among the British public only a few decades after Britain had abolished slavery.<ref name="Fairsarefun.net">{{cite web\|url=http://www.fairsarefun.net/html/icon.aspx?id=27&p=4 \|title=19th century Circus Peep behind the scenes \|publisher=Fairsarefun.net \|date=1990-01-06 \|accessdate=2011-04-09}}</ref><ref name="Fairsarefun.net"/>

	Another form of entertainment involved 'spectacles' where paranormal events, such as ], communication with the dead (by way of ] or channelling), ] 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.

	] became increasingly an "amateur" activity. Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist ] such as the ], butterflies, seashells (]/]), beetles and wild flowers. Amateur ] 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 ] 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 ], ], ] and ] began turning them into major tourist centres, and people like ] saw tourism and even overseas travel as viable businesses.

	==Technology and engineering==		==Technology and engineering==

Revision as of 07:29, 23 October 2012

{ Yorkshire|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

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An important development during the Victorian era was the improvement of communication links. Stagecoaches, 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 country but essentials and raw materials such as corn and cotton from the United States and meat and wool 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, had 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.

Suspension bridge between two brick built towers, over a wooded gorge, showing mud and water at the bottom. In the distance are hills. — Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol

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 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of street sewers. Many problems were encountered but the sewers were completed. After this, Bazalgette designed the Thames Embankment which housed sewers, 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 on his patients that anaesthetics became common in the medical profession. In 1847 chloroform was introduced as an anaesthetic by James Young Simpson. Chloroform was favoured by doctors and hospital staff because it is much less flammable than ether, but critics complained that it could cause the patient to have a heart attack. 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). By 1920, chloroform was used in 80 to 95% of all narcoses performed in the UK and German-speaking countries.

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. 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. The teeth were obtained from executed criminals, victims of battlefields, from grave-robbers, and were even bought directly from the desperately impoverished.

Medicine also benefited from the introduction of antiseptics by Joseph Lister in 1867 in the form of Carbolic acid (phenol). 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.

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 a 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 described the situation as follows: "Hideous slums, some of them acres 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." Significant changes happened in the British Poor Law system in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. These included significant expansions in workhouses (or poorhouses in Scotland), although with changing populations during the era.

Child labour

Girl pulling a coal tub in mine. From official report of the parliamentary commission in the mid 19th century.

The Victorian era became notorious for the employment of young children in factories and mines and as chimney sweeps. 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).

The children of the poor were expected to help towards the family budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs for low wages. 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. 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).

"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)

"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)

Children as young as four 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.

Prostitution

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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". Estimates of the number of prostitutes in London in 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). 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 Marriage) 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 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 (where the Jack the Ripper prostitute murders took place), part of the East End of London, by the 1880s (near the end of the 19th century).

References

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Evans and Skinner, Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell, p. 1; Police report dated 25 October 1888, MEPO 3/141 ff. 158–163, quoted in Evans and Skinner, The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook, p. 283; Fido, p. 82; Rumbelow, p. 12

External links

Great Victorian Lives – An Era in Obituaries from The Times
Mostly-Victorian.com A collection of primary-source documents drawn from Victorian periodicals.
The Victorian Dictionary
The Victorian Web
The Twilight City An exploration of vagrancy and streetwalkers in late Victorian London
Victorians British Library history resources about the Victorian era, featuring collection material and text by Liza Picard.
Timelines: Sources from history – British Library interactive
Notable Victorian Scientists and Inventors

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