Department of English Language and literature, faculty of

Philology, Denov Institute of Entrepreneurship and

Pedagogy Ministry of Higher Education, Science and
Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan

COURSE WORK
On the theme: The Victorian Age

Prepared by: Allaberdiye U

Checked by: Habibullayeva G

1
 Content

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter I Queen Victoria and her family providing a role model for the

nation…………………………………………………………………..….……….4

1.1Victorian era ……………………………………………………..…..………...4

1.2Terminology and periodization……………………………………………...…9

1.3 Political and diplomatic history ………..………….…………….……….……

10

1.4 Society and culture …….…………………………………………………..…12

Chapter II Political, societal, and cultural changes such as industrialization…...16

2.1 Economy, industry, and trade …………………………...….………..………16

2.2 Housing and public health ……….……..………….…...……………..……..20

2.3 Knowledge and infrastructure ……………………..…………….……..……25

Conclusion………………………………………………………......……….......29

References………………………………………………………….....……........31

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 Introduction

Certainly! The Victorian Era was a period in history named after Queen
Victoria, who ruled England from 1837 to 1901. This era was marked by
significant social, political, and cultural changes that continue to influence our
world today. During this time, the Industrial Revolution transformed society by
leading to improvements in living standards and creating new job opportunities.
Political changes included the expansion of democracy and the abolition of
slavery, while cultural shifts brought forth modern scientific advancements and
artistic movements. Despite these advancements, the Victorian era was also
marked by struggles and conflicts, such as wars between nations and social unrest.
Some of the key developments during the Victorian era include:

The Industrial Revolution led to rapid advances in manufacturing, transportation,

and communication technologies. This resulted in increased economic prosperity
and urbanization, as people moved from rural areas into cities seeking work
opportunities.

Social class became increasingly important during this period, with the emergence
of a new middle class made up of professionals, merchants, and industrialists. The
working class, however, faced difficult working conditions and low wages, which
fueled social tensions and labor unrest.

Democracy expanded throughout Europe and North America during the Victorian
era, with many countries adopting representative forms of government. This
allowed for greater citizen participation in politics and helped pave the way for
future democratic reforms.

The abolition of slavery in several countries during the Victorian era was another
major milestone in human rights history. While the practice continued in some

3
parts of the world, it marked a significant step towards ending systemic oppression
and promoting equality.

Artistic movements such as Realism, Naturalism, Impressionism, Romanticism,

and Symbolism emerged during the Victorian era, reflecting changing attitudes
towards beauty, truth, and reality. These movements laid the groundwork for many
of the artistic styles that are still popular today.

Overall, the Victorian era was a time of significant change and transformation that
continues to shape our world today. From technological innovations to social and
political advancements, this period remains an important chapter in the story of
humanity's development.
1.Aims of this work______ Learn more information and investigate this era.
2.To analize about the work__ The dreadful working and living conditions of the
early 19th century persisted in many areas until the end of the Victorian age.
3.To look for information ______ During the Victorian era, Britain expanded its
territory throughout the world and became the largest.
4.Practical value of work high school literature.

Chapter I Queen Victoria and her family providing a role model for the nation.

1.1 Victorian era

In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was
the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901.
Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the Georgian
era and preceded the Edwardian era, and its later half overlaps with the first part of
the Belle Époque era of continental Europe. Victoria ascended the throne in 1837
at age 18. Her long reign until 1901 saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic
and political power. Exciting new technologies such as steam ships, railways,
photography, and telegraphs appeared, making the world much faster-paced.
Britain again remained mostly inactive in Continental politics, and it was not
affected by the wave of revolutions in 1848. The Victorian era saw the fleshing out
of the second British Empire. Scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as
4
defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be
associated with the Victorians—actually begins with her coronation or the earlier
passage of the Reform Act 1832. The era was preceded by the Georgian era and
succeeded by the Edwardian period. Historians like Bernard Porter have
characterized the mid-Victorian era, (1850–1870) as Britain's 'Golden Years.'.
There was peace and prosperity, as the national income per person grew by half.
Much of the prosperity was due to the increasing industrialization, especially in
textiles and machinery, as well as to the worldwide network of trade and
engineering that produce profits for British merchants and experts from across the
globe. There was peace abroad apart from the short Crimean war, 1854–1856 , and
social peace at home. Reforms in industrial conditions were set by Parliament. For
example, in 1842, the nation was scandalized by the use of children in coal mines.
The Mines Act of 1842 banned employment of girls and boys under ten years old
from working underground in coal mines. Opposition to the new order melted
away, says Porter. The Chartist movement, peaked as a democratic movement
among the working class in 1848; its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade
unions and cooperative societies. The working class ignored foreign agitators like
Karl Marx in their midst, and joined in celebrating the new prosperity. Employers
typically were paternalistic, and generally recognized the trade unions. Companies
provided their employees with welfare services ranging from housing, schools and
churches, to libraries, baths, and gymnasia. Middle-class reformers did their best to
assist the working classes aspire to middle-class norms of 'respectability.'
There was a spirit of libertarianism, says Porter, as people felt they were free.
Taxes were very low, and government restrictions were minimal. There were still
problem areas, such as occasional riots, especially those motivated by anti-
Catholicism. Society was still ruled by the aristocracy and the gentry, which
controlled high government offices, both houses of Parliament, the church, and the
military. Becoming a rich businessman was not as prestigious as inheriting a title
and owning a landed estate. Literature was doing well, but the fine arts languished
as the Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased Britain's industrial prowess rather than
5
its sculpture, painting or music. The educational system was mediocre; the
capstone universities outside Scotland were likewise mediocre. Historian
Llewellyn Woodward has concluded:

