The Victorians

Queen Victoria was born in 1882. She had eleven brothers and sisters Queen Victoria was born in 1882. She had eleven brothers and sisters. When she was young she was never left alone as her mother feared she might be murdered by one of her uncles.

Victoria fell in love with a man called Albert, who was German Victoria fell in love with a man called Albert, who was German. She proposed to him in 1840 and they were married soon after.

Victoria and Albert had nine children Victoria and Albert had nine children. Victoria loved having photographs and paintings done of her with Albert and their children. Let’s look at some of them.

In 1840 Albert died of Typhoid In 1840 Albert died of Typhoid. Victoria was devastated as she loved Albert very much

December- 1861 (Reference the death of Prince Albert) "Never can I forget how beautiful my darling looked lying there with his face lit up by the rising sun, his eyes unusually bright gazing as it were on unseen objects and not taking notice of me.  I stood up, kissed his dear heavenly forehead and called out in a bitter agonizing cry: 'Oh! my dear darling!', and then dropped on my knees in mute, distracted despair unable to utter a word or shed a tear."   

After Albert died she wore black for the rest of her life.

In 1863 John Brown saved Victoria when she was involved in two carriage accidents. They became good friends, and she was so upset when he died in 1883 that she never rode a horse again.

Queen Victoria died in 1901, when she was 83 Queen Victoria died in 1901, when she was 83. She was buried in a white dress and her wedding veil. London was decorated in white and purple for the occasion.

She was buried beside Albert in Windsor Castle.

Victorian Life Victorians [who had lots of money] loved to decorate their homes with rich fabrics and very ornate furniture. They also liked to decorate the walls with paintings and photographs.

Children In Victorian Times

At the beginning of Victorian times, children without rich parents would be working, often when still very young. What they wore and what they did would not seem like childhood to us - they just did jobs they were supposedly suited to; and they wore smaller versions of the clothes adults wore, or even adult clothes cut down and rolled up to make them fit.

Many Victorians themselves realised that life was tough on working children. These pictures are typical of their sort. It's interesting that most pictures like this, published in magazines of the times, were meant to make you feel sorry for the children in the pictures... but not intended to be too realistic. They very often look far too clean!

Children of richer families would have education, and many other things, though their clothes were still mostly smaller versions of what the adults wore. By 1901, all children were legally supposed to be attending school. The Earl of Shaftsbury's reforms meant that it was illegal for young children to have to work such long hours as they had earlier. Rich children would still have education at fee paying schools. Clothes were beginning to be more different for children.

Crime And Punishment

Before Victorian times no distinction was made between criminals of any age. Accordingly, young children could be sent to an adult prison. There are records of children aged 12 being hanged. The Victorians were very worried about crime and its causes. Reformers were asking questions about how young people who had broken the law ought to be treated. They could see that locking children up with adult criminals was hardly likely to make them lead honest lives in the future. On the other hand, they believed firmly in stiff punishments. In 1854 Reformatory Schools were set up for offenders under 16 years old. These were very tough places, with stiff discipline enforced by frequent beatings. Young people were sent there for long sentences – usually several years. However, a young offender normally still began their sentence with a brief spell in an adult prison.

The Victorians also had clear ideas about what and prisons should be like. They wanted them to be unpleasant places, so as to try stop people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.