Liceul Teoretic Mikes Kelemen

LUCRARE DE ATESTAT LA
LIMBA ENGLEZA
Perioada Victorian
Victorian Age
PROMOIA 2010-2011

Profesor coordonator: SZCS-TORMA KATALIN

ELEV: Erdei Andrea
CLASA: a XII-a C

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................3
ChapterI: History
Victorian Era.....................................................................................................................4
Queen Victoria.................................................................................................................5
Pax Britannica "the British Peace"............................................................................9
Crimean War.................................................................................................................9
ChapterII: Social problems
Child Labour...................................................................................................................11
Poverty.........................................................................................................................11
Prostitution.....................................................................................................................14
The brothels of 1875................................................................................................15
Solutions to Prostitution.........................................................................................15
Women.........................................................................................................................16
ChapterIII: Interesting facts
Entertainment................................................................................................................18
Inventions.......................................................................................................................19
Conclusion......................................................................................................................22
Bibliography...................................................................................................................23

Introduction

It is always difficult to post comments and judge on values, morals and

achievements of a society when so many years had past, especially on the entire
history of anothers nation.
Though, it is not related to my nations nor my countrys past, my interest
had been grasped from the very first moment I learned about the notorious and
famous age known as the Victorian Area, a period of stark contradictions. It was
an age filled with sadness, poverty and sorrow, yet at the same time with joy,
wealth, and compelling improvements.
Unlike any other ages, the extraordinary Victorian period of the British
history, has always excited mixed emotions in me. I cannot view it with a positive
point of view nor with a negative one. Both aspects were strongly opposed yet it
could exist alongside with the other. One of my motivations for writing this work is
to understand and learn more about this enigmatic area.
It was a period which brought major changes in the history of British
people, on the fields of science, culture, art and society. There were great and
monumental advances in engineering, technology, medicine and arts and there
were few attempts too tackle with the causes and effects of indigence. This era
had been a period of prosperity as well as poverty and development within the
British Empire allowing the Victorian Britain to become the worlds richest nation.
In my work I will present the Victorian area in its all might as well as the
cost of the gained power, fame and wealth.

Victorian Era
The Victorian era lasted from June 1837 to January 1901, when Queen
Victoria reigned. This period is often called as a long period of peace known as
Pax Britannica, however it was once disrupted by the Crimean War.

Few could deny that the age of Victoria brought incredible changes to
British society. There was, for instance an extraordinary growth in the number of
population, rising from 25 million to 40 million jut within a few years due to the
incredibly fast improvement of health conditions and medicine. Due to the quick
and huge rise in population, forms of birth control and abortion became a widely
used practice. With the improvement of the environment diseases were caught
less easily: sewage works were improved alongside with drinking water.
The main achievement in this period had been in the field of arts. The
Victorian Britain had all the distinctive geniuses like Charles Dickens (e.g.: The
Adventures of Oliver Twist), Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Charles Darwin
(On the Origin of Species), Bram Stoker (Dracula) etc.
During this period the development of a bigger, stronger and more
educated middle class took place. Education had been reorganized alongside
with attitudes towards it, although many children during that area were forced to
choose work over school in order to earn a modest and revoltingly low wage to
ensure their everyday needs. These Children were often forced and given hard
and dangerous jobs in mines or factories. They were the perfect tools to fit in
places where an adult cannot reach, to fix or to obtain certain things.
Despite its dark and sorrowful side it was a truly remarkable age, with the longest
reign in British history and with a proud, fearsome and powerful ruler, Queen
Victoria. During her domination, as her name forecasts, the Victorian Britain was
truly a victorious nation, with tremendous achievements.

Queen Victoria
Alexandrina Victoria or better known as Queen Victoria was a monarch
who ruled the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until her death(24 May
1819 22 January 1901). Her reign was marked by a great expansion of the
British Empire which became the foremost global power. Due to her
achievements, Victoria became the iconic symbol of the entire British nation and
empire.

