QUEEN VICTORIA

Queen Victoria had the second longest Reign after Queen’s Elizabeth II and her reign went from 1837
to 1901: with her 60 years of power it has been one of the longest reigns ever.
The Victorian Age was one of the most fascinating periods in British history, since it witnessed
scientific, industrial and technological advances; a rapid expansion of the British Empire and growing
wealth for the nation, but also dire problems of overcrowding, poverty and vice.
During this time Europe was characterized by multiple revolutions, but there weren’t revolutions in
England since the Whig government had already granted the reforms the middle class was asking for.

LIFE
When Victoria was born, she was fifth in line for the crown and it seems unlikely that she would ever
become queen.
However, after several of her uncles failed to have children, Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle
William IV when she was only 18.
She had a really sad childhood and in her young reign she was supported by her governess.
1840-> she married her cousin prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; and their family soon became a
Model Family, characterized by hard workers, duty, prayers and a strict moral code to follow,
followed also by their nine children.

During her reign, Queen Victoria shaped a new role for the Royal family, reconnecting it with the
public through civic duties and a profound understanding of her constitutional role:
1832-> with the Reform bill, the adult males from the middle class claimed the right to vote (right to
vote was granted to adult males out of age (21 or more years of age) and owning a property worth 10
pounds, that was a considerable sum at the time).
1833-> Factory Act reduced work hours to 49 hours per week for children and to 69 for young adults
(up to 18 years old).
1834-> Poor Law Amendment Act, which established the institutions of the Workhouses:
you’ll have food if you give me your work.

WORKHOUSES
The Workhouses were runned by Parishes (church) and the Shelters had to assure long work shifts.
In the workhouses males were separated from females and food conditions were really bad (like
porridge).
Poor families were admitted and had to work in exchange for food and a mattress on the floor of
overcrowded rooms: hygienic and economic conditions were terrible and these conditions were the
result of the doctrine of methodists.
METHODISM
Mathodisms wants to give people bad conditions of life because people will work the hardest they can
to try to improve it.
Methodism requests work to be a better person and Victorian society was deeply permeated in this
religious movement (that was derived by Wesley) and that was based on
● hard work,
● sobriety, reward,
● punishment and
● charity activities,
while Sunday was a sacral day and no one would work.

REFORMS
Discontent among the workers gave rise to the Chartist Movement, which became the first mass
movement driven by the working class and it paved the way to the Ten Hours Act; the Reform Bill of
1867 and the Reform Bill of 1884.
1847-> Queen Victoria wrote the Ten Hours Act with which the work hours were reduced to 10 hours
per day.
1867 -> the Second reform Act (that was favored by the chartist movement) gave the right to vote
(which was granted to all males from the middle class), out of age and skilled to work.
Some intellectuals of the time (aristocracy) were openly against these reforms: Ruskin stated that this
way democracy was created and it would destroy high culture.

POLITICAL PARTIES
During the Victorian Age, the dominant political parties changed and the Government alternated
between two political parties:
● The Whighs evolved into the Liberal Party led by Gladstone and
● the Tories became the Conservatuve Party, led by Disraely, who was more interested in
domestic affairs and in political reforms and was responsible for the Third Reform Act
(1884), with which all males out of age belonging to the middle class gained the right to vote.
1875-> Disraeli passed the Trade Union Acts, which gave full legality to the associations of workers
that were finally allowed: thanks to this Act, women started their fight for emancipation with the
suffragettes.

COMMUNICATION
During this time communication took a great step forward too with the invention of the telegram and
of the typewriter, which allowed women to work in offices making their job become respectable.
MUSHROOM TOWNS
During Queen Victoria’s reign the aspect of the country changed dramatically; and Mushroom towns
(Towns around factories) like London were created.
London became more and more beautiful and new services were offered: the London underground
started to be built in 1854 and commuters could travel quickly and cheaply all over England thanks to
new railways built to transport raw materials, products, but also people.
The population of London increased from about 1 million in 1800 to over 6 million in 1900 but this
growth meant that London could not satisfy the basic needs of its inhabitants and their lives were
characterized by poor sanitation.
Gradually, services were introduced such as water, gas and lighting which improved the lives of the
town.
Commoners got used to reading newspapers, magazines, books and the middle class started to be
educated.

GREAT EXHIBITION
Although the mid-Victorian period (1848-1870) was not free of problems, it was a time of prosperity,
optimism and stability and in
1851-> Prince Albert convinced his wife to set the GREAT EXHIBITION making the age of
optimism cumine In the Autumn of 1850, when the most extraordinary structure arose in London.
The building was a giant iron and glass greenhouse covering nineteen acres of ground.
It was the biggest building on earth and was known as the Palace of the Great Exhibition of the Work
of Industry of All Nations, to showcase British progress in the first international exhibition the world
had ever seen.
The building was unexpectedly designed by a 22 year old gardener: Joseph Paxton, who envisioned a
huge greenhouse, only made of iron and glass.
It cost 80 000 pounds and from start to finish, and the work took about thirty-five weeks.
During the six months it was open, over 6 million people visited the great Exhibition and with his
186 000 pounds profit was used to the
● Albert Hall,
● the Victoria and Albert Museum and
● the Natural History Museum.
The objects on display came from all parts of the world, including India, Australia and New Zealand
but half of the total was from the Great Britain of the Empire.
Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor, and the building remained standing in Hyde Park until the
summer of 1852, while people decided that to do with it; iit was then moved to a new park until it has
been destroyed by fire on November 30th, 1936.
THE LAST YEARS OF QUEEN VICTORIA (1861-1901)
The first four decades of Victoria’s reign were marked by optimism, prosperity and stability.
Victorians were convinced of their superiority and believed it was their moral duty to export their
language, culture and traditions to the “uncivilized” lands.
The second period of Queen Victoria’s reign started in 1861, when Prince Albert died: to Victoria it
was the beginning of a period of a deep meaning since she never appeared in public if not for her
golden (50 years) and Diamond (60 years) jubilees. (she has been the first woman to celebrate a
diamond jubilee).

Queen Victoria was at the end of the Greatest Empire (for extension) and Disraeli had her crowned
Empress of India in 1877 while the Empire arrived to embrace all continents.
Queen Victoria “stole” a quotation from emperor Charles V:
“on mykingdom the sun never sets”: she used it as a caption under the maps that she wanted to be
attached outside schools: Queen Victoria in fact, granted education to children.
The Age was characterized by the so-called Victorian Compromise (a mixture between a very strict
moral code based on personal ethics); which affected the middle class and was based on the concept
of respectability: in offers to be respectable, a man should:
● posses a house with servants
● possess a carriage
● have a faithful wife and children
● do charity
● attend mass on sundays.

UTILITARIANISM (positivismo)
Utilitarianism was another preeminent ideology of the Victoriam middle class and it has been
introduced by Bentheim (a scottish philosopher), who supported the idea that only what is useful is
good, and that all moral, social and political actions should be directed to the greatest good for the
greatest possible number of people.
Utilitarianism was based on Happiness, which should be granted to the most number of people.
Happiness was the fulfillment of one’s potential: the success in life, that is money, which was
reachable only improving the economic situation.
Education was based on this idea: operate perfect workers who could be a benefit for the country.
Charles Dickens criticized it with his novel Hard Times.