The Victorian Age

George IV
1820-1830
Prince Regent
1811-1820
 William IV
1830 - 1837

• 1832 – Reform Bill

– contributed to the
democratization of the electoral
process by redistributing the
seats in Parliament.
– Increased the representation of
Ireland and Scotland.
– abolished the “rotten boroughs”.
– abolished the “pocket boroughs”.
 Queen Victoria
1837-1901

• She had the longest rule in the

history of Britain to her days.
• Her life principles and ideals
influenced the mentality of the age.
– Devotion to family;
– Sense of responsibility;
– Obedience to law.
 • Expansion of the British Empire.
The • Britain became the most developed
industrial nation of the world.
Victorian
• The industrial development led to
Age – people’s belief in progress;
– the need for social and political
reform.
 • Measures were taken in public
health, sewerage and water supply
systems.
• Workers organized themselves in
trade unions.

Significant • Child labour was subject to reform by

the limitation of labour hours and
changes age.
• Education acts reformed child
education
 Public schools;
 Compulsory education (5-10).
 The Reform
Movement
• The People’s Charter –
Chartism
improvement of the political
The Chartist system by demanding the right
Movement to vote for all adult male citizens
(1838 – 1848) and the right to become a
member of Parliament without
possessing land.
 • The Reform Bill of 1867 – right
to vote for urban dwellers
• The Reform Bill of 1884 – right
Political to vote for agricultural workers
Changes • 1872 – right to vote in secret
• 1918 – right to vote for men and
women
 • In the 1830s there were two
political parties.
Victorian – The Whigs became the
Politics Liberal Party.
– The Tories became the
Conservative Party.
 • The Liberal policy
– Government reform;
– Free trade;
– Right to vote for a larger
Victorian percentage of Britain’s
population.
policies • The Conservative policy
– Supported the monarchy and
Britain’s imperialist
tendencies.
 William
Gladstone
and
Benjamin
Disraeli
 • Promoted the reform process in
Britain by
– extending the suffrage to the
working classes;
– passing legislation to improve
housing and working conditions
Benjamin for the poor.
Disraeli • His main goal was to protect the
British Empire.
• In 1875, he purchased half of the
Suez Canal, increasing Britain’s
influence abroad.
 • Supported free trade and
parliamentary and social reform.
• Had anti-imperialist views.
William • Introduced the concept of strong
Gladstone government and created an image of
stability in Britain.
• Tried to find a solution to the Irish
problem (home rule).
 • war fought mainly on the
The Crimean Peninsula between the
Russians and the British,
Crimean French, and Ottoman Turkish,
War with support from January 1855
by the army of Sardinia-
1853 - 1856 Piedmont.

Source: Britannica
 Florence
Nightingale
• British nurse, statistician, and social
reformer who was the foundational
philosopher of modern nursing.
Nightingale was put in charge of
nursing British and allied soldiers in
Turkey during the Crimean War.
• She spent many hours in the wards,
and her night rounds giving personal
care to the wounded established her
image as the “Lady with the Lamp.”
Source: Britannica
 • By the end of the 19th century, the British
The Second Empire comprised nearly one-quarter of
the world’s land surface and more than
British one-quarter of its total population.
Empire
Source: Britannica
 India
• The British imposed
their institutions and
values to India.
• They created a unified
country ruled by
governors – generals
who applied the
British law and civil
service system.
 Africa
• There was competition between the
European powers.
• The British drove the French from
Egypt and gained control of the Suez
Canal.
• Britain came into conflict with
Germany and Holland in an effort to
control the eastern coast of the
continent.
The Great Exhibition
1851
 The Crystal Palace
Designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition
 • The style of architecture and furniture was rather
eclectic, in an effort to adapt earlier styles to the
needs of the industrial age.
Victorian Art • The Gothic Revival Style
• The Houses of Parliament, designed by Charles
Barry in 1835 and completed in 1860
The Tower Bridge
Opened in 1894
 • Intellectual and rational
• Meditation, introspection, emotional analysis
Victorian Poetry • Philosophical and ethical dimension
Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning
 • A highly Protean form, sensitive to changes in
the society
Victorian Novel • Realism
Thomas Hardy, William Makepeace Thackerary,
Charles Dickens, George Eliot
 John Stuart Mill
• Utilitarianism is the system of
thought according to which the useful
is the good and good are those
actions that produce happiness
• He supported equality for women,
birth control, compulsory education.
 John Ruskin
• Reaction against materialism
and commercialism.
• Beauty and vitality can be
obtained by reacting against the
indutrial society.
 Thomas Carlyle
• Reaction against materialism
and commercialism.
• He insisted on the nobility of life
through work, courage and
discovery of the godlike in man.
 Charles Darwin
• English naturalist whose scientific theory of
evolution by natural selection became the
foundation of modern evolutionary studies.
• Darwin formulated his bold theory in private
in 1837–39, after returning from a voyage
around the world aboard HMS Beagle, but
it was not until two decades later that he
finally gave it full public expression in On
the Origin of Species (1859), a book that
has deeply influenced modern Western
society and thought.
Source: Britannica