She inherited the throne at the age of 18 after her father's three elder
brothers died. She ascended the throne when the ruling class held few direct
political powers, but despite this fact she still attempted to influence government.
Her childhood, as Victoria, herself described was rather melancholy. Due
to her mother over protective behavior she was isolated from other children and
was raised under the so called Kensington System. The system prevented the
princess from meeting people whom her mother considered undesirable
(including most of her fathers family).
On 24 May 1837 Victoria turned 18, and regency was avoided, which
meant that she became the direct ruler of Britain with no supervision. Her
coronation took place on 28 June 1838. At her own will on the first day as a
queen she withdrawn her first name (Alexandrina) and was never used again. At
this time, the government was led by the Whig Prime Minister Lord Melbourne,
who became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced Queen, whom
Victoria relied on for advice very often.
Though she was a queen, as an unmarried young woman Victoria was
required by social convention to live with her mother, who she deeply
despised. Her mother was sent to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace
after Victoria ascended the throne, and she often refused to meet or visit her. In
order to avoid her mothers proximity, Victoria was suggested to get married. The
idea came as a shock to the young Queen and resisted the attempts which tried
to rush her into wedlock, but eventually she married her first cousin, Prince
Albert, who replaced Lord Melbourne as an influential political figure.
Due to Alberts help, relation between mother and daughter slowly
improved. Their 9 children and 42 grandchildren married into royal families
across the continent, earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".
Her first child was named after her mother, Victoria. Despite the fact that she and
her husband had 9 children, the Queen hated being pregnant, viewed breastfeeding with disgust, and thought newborn babies were ugly. She was often
identified as harsh and cold woman with strict personal morality standards.
In March 1861, Victoria's mother died, with Victoria at her side. Through
reading her mother's papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her
very deeply. To help and cheer his wife during her deep grief, Albert took on most
of her duties, despite being very ill himself. When his husband died on
14 December 1861, Victoria blamed her own son who caused Albert troubles.
5

During Victorias reign there were several attempts to assassinate her.

One of the attempts was during Victorias first pregnancy, in the first few months
of her marriage, while she was riding in a carriage with her husband. The culprit
was found guilty, but was acquitted being declared as insane.
With 63 years and 7 months, her reign as Queen lasted longer than of any other
British monarch. Victoria's death brought an end to the rule of the House of
Hanover in the United Kingdom. Her reign was also remarkable for maintaining
the longest period of peace called Pax Britannica, the British peace.

Pax Britannica "the British Peace"

The Victorian era is often called a long period of peace, known as Pax
Britannica. The term, Pax Britannica, refers to a period of British imperialism after
the battle of Waterloo. During this time Europe was enjoying relative peace
(18151914), with fewer wars and political feuds. The British Empire became a
key figure in political life. It controlled most of the naval trade routs and enjoyed
unchallenged sea power. It was thought that the only adversary of the British
naval force was Germany.
Due to the growth in power of the British nation, they soon started to
expand their powers overseas which resulted Britain in becoming the most
dominant power in oversea markets. Because of the thirst of acquiring more and
bigger power, a war broke out which disrupted the so called British Peace.
Crimean War
This long period of peace was temporarily interrupted by the Crimean War,
fought between October 1853 and February 1856. This war involved Europes
largest states including the British and French Empire against the Russian
Empire. The war took place mostly on the Crimean peninsula. This war was
actually a contest between the major European powers for influence over
territories of the Ottoman Empire which was falling apart.
These events were caused by Napoleon III who sent an ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire to force the Ottomans to recognize France as the supreme
authority in the Holy Land, however Russia was against of this change and
became an adversary. This act and move taken by Russia against the European
powers was, however, reasonable. During this period Russia was the protector of
the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon III sent an army
against the sultan with the intention of forcing him to sign a new treaty which
confirmed that France and the Roman Catholic Church was recognized as the
supreme Christian authority in the Holy Land. This would meant that France
would have had control over the entire Christian holy places on the Ottoman
territory, which the Russian Empire could not accept.
8

The Crimean War is sometimes regarded as one of the first "modern"

wars. This war saw the first tactical use of railways and other modern inventions
such as the electric telegraph, with the first 'live' war reporting to The Times
by William Howard Russel. This war was also notorious for the military and
logistical errors of the British army.
The war also led to the establishment of the Victoria Cross ( the
highest military decoration).

Although the war had ended in 1856 and seemed that the British Peace
could carry on with no disputes and wars, unfortunately there were still battles to
be fought within society, as it was in a critical state. Child labour and prostitution
were problems which could not be neglected. There were few attempts to tackle
with these problems however some remained unresolved or only half solution
were found, because the interest of some had opposed to these changes.

Child Labour
The Victorian era became notorious for the employment of young
children in factories and mines and as chimney sweepers. Child labour was often
9

caused by economic hardship and played an important role in the industrial

revolution.
Poverty
Most people during the Victorian age had very large families and most of
them struggled to keep their families alive. They lived in poverty and took
whatever means that was necessary to overcome their hardship. The children of
the poor were expected to help their family, often working long hours in
dangerous jobs for low wages. Children were forced to work as young as six
years old. In coal mines children began work at the age of 5 and generally died
before the age of 25.
There were many ways that children could enter the workforce. Orphaned
children were often sent to a distant mill or factory owner to be fed and cared for
while working only for the sake of eating and sleeping. Others were sold to a
business owner by their parents for a certain number of years. Other, more
fortunate working children lived with their families while working full-time. Charles
Dickens, for example, worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his
family in a debtors prison. Quick and fast working boys were employed as
chimney sweepers, small children were employed to scramble under machinery
to retrieve or fix certain things. They were also employed to work in coal mines,
crawling through tunnels too narrow and low for adults. Children also worked as
errand boys, crossing sweepers (a person who would sweep a path ahead of
people crossing dirty urban streets in exchange for money), or shoe blacks, or
selling matches, flowers, and other cheap goods.
Younger children might have started out working as street sweepers,
"scavengers" or by selling newspapers. Scavengers were children who searched
through trash, rubbish for items they could sell to junk stores, or even to their
neighbors.

Children were raised and treated differently in the Victorian Age. There
were some employers who didn't think that there was anything wrong with hiring
young children to work. They believed that by hiring these children, they would
eventually grow-up as responsible, hard workers. Many of the jobs that children
were hired for were often very hard, and dangerous.

10

While some factory owners and leaders rose their voice against putting
children to work so young, others hired children because they didn't have to be
paid as much as adults did. Working hours were long. Some of them had to work
62 hours per week and others 80. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour
days.
There were several Factory Acts (1819-1878) which restricted the work of
children, however it did not end it completely. Along with the Factory Acts, there
was the "Ten-Hour Movement" which limited shifts to ten hours.
Sometimes children who went to work and were often away from adult
supervision would fall into criminal activity. They would end up involved in things
like gambling, stealing, and sometimes even prostitution. The majority of
prostitutes in London were between 15 and 22 years old.

11

Children working in
factories

Child working in mine

Prostitution
Prostitution was an acceptable behavior in the Victorian area. They were
viewed as women having their way.
In the Victorian area, the number of women working on the streets
became increasingly high, which became to be known as The Great Social Evil.
Women who became prostitutes were called as fallen women.
Prostitution and the term "fallen woman" became a basic theme of midVictorian literature and politics. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution
with the mechanisation and industrialisation of modern life, portraying prostitutes
as consumable goods which could be thrown away. Prostitutes were often
presented as victims in sentimental literature such as Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.
The emphasis on the purity of women resulted that prostitutes were seen as dirty,
corrupted, and in need of cleansing.
12

During this time in history a pure woman could not wear make up or
jewelry, show her legs or hold any job besides that of a servant or teacher, nor
own property. Their jobs were to bare children, take care of the household and
their husbands. The needs of a woman simply didnt exist.
Economic poverty and lack of education were one of the million causes of
girls turning towards prostitution. Several prostitutes were asked why they had
turned to this way of life and they gave a number of different reasons. For
instance, some women had been expelled from their homes and found
prostitution the only way to support themselves. Other girls were forced into
prostitution in order for their families to survive. A number of women would turn to
prostitution simply as an escape from typical professions.
Many of the girls expected to remain prostitutes only until something better
became available, but once they got in to this job, they could hardly escape or
never from it. Immigrant women who had arrived to the country without money
could only choose prostitution. The conditions for women in the Victorian period
caused many young teenagers and women to turn towards this kind of job as a
means of survival.
The brothels of 1875
Mary Jeffries ran the most exclusive brothel in the Victorian Era. Her chief
assistant was a Mrs. Travers. She kidnapped children by offering to watch them
while the parents went to gather their luggage or buy tickets.

Solutions to Prostitution
There were several attempts to find a solution but all of them seemed to
raise just as many problems. There were two groups that worked on the solution
against prostitution
One of the groups consisted of reformers and Christians who wanted to
completely end prostitution and educate children to stay away from it. They
looked only the side of moral traditions, believing that prostitution was the
ultimate social evil. When these Christians did offer to help, it was through
repentance. If the prostitutes wanted to repent and turn towards God then they
were offered hospitality, if not they were cursed and left alone.
The other group tried to resolve this matter by legalizing prostitution.
Police and physicians supported the idea of legalizing prostitution and they were
13

not moved by religious enthusiasm rather they were more concerned about
controlling diseases and crimes.
Although these were noble efforts (thoughts), unfortunately it had its
drawbacks. The ending of prostitution would meant that women who could not
find any job, would have no means of survival. Prostitutes were in this kind of
business because they needed money to survive.