For leisure or work, for getting or spending, England was a better country in 1879
than in 1815. The scales were less weighted against the weak, against women and
children, and against the poor. There was greater movement, and less of the
fatalism of an earlier age. The public conscience was more instructed, and the
content of liberty was being widened to include something more than freedom
from political constraint.... Yet England in 1871 was by no means an earthly
paradise. The housing and conditions of life of the working class in town &
country were still a disgrace to an age of plenty.

According to historians David Brandon and Alan Brooke, the new system of
railways after 1830 brought into being our modern world:

They stimulated demand for building materials, coal, iron and, later, steel.
Excelling in the bulk movement of coal, they provided the fuel for the furnaces of
industry and for domestic fireplaces. Millions of people were able to travel who
had scarcely ever travelled before. Railways enabled mail, newspapers, periodicals
and cheap literature to be distributed easily, quickly and cheaply allowing a much
wider and faster dissemination of ideas and information. They had a significant
impact on improving diet....[and thus] a proportionately smaller agricultural
industry was able to feed a much larger urban population.... They employed huge
quantities of labour both directly and indirectly. They helped Britain to become the
'Workshop of the World' by reducing transport costs not only of raw materials but
of finished goods, large amounts of which were exported.... Today's global
corporations originated with the great limited liability railway companies.... By the
third quarter of the nineteenth century, there was scarcely any person living in
Britain whose life had not been altered in some way by the coming of the railways.
Railways contributed to the transformation of Britain from a rural to a
predominantly urban society
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Various liberalising political reforms took place in the UK, including expanding
the electoral franchise. The Great Famine caused mass death in Ireland early in the
period. The British Empire had relatively peaceful relations with the other great
powers. It participated in various military conflicts mainly against minor powers.
The British Empire expanded during this period and was the predominant power in
the world.

Victorian society valued a high standard of personal conduct across all sections of
society. The emphasis on morality gave impetus to social reform but also placed
restrictions on certain groups' liberty. Prosperity rose during the period, but
debilitating undernutrition persisted. Literacy and childhood education became
near universal in Great Britain for the first time. Whilst some attempts were made
to improve living conditions, slum housing and disease remained a severe problem.

The period saw significant scientific and technological development. Britain was
advanced in industry and engineering in particular, but somewhat undeveloped in
art and education. Great Britain's population increased rapidly, while Ireland's fell
sharply.

Queen Victoria played a small role in politics, but became the iconic symbol of the
nation, the empire, and proper, restrained behaviour. Her strength lay in good
common sense and directness of character; she expressed the qualities of the
British nation which at that time made it preeminent in the world. As a symbol of
domesticity, endurance and Empire, and as a woman holding the highest public
office during an age when middle- and upper-class women were expected to
beautify the home while men dominated the public sphere, Queen Victoria's
influence has been enduring. Her success as ruler was due to the power of the self-
images she successively portrayed of innocent young woman, devoted wife and
mother, suffering and patient widow, and grandmotherly matriarch.

7
8
1.2 Terminology and periodization

In the strictest sense, the Victorian era covers the duration of Victoria's reign as
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from her accession on
20 June 1837—after the death of her uncle, William IV—until her death on 22
January 1901, after which she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII. Her
reign lasted 63 years and seven months, a longer period than any of her
predecessors. The term 'Victorian' was in contemporaneous usage to describe the
era. The era has also been understood in a more extensive sense as a period that
possessed sensibilities and characteristics distinct from the periods adjacent to it, in
which case it is sometimes dated to begin before Victoria's accession—typically
from the passage of or agitation for during the 1830s the Reform Act 1832, which
introduced a wide-ranging change to the electoral system of England and Wales.
Definitions that purport a distinct sensibility or politics to the era have also created
scepticism about the worth of the label 'Victorian', though there have also been
defences of it.

Michael Sadleir was insistent that "in truth, the Victorian period is three periods,
and not one". He distinguished early Victorianism—the socially and politically
unsettled period from 1837 to 1850—and late Victorianism (from 1880 onwards),
with its new waves of aestheticism and imperialism, from the Victorian heyday:
mid-Victorianism, 1851 to 1879. He saw the latter period as characterized by a
distinctive mixture of prosperity, domestic prudery, and complacency—what G. M.
Trevelyan called the 'mid-Victorian decades of quiet politics and roaring
prosperity'.

9
1.3 Political and diplomatic history

Domestically, Britain liberalised and gradually evolved into a democracy. The

Reform Act, which made various changes to the electoral system including
expanding the franchise, had been passed in 1832. The franchise was expanded
again by the Second Reform Act in 1867. Cities were given greater political
autonomy and the labour movement was legalised. From 1845 to 1852, the Great
Famine caused mass starvation, disease and death in Ireland, sparking large-scale
emigration. The Corn Laws were repealed in response to this. Across the British
Empire, reform included rapid expansion, the complete abolition of slavery in the
African possessions and the end of transportation of convicts to Australia.
Restrictions on colonial trade were loosened and responsible government was
introduced in some territories.

10
Depiction of the defence of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 by
Alphonse de Neuville (1880). Throughout most of the 19th century Britain was the
most powerful country in the world. The period from 1815 to 1914, known as the
Pax Britannica, was a time of relatively peaceful relations between the world's
great powers. This is particularly true of Britain's interactions with the others. The
only war in which the British Empire fought against another major power was the
Crimean War, from 1853 to 1856.There were various revolts and violent conflicts
within the British Empire, and Britain participated in wars against minor powers. It
also took part in the diplomatic struggles of the Great Game and the Scramble for
11
Africa. In 1840, Queen Victoria married her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-
Coburg and Gotha. The couple had nine children, who themselves married into
various royal families, and the queen thus became known as the 'grandmother of
Europe'. In 1861, Albert died. Victoria went into mourning and withdrew from
public life for ten years. In 1871, with republican sentiments growing in Britain,
she began to return to public life. In her later years, her popularity soared as she
became a symbol of the British Empire. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901.
1.4
Society and culture

The Victorian era saw a rapidly growing middle class who became an important
cultural influence, to a significant extent replacing the aristocracy as British
society's dominant class. A distinctive middle-class lifestyle developed that
influenced what society valued as a whole. Increased importance was placed on the
value of the family, and the idea that marriage should be based on romantic love
gained popularity. A clear separation was established between the home and the
workplace, which had often not been the case before. The home was seen as a
private environment, where housewives provided their husbands with a respite
from the troubles of the outside world. Within this ideal, women were expected to
focus on domestic matters and to rely on men as breadwinners. Women had limited
legal rights in most areas of life, and a feminist movement developed. Parental
authority was seen as important, but children were given legal protections against
abuse and neglect for the first time. Access to education increased rapidly during
the 19th century. State-funded schools were established in England and Wales for
the first time. Education became compulsory for pre-teenaged children in England,
Scotland and Wales. Literacy rates increased rapidly, and had become nearly
universal by the end of the century.Private education for wealthier children, boys
and more gradually girls, became more formalised over the course of the century.

The growing middle class and strong evangelical movement placed great emphasis
on a respectable and moral code of behaviour. This included features such as

12
charity, personal responsibility, controlled habits,child discipline and self-criticism.
As well as personal improvement, importance was given to social reform.
Utilitarianism was another philosophy that saw itself as based on science rather
than on morality, but also emphasised social progress. An alliance formed between
these two ideological strands. The reformers emphasised causes such as improving
the conditions of women and children, giving police reform priority over harsh
punishment to prevent crime, religious equality, and political reform in order to
establish a democracy.The political legacy of the reform movement was to link the
nonconformists part of the evangelical movement in England and Wales with the
Liberal Party. This continued until the First World War. The Presbyterians played
a similar role as a religious voice for reform in Scotland. Religion was politically
controversial during this era, with Nonconformists pushing for the
disestablishment of the Church of England. Nonconformists comprised about half
of church attendees in England in 1851, and gradually the legal discrimination that
had been established against them outside of Scotland was removed. Legal
restrictions on Roman Catholics were also largely removed. The number of
Catholics grew in Great Britain due to conversions and immigration from Ireland.
Secularism and doubts about the accuracy of the Old Testament grew among
people with higher levels of education. Northern English and Scottish academics
tended to be more religiously conservative, whilst agnosticism and even atheism
though its promotion was illegal gained appeal among academics in the south.
Historians refer to a 'Victorian Crisis of Faith', a period when religious views had
to readjust to accommodate new scientific knowledge and criticism of the Bible.
variety of reading materials grew in popularity during the period, including novels,
women's magazines, children's literature, and newspapers. Much literature,
including chapbooks, was distributed on the street. Music was also very popular,
with genres such as folk music, broadsides, music halls, brass bands, theater music
and choral music having mass appeal. What is now called classical music was
somewhat undeveloped compared to parts of Europe but did have significant
support. Many sports were introduced or popularised during the Victorian era.
13
They became important to male identity. Examples included cricket, football,
rugby, tennis and cycling. The idea of women participating in sport did not fit well
with the Victorian view of femininity, but their involvement did increase as the
period progressed. For the middle classes, many leisure activities such as table
games could be done in the home while domestic holidays to rural locations such
as the Lake District and Scottish Highlands were increasingly practical. The
working classes had their own culture separate from that of their richer
counterparts, various cheaper forms of entertainment and recreational activities
provided by philanthropy. Trips to resorts such as Blackpool were increasingly
popular towards the end of period. Initially the industrial revolution increased
working hours, but over the course of the 19th century a variety of political and
economic changes ,pre-industrial levels, creating more time for leisure.

History and evolution of the term

The term "middle class" is first attested in James Bradshaw's 1745 pamphlet
Scheme to prevent running Irish Wools to France. Another phrase used in early

14
modern Europe was "the middling sort". The term "middle class" has had several,
sometimes contradictory, meanings. Friedrich Engels saw the category as an
intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry in late-feudalist
society. While the nobility owned much of the countryside, and the peasantry
worked it, a new bourgeoisie literally "town-dwellers" arose around mercantile
functions in the city. In France, the middle classes helped drive the French
Revolution. This "middle class" eventually overthrew the ruling monarchists of
feudal society, thus becoming the new ruling class or bourgeoisie in the new
capitalist-dominated societies.

The modern usage of the term "middle-class", however, dates to the 1913 UK
Registrar-General's report, in which the statistician T.H.C. Stevenson identified the
middle class as those falling between the upper-class and the working-class. The
middle class includes: professionals, managers, and senior civil servants. The chief
defining characteristic of membership in the middle-class is control of significant
human capital while still being under the dominion of the elite upper class, who
control much of the financial and legal capital in the world.

Within capitalism, "middle-class" initially referred to the bourgeoisie; later, with

the further differentiation of classes as capitalist societies developed, the term
came to be synonymous with the term petite bourgeoisie. The boom-and-bust
cycles of capitalist economies result in the periodic and more or less temporary
impoverisation and proletarianisation of much of the petite bourgeois world,
resulting in their moving back and forth between working-class and petite-
bourgeois status. The typical modern definitions of "middle class" tend to ignore
the fact that the classical petite-bourgeoisie is and has always been the owner of a
small-to medium-sized business whose income is derived almost exclusively from
the employment of workers; "middle class" came to refer to the combination of the
labour aristocracy, professionals, and salaried, white-collar workers.
Evangelicalism
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Evangelicalism also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is
a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that
emphasises the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experiences
personal conversion; the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity;
and spreading the Christian message. The word evangelical comes from the Greek
word for "good news".

The theological nature of evangelicalism was first explored during the Protestant
Reformation in 16th century Europe. Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517
emphasized that scripture and the preaching of the gospel had ultimate authority
over the practices of the Church. The origins of modern evangelicalism are usually
traced to 1738, with various theological streams contributing to its foundation,
including Pietism and Radical Pietism, Puritanism, Quakerism, Presbyterianism
and Moravianism in particular its bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf and his community
at Herrnhut . Preeminently, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the
root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening. Today,
evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various
denominations around the world, not subsumed to a specific branch.Among leaders
and major figures of the evangelical Protestant movement were Nicolaus
Zinzendorf, George Fox, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards,
Billy Graham, Bill Bright, Harold Ockenga, Gudina Tumsa, John Stott, Francisco
Olazábal, William J. Seymour, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

The movement has long had a presence in the Anglosphere before spreading
further afield in the 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries. The movement gained
significant momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great
Awakening in Great Britain and the United States.

Chapter II Political, societal, and cultural changes such as industrialization.

2.1 Economy, industry, and trade
Before the Industrial Revolution, daily life had changed little for hundreds of
years. The 19th century saw rapid technological development with a wide range of
16
new inventions. This led Great Britain to become the foremost industrial and
trading nation of the time.[68] Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era
(1850–1870) as Britain's 'Golden Years', with national income per person
increasing by half. This prosperity was driven by increased industrialisation,
especially in textiles and machinery, along with exports to the empire and
elsewhere. The positive economic conditions, as well as a fashion among
employers for providing welfare services to their workers, led to relative social
stability. The Chartist movement for working-class men to be given the right to
vote, which had been prominent in the early Victorian period, dissipated.
Government involvement in the economy was limited. Only in the post-World War
II period, around a century later, did the country experience substantial economic
growth again. But whilst industry was well developed, education and the arts were
mediocre.Wage rates continued to improve in the later 19th century: real wages
after taking inflation into account were 65 per cent higher in 1901 compared to
1871. Much of the money was saved, as the number of depositors in savings banks
rose from 430,000 in 1831 to 5.2 million in 1887, and their deposits from £14
million to over £90 million.

Children had always played a role in economic life but exploitation of their labour
became especially intense during the Victorian era. Children were put to work in a

17
wide range of occupations, but particularly associated with this period are
factories. Employing children had advantages, as they were cheap, had limited
ability to resist harsh working conditions, and could enter spaces too small for
adults. Some accounts exist of happy upbringings involving child labour, but
conditions were generally poor. Pay was low, punishments severe, work was
dangerous and disrupted children's development often leaving them too tired to
play even in their free time. Early labour could do lifelong harm; even in the 1960s
and '70s, the elderly people of industrial towns were noted for their often unusually
short stature, deformed physiques, and diseases associated with unhealthy working
conditions. Reformers wanted the children in school; in 1840 only about 20 per
cent of the children in London had any schooling. By the 1850s, around half of the
children in England and Wales were in school not including Sunday school. From
the 1833 Factory Act onwards, attempts were made to get child labourers into part
time education, though this was often difficult to achieve. Only in the 1870s and
1880s did children begin to be compelled into school. Work continued to inhibit
children's schooling into the early 20th century.

18
he Illustrated London News founder Herbert Ingram was born in Boston,
Lincolnshire, in 1811, and opened a printing, newsagent, and bookselling business
in Nottingham around 1834 in partnership with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel
Cooke. As a newsagent, Ingram was struck by the reliable increase in newspaper
sales when they featured pictures and shocking stories. Ingram began to plan a
weekly newspaper that would contain pictures in every edition.

Ingram rented an office, recruited artists and reporters, and employed as his editor
Frederick William Naylor Bayley (1808–1853), formerly editor of the National
Omnibus. The first issue of The Illustrated London News appeared on Saturday, 14
May 1842, timed to report on the young Queen Victoria's first masquerade ball. Its
16 pages and 32 wood engravings covered topics such as the war in Afghanistan,
the Versailles rail accident, a survey of the candidates for the US presidential
election, extensive crime reports, theatre and book reviews, and a list of births,
marriages, and deaths. Ingram hired 200 men to carry placards through the streets
of London promoting the first edition of his new newspaper.

Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era (1850–1870) as Britain's

"Golden Years".It was not till the two to three decades following the Second
World War that substantial economic growth was seen again. In the long-term
view, the mid-Victorian boom was one upswing in the Kondratiev cycle . There
was prosperity, as the national income per person grew by half. Much of the
prosperity was due to the increasing industrialisation, especially in textiles and
machinery, as well as to the worldwide network of exports that produced profits
for British merchants. British entrepreneurs built railways in India and many
independent nations. There was peace abroad (apart from the short Crimean War,
1854–56), and social peace at home. Opposition to the new order melted away,
says Porter. The Chartist movement peaked as a democratic movement among the
working class in 1848; its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions and
cooperative societies. The working class ignored foreign agitators like Karl Marx
in their midst, and joined in celebrating the new prosperity. Employers typically

19
were paternalistic and generally recognised the trade unions. Companies provided
their employees with welfare services ranging from housing, schools and churches,
to libraries, baths, and gymnasia. Middle-class reformers did their best to assist the
working classes' aspirations to middle-class norms of "respectability". There was a
spirit of libertarianism, says Porter, as people felt they were free. Taxes were very
low, and government restrictions were minimal. There were still problem areas,
such as occasional riots, especially those motivated by anti-Catholicism. Society
was still ruled by the aristocracy and the gentry, who controlled high government
offices, both houses of Parliament, the church, and the military. Becoming a rich
businessman was not as prestigious as inheriting a title and owning a landed estate.
Literature was doing well, but the fine arts languished as the Great Exhibition of
1851 showcased Britain's industrial prowess rather than its sculpture, painting or
music. The educational system was mediocre; the main universities (outside
Scotland) were likewise mediocre. Historian Llewellyn Woodward has concluded:

2.2 Housing and public health

19th-century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by rapid
urbanisation stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. In the 1901 census, more than
3 out of every 4 people were classified as living in an urban area, compared to 1 in
5 a century earlier. Historian Richard A. Soloway wrote that "Great Britain had
become the most urbanized country in the West." The rapid growth in the urban
population included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service
centres such as Edinburgh and London. Private renting from housing landlords was
the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants.
Overcrowding was a major problem with seven or eight people frequently sleeping
in a single room. Until at least the 1880s, sanitation was inadequate in areas such
as water supply and disposal of sewage. This all had a negative effect on health,
especially that of the impoverished young. For instance, of the babies born in
Liverpool in 1851, only 45 per cent survived to age 20.Conditions were

20
particularly bad in London, where the population rose sharply and poorly
maintained, overcrowded dwellings became slum housing. Kellow Chesney wrote
of the situation:

Hideous slums, some of them acres wide, some no more than crannies of obscure
misery, make up a substantial part of the metropolis... In big, once handsome
houses, thirty or more people of all ages may inhabit a single room

Hunger and poor diet was a common aspect of life across the UK in the Victorian
period, especially in the 1840s, but the mass starvation seen in the Great Famine in
Ireland was unique. Levels of poverty fell significantly during the 19th century
from as much as two thirds of the population in 1800 to less than a third by 1901.
1890s studies suggested that almost 10% of the urban population lived in a state of
desperation lacking the food necessary to maintain basic physical functions.
Attitudes towards the poor were often unsympathetic and they were frequently
blamed for their situation. In that spirit, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 had
been deliberately designed to punish them and would remain the basis for welfare
provision into the 20th century. While many people were prone to vices, not least
alcoholism, historian Bernard A. Cook argues that the main reason for 19th century
poverty was that typical wages for much of the population were simply too low.
Barely enough to provide a subsistence living in good times, let alone save up for
bad.Improvements were made over time to housing along with the management of
sewage and water eventually giving the UK the most advanced system of public
health protection anywhere in the world. The quality and safety of household
lighting improved over the period with oil lamps becoming the norm in the early
1860s, gas lighting in the 1890s and electric lights beginning to appear in the
homes of the richest by the end of the period. Medicine advanced rapidly during
the 19th century and germ theory was developed for the first time. Doctors became
more specialised and the number of hospitals grew. The overall number of deaths
fell by about 20%. The life expectancy of women increased from around 42 to 55
21
and 40 to 56 for men. In spite of this, the mortality rate fell only marginally, from
20.8 per thousand in 1850 to 18.2 by the end of the century. Urbanisation aided the
spread of diseases and squalid living conditions in many places exacerbated the
problem. The population of England, Scotland and Wales grew rapidly during the
19th century. Various factors are considered contributary to this, including a rising
fertility rate (though it was falling by the end of the period), the lack of a
catastrophic pandemic or famine in the island of Great Britain during the 19th
century for the first time in history, improved nutrition, and a lower overall
mortality rate. Ireland's population shrank significantly, mostly due to emigration
and the Great Famine

Demographic transition
Britain had the lead in rapid economic and population growth. At the time, Thomas
Malthus believed this lack of growth outside Britain was due to the carrying
capacity of their local environments. That is, the tendency of a population to
expand geometrically while resources grew more slowly, reaching a crisis (such as
famine, war, or epidemic) which would reduce the population to a more
sustainable size. Great Britain escaped the 'Malthusian trap' because the scientific
and technological breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution dramatically
improved living standards, reducing mortality and increasing longevity. The
Victorian era was a time of unprecedented population growth in Britain. The
population rose from 13.9 million in 1831 to 32.5 million in 1901. Two major
contributory factors were fertility rates and mortality rates. Britain was the first
country to undergo the demographic transition and the Agricultural and Industrial
Revolutions. The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8
million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901,[2] and Scotland's population also rose
rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Ireland's
population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in
1901, mostly due to emigration and the Great Famine.Economist Gary Becker
argued that at first, falling fertility is due to urbanisation and lower infant mortality

22
rates, which diminished the benefits and increased the costs of raising children. In
other words, it became more economically sensible to invest more in fewer
children. This is known as the first demographic transition. This trend continued
till around 1950. The second demographic transition occurred due to the significant
cultural shifts of the 1960s, leading to the decline in the desire for children.

Mortality rates

There was no catastrophic epidemic or famine in England or Scotland in the

nineteenth century—it was the first century in which a major epidemic did not
occur throughout the whole country, and deaths per 1000 of population per year in
England and Wales fell from 21.9 from 1848 to 1854 to 17 in 1901 (cf, for
instance, 5.4 in 1971). Social class had a significant effect on mortality rates: the
upper classes had a lower rate of premature death early in the nineteenth century
than poorer classes did.In the Victorian era, fertility rates increased in every decade
until 1901, when the rates started evening out. There were several reasons for this.
One is biological: with improving living standards, a higher proportion of women
were biologically able to have children. Another possible explanation is social. In
the 19th century, the marriage rate increased, and people were getting married at a
very young age until the end of the century, when the average age of marriage
started to increase again slowly. The reasons why people got married younger and
more frequently are uncertain. One theory is that greater prosperity allowed people
to finance marriage and new households earlier than previously possible. With
more births within marriage, it seems inevitable that marriage rates and birth rates
would rise together.Birth rates were originally measured by the 'crude birth rate' –
births per year divided by total population. This is indeed a crude measure, as key
groups and their fertility rates are not clear. It is likely to be affected mainly by
changes in the age distribution of the population. The Net Reproduction Rate was
then introduced as an alternative measure: it measures the average fertility rate of
women of child-bearing ages.
23
High rates of birth also occurred because of a lack of birth control. Mainly because
women lacked knowledge of birth control methods and the practice was seen as
unrespectable.The evening out of fertility rates at the beginning of the 20th century
was mainly the result of a few big changes: availability of forms of birth control,
and changes in people's attitude towards sex.

Environmental and health standards rose throughout the Victorian era.

Improvements in nutrition may also have played a role, though its importance is
still debated.

Great Famine
The Great Famine, also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the
Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation
and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social
crisis and subsequently had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole.
The most severely affected areas were in the western and southern parts of Ireland

24
—where the Irish language was dominant—and hence the period was
contemporaneously known in Irish as an Drochshaol, which literally translates to
"the bad life" and loosely translates to "the hard times". The worst year of the
famine was 1847, which became known as "Black '47".During the Great Hunger,
roughly 1 million people died and more than 1 million more fled the
country,causing the country's population to fall by 20–25% in some towns,
populations fell as much as 67% between 1841 and 1871. Between 1845 and 1855,
at least 2.1 million people left Ireland, primarily on packet ships but also on
steamboats and barques—one of the greatest exoduses from a single island in
history. The proximate cause of the famine was the infection of potato crops by
blight throughout Europe during the 1840s. Blight infection caused 100,000 deaths
outside Ireland and influenced much of the unrest that culminated in European
Revolutions of 1848. Longer-term reasons for the massive impact of this particular
famine included the system of absentee landlordism and single-crop dependence.
Initial limited but constructive government actions to alleviate famine distress were
ended by a new Whig administration in London, which pursued a laissez-faire
economic doctrine, but also because some in power believed in divine providence
or that the Irish lacked moral character, with aid only resuming to some degree
later. Large amounts of food were exported from Ireland during the famine and the
refusal of London to bar such exports, as had been done on previous occasions,
was an immediate and continuing source of controversy, contributing to anti-
British sentiment and the campaign for independence. Additionally, the famine
indirectly resulted in tens of thousands of households being evicted, exacerbated
by a provision forbidding access to workhouse aid while in possession of more
than one-quarter acre of land.

25
2.3 Knowledge and infrastructure

The professionalisation of scientific study began in parts of Europe following the

French Revolution but was slow to reach Britain. William Whewell coined the
term 'scientist' in 1833 to refer to those who studied what was generally then
known as natural philosophy, but it took a while to catch on. Having been
previously dominated by amateurs with a separate income, the Royal Society
admitted only professionals from 1847 onwards. The British biologist Thomas
Henry Huxley indicated in 1852 that it remained difficult to earn a living as a
scientist alone. Scientific knowledge and debates such as that about Charles
Darwin's book on evolution gained a high profile. Simplified and at times
inaccurate popular science was increasingly distributed through a variety of
publications which caused tension with the professionals. There were significant
advances in various fields of research, including statistics, elasticity, refrigeration,
natural history, electricity and logic.Known as the 'workshop of the world', Britain
was uniquely advanced in technology in the mid-19th century. Engineering, having
developed into a profession in the 18th century, gained new profile and prestige in
this period. The Victorian era saw methods of communication and transportation
develop significantly. In 1837, William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
invented the first telegraph system. This system, which used electrical currents to
26
transmit coded messages, quickly spread across Britain, appearing in every town
and post office. A worldwide network developed towards the end of the century. In
1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. A little over a decade later,
26,000 telephones were in service in Britain. Multiple switchboards were installed
in every major town and city. Guglielmo Marconi developed early radio
broadcasting at the end of the period. The railways were important economically in
the Victorian era, allowing goods, raw materials, and people to be moved around,
stimulating trade and industry. They were also a major employer and industry in
their own right.

Moral standards

Expected standards of personal conduct changed in around the first half of

the 19th century, with good manners and self-restraint becoming much more
common. Historians have suggested various contributing factors, such as Britain's
major conflicts with France during the early 19th century meaning that the
distracting temptations of sinful behaviour had to be avoided in order to focus on
the war effort and the evangelical movement's push for moral improvement. There
is evidence that the expected standards of moral behaviour were reflected in action
as well as rhetoric across all classes of society. For instance, an analysis suggested
that less than 5% of working class couples cohabited before marriage.Historian
Harold Perkin argued that the change in moral standards led by the middle of the
19th century to 'diminished cruelty to animals, criminals, lunatics, and children .
27
Legal restrictions were placed on cruelty to animals. Restrictions were placed on
the working hours of child labourers in the 1830s and 1840s. Further interventions
took place throughout the century to increase the level of child protection. Use of
the death penalty also decreased. Crime rates fell significantly in the second half of
the 19th century. Sociologist Christie Davies linked this change to attempts to
morally educate the population, especially at Sunday schools.

Contrary to popular belief, Victorian society understood that both men and
women enjoyed copulation. Chastity was expected of women, whilst attitudes to
male sexual behaviour were more relaxed.The development of police forces led to
a rise in prosecutions for illegal sodomy in the middle of the 19th century.Male
sexuality became a favourite subject of medical researchers' study. For the first
time, all male homosexual acts were outlawed. At a time when job options for
women were limited and generally low-paying, some women, particularly those
without familial support, took to prostitution to support themselves. Attitudes in
public life and among the general population to prostitution varied. Evidence about
prostitutes' situation also varies. One contemporary study argues that the trade was
a short-term stepping stone to a different lifestyle for many women, while another,
more recent study argues they were subject to physical abuse, financial
exploitation, state persecution, and difficult working conditions. Due to worries
about venereal disease, especially among soldiers, women suspected of prostitution
were for a period between the 1860s and 1880s subject to spot compulsory
examinations for sexually transmitted infections, and detainment if they were
found to be infected. This caused a great deal of resentment among women in
general due to the principle underlying the checks, that women had to be controlled
in order to be safe for sexual use by men, and the checks were opposed by some of
the earliest feminist campaigning. Concern about sexual exploitation of adolescent
girls increased during the period, especially following the white slavery scandal,
which contributed to the increasing of the age of consent from.

Conclusion
28
The Victorian era was a period in British history from 1837 to 1901 when Queen
Victoria ruled as queen. During this time, there were significant social, cultural,
political, and technological changes that shaped the world we know today. Here
are some key points about the Victorian Age:

Industrial Revolution: This era saw the peak of the industrial revolution, which
transformed economies, societies, and cultures around the world. Advances in
technology led to rapid urbanization, improved transportation, and increased access
to information and education.

Social Hierarchy: Society during the Victorian Age was highly stratified, with
strict class hierarchies and gender roles that defined who had power and influence.
Women, especially those in the lower classes, faced limited opportunities for
education, employment, and independence.

Morality: Victorian society placed great importance on morality, with strict codes
of conduct dictating behavior and speech. Sexuality was repressed, leading to
widespread hypocrisy and double standards. Homosexuality was considered taboo
and punishable by law.

Scientific and Cultural Developments: The Victorian Age saw remarkable

advancements in science, medicine, and art. Literary movements like Romanticism
and Realism emerged, while scientific discoveries such as germ theory and
evolution challenged traditional beliefs and opened up new avenues of research
and exploration.

Empire Building: Britain was at its height during the Victorian Era, with territories
across the globe under its control. Imperial expansion fueled national pride and
provided economic benefits, but also resulted in exploitation and oