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. 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.

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 characterised 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] Scotland's population also doubled 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.
[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.

Population in the Victorian era

The Victorian era saw the biggest change in England’s history, with the population rising from
13.897 million in 1831 to 32.528 million in 1901. The two main factors that affect a population
are - fertility rates and mortality rates. England was the first country to undergo an Industrial
Revolution. Many countries in the 19th century didn’t manage to increase the population so
rapidly and successfully throughout the Industrial Revolution - believed mainly to be because of
the ‘Malthusian trap’ theory; Thomas Malthus argued that ‘in every age and in every state’ the
population increase was unsuccessful because of the lack of subsistence. He had a very negative
view on the increase of population, which he viewed in 1798 - just before the start of the
Industrial Revolution. 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.

Fertility rates

Fertility rates in the Victorian era increased every decade until 1901 when the rates started
evening out. There have been many explanations for the increase in birth rates. Biological
reasons are the first possible explanation - with the standards of living being improved the
percentage of women who were able to have children increased. Another possible explanation
for why fertility rates increased are social reasons - in the 19th century 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 started getting
married younger and more frequently are unsure - but one explanation could be that with people
having more money, they were able to use the money to get married. With more births inside
marriage it seems inevitable that marriage rates and birth rates would rise together. Birth rates
were originally measure by the ‘Crude Birth Rate’, which is - 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.) Abortion also became a more widely used practice - with attitudes becoming
less negative towards it. Finally, the state stopped children working - attitudes to children
changed as they were no longer seen as economical assets.

Mortality rates

The mortality rates in England changed dramatically through the 19th century. The main thing to
note is that there was no major epidemic in the 19th century - the first century in which an
epidemic did not occur, with deaths per 1000 of population dropping from 22.4 from 1841-50 to
14.4 from 1911-20. Class has a big effect on mortality rates as the upper classes begin to reject
death much earlier in the 19th century than the lower classes do. The improvements in the
environment were being improved throughout the Victorian era, from the sewage works being
improved to the condition of drinking water being improved; with the environment improving,
diseases were caught less easily and not spread as much. In addition, technology was improving
because of the population having more money to put towards medical technology - this means
technology to prevent death in childbirth so more women and children were surviving. It also
meant that there were cures for diseases and illnesses being created

However, a cholera epidemic took place in London in 1848-49 killing 14,137, and subsequently
in 1853, killing 10,738. The reason is attributed to closure of the cesspits, which were to be
replaced by the more modern sewerage system.

[edit] 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, and
Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and 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.

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 country but essentials
such as corn from the America and meat 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.

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.

Glasgow slum in 1871

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.[11]
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.[12]
In 1847 chloroform was introduced as an anaesthetic by James Young Simpson.[13] Chloroform
was favored 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.[13] 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).[14] By 1920, chloroform was used in 80 to 95% of all
narcoses performed in UK and German-speaking countries.[13]

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.[15] 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.
[15][16]
The teeth were obtained from executed criminals, victims of battlefields, from grave-
robbers, and were even bought directly from the desperately impoverished.[15]

Medicine also benefited from the introduction of antiseptics by Joseph Lister in 1867 in the form
of Carbolic acid (phenol).[17] 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.[17]

[edit] Poverty

Part of Charles Booth's poverty map showing the Old Nichol, a slum in the East End of London.
Published 1889 in Life and Labour of the People in London. The red areas are "middle class,
well-to-do", light blue areas are “poor, 18s to 21s a week for a moderate family”, dark blue areas
are “very poor, casual, chronic want”, and black areas are the "lowest class...occasional
labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals".
Working class life in Victorian Wetherby, West Yorkshire

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 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."[18]