Women
The life of lower class women in the Victorian area was rather cruel.
Women were the ones who ran the house, made meals, grew everything that the
family ate, took care of the sick, sewed and had many other duties which they
had to tackle with day by day. They were seen as temples of love and purity,
therefore they were strongly forbidden and punished if they became prostitutes or
cheated on their husband. It was legal for a husband if an incident like that
happened to divorce and beat his wife, with a stick, provided it was not thicker
than a thumb.
Women of lower class sometimes had to enter the workforce in order to
support themselves. They mostly worked in factories.
Middle class women had to stick to strict rules. They were allowed to do
jobs which were considered appropriate for women: teaching, writing or doing
social activities.
Young noble ladies were expected to be educated, they were required to
be practiced in the field of arts in order to fit their future husband. They had to
know singing, dancing, drawing, painting and speaking French. Higher class
women enjoyed the benefits of nobility and did little or almost none home chores.
They rather ordered their servants, who were ready on demand to please their
wishes. Noble women made sure that their house was a place of comfort and
isolation from the outside world. They were expected to bring joviality in the
house. Other than that they mostly spent their time dancing or chatting with their
14

friends. Higher class women had the time and means to afford entertaining
themselves.

15

Entertainment
There were various forms of entertainment during the Victorian age.
People were attracted by music, drama, arts, opera, theatre and
exhibitions. The most popular exhibits were often centered around exotic
animals, brought from places most people would never see in their lives, that is
why they were so valuable.
There were however other forms of entertainment like gambling at cards,
drinking and billiards which never lost their popularity. The card tables where
poker, roulette and many other games were played which became irresistible for
some man and cost their whole earnings and wealth. Even in those times alcohol
and gambling habits of men left their families with obstacles and despair.
Women often found charity as a way of entertainment. Needlework was
also popular amongst them as this was an opportunity to socialize.
Children however, were allowed to play after the home chores were done.
The activities of boys included: swimming, riding a horse, board games and
reading adventure novels. Young girls mostly played with dolls, collected flowers
and stamps in a book and read cheap romantic novels.
16

Another form of entertainment were spectacles where paranormal events

took place such as: hypnotism, talking with the death, ghost summoning and
death photography ( many people could not afford to have their photo taken
during their life so the first and the last photo taken of them was after death).
These activities were more popular at this time of history than in any other
periods.
With the appearance of railways, traveling also became a means of
enjoying themselves and contributed to the growth of tourism.

Inventions
During this age, there were huge advances in science. The most
distinctive achievement was in the field of communication and transport.
Canals, ships and railways allowed goods and people to be moved faster
and more efficiently. The first railway service was started in 1830.The
appearance of trains had a huge impact on peoples lives. Large distances were
no more a matter of problem, neighbor towns and places became easily
accessible within just a few hours. People even set their clocks according to
railway time. They also became important tools in warfare. The first tactical use
of railways was during the Crimean War.
The first cars also appeared during this time of history, although only rich
people could afford it. Car drivers were required to have an attendant walking in
front of the car, holding a red flag as a warning.
The invention of telegraph by Samuel Morse enabled communication to
long distances. It was a communication form which used dots and dashes (Morse
cod) which represented letters. This invention was followed by the telephone
invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
Another innovation in communication was the Penny Black, probably the
most famous stamp in history. A stamp which standardized the postage and had
a low price regardless of the distance sent. It had Queen Victorias profile on a
black background.

17

There were, however other small inventions which also earned a huge
reputation. These inventions include the: bicycle, sewing machine, Remington
typewriter, phonograph, photo camera, Coca Cola, which was invented by Dr
John Pemberton. He tried to make cough syrup tastier for his patients and he
eventually sold it to a company so that everyone could drink it. The vacuum
cleaner which was at first attempt designed to blew air into carpets in hope of
getting the dust to fly out, into a specific box on the top of the machine.

18

19

20

Conclusion
In my work I tried to present the main aspects of the Victorian age and
give a summary about it as well as a huge topic as this enables it within just a
few pages.
The Victorian Area, an age full of stark contradictions was indeed a period
of monumental changes and prosperity of the British Empire. The stunning
achievements brought fame and wealth, but also caused suffer and struggles of
hundreds of people. It was a truly remarkable age. Such quick changes, within
just a century, were not seen in any other European country and I personally
think that this age represents the most colorful period in British history.

Bibliography

Viktria kirlyn: Trtnelmiletrajza, author: Lytton Strachey, publisher:

IndyPublish, 2002

21

Anglia trtnete, author: Sznt Gyrgy tabor, publisher: Maecenas

knyvek, Budapest,1997

Victorian England, author: L.C.B Seaman, publisher: Routledge, London,

1995

Suffer and be still, author: Martha Vicinus, publisher: Indiana University

Press, 1973

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era

Scribd:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/52939571/victorian-age

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48281570/Victorian-Age

http://www.arlde.com/Inventions.htm

22