1. The Victorian Age ( )
Sambourne House, London.

2. Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842
The Victorian Age
1. Queen Victoria
Victoria became queen at the age of 18; she was graceful and self-assured. She probably never expected to become Queen of England, as she was fifth in line to the throne.
Her reign was the longest in British history. She took a keen interest in the government of the country, even though she was a “constitutional monarch”.
Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842

3. Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842
The Victorian Age
1. Queen Victoria
In 1840 she married a German prince, her cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg.
They had nine children and their modest family life provided a model of respectability.
When Albert died, Victoria retired and went into morning for 13 years.
During this time Britain changed dramatically.
Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842

4. 2. The growth of the British Empire
The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
England grew to become the greatest nation on earth
British Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India.

5. British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
Great Britain imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world.

6. British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
By the mid-1800s, Great Britain was the largest exporter and importer of goods in the world. It was the primary manufacturer of goods and the wealthiest country in the world.

7. British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.
Because of England’s success, the British felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world.

8. 2. The growth of the British Empire
The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
The expanding Empire offered lots of opportunity for explorers to discover new regions and to preach Christianity to the natives.
David Livingstone: he travelled to Africa and discovered the waterfall
on the Zambezi river, which he named the Victoria Falls
Mary Kingsley was another explorer,
who travelled alone to unexplored parts of West Africa
HMS Warrior

9. 3. An age of social, political
The Victorian Age
3. An age of social, political
and education reforms
1832: The First Reform Act granted the vote to almost all male members of middle-class.
1833: The Factory Act regulated child labour in factories.
1834: Poor Law Amendment established a system of workhouses for poor people.
1842: Women and children under 10 years were banned from underground work in mines

10. and education reforms 3. An age of social, political
The Victorian Age
3. An age of social, political
and education reforms
1867: The Second Reform Act gave the vote to skilled working men.
1870: A national system of schools was set up and funded by local taxes
1871: Trade Union Act legalised trades unions.
1884: The Third Reform Act granted the right to vote to all male householders.
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11. The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869)
The Victorian Age
4. The woman’s question
Women’s suffrage did not happen until 1918.
Suffragettes
The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869)

12. Workers in a Tobacco Factory
The Victorian Age
5. Positive aspects of the age
Industrial revolution: factory system emerged; for the first time in Britain’s history there were more people who lived in cities than in the countryside.
Technological advances: introduction of steam hammers and locomotives; building of a network of railways.
Workers in a Tobacco Factory

13. Workers in a Tobacco Factory
The Victorian Age
5. Positive aspects of the age
Economical progress: Britain became the greatest economical power in the world; in 1901 the Usa became the leader, but Britain remained the first in manufacturing.
Workers in a Tobacco Factory

14. The Victorian Age
6. Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851; it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
It was made of iron and glass, exhibited hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools, power looms, power reapers and steamboat engines.
The Crystal Palace

15. 7. Negative aspects of the age
The Victorian Age
7. Negative aspects of the age
Pollution in towns due to factory activity.
Lack of hygienic conditions: houses were overcrowded, most people lived in miserable conditions; poor houses shared water supplies.
London in 1872
Homeless Boys (1880)

16. Caricature appearing on the magazine «Punch» in 1858
The Victorian Age
8. The “Great Stink”
Epidemics, like cholera, thyphoid, caused a high mortality in towns. They came to a peak in the Great Stink of 1858.
This expression was used to describe the terrible smell in London, coming from the Thames.
Caricature appearing on the magazine «Punch» in 1858

17. 9. The Victorian compromise
The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise
The Victorians were great moralisers  they supported: personal duty, hard work, decorum, respectability, chastity.
‘Victorian’, synonym for prude, stood for extreme repression; even furniture legs had to be concealed under heavy cloth not to be “suggestive”.
W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, , London, Tate Britain.

18. 9. The Victorian compromise
The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise
The middle-class was obsessed with gentility, respectability, decorum.
Respectability  distinguished the middle from the lower class.
Decorum meant:
Victorian private lives were dominated by an authoritarian father.
Women were subject to male authority; they were expected to marry and make home a “refuge” for their husbands.
John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.

19. Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection.
The Victorian Age
10. Key thinkers
Karl Marx and his studies about the harm caused by industrialism in man’s life.
Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection.
Karl Marx
Charles Darwin

20. The Victorian Age
11. The rise of the novel
The Victorians were avid consumers of literature. They borrowed books from circulating libraries and read various periodicals. Literature was the television of the age.
Charles Dickens was the most famous novelist
Other famous writers included Bram Stoker,
the Brönte sisters, Robert louis Stephenson, Lewis Carrol and Arthur Conan Doyle

21. The Victorian Age
11. The rise of the novel
Novels made their first appearance in instalments on the pages of periodicals.
The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier between «right» and «wrong», light and darkness.
The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists was the town.
Victorian writers concentrated on the creation of characters and achieved a deeper analysis of their inner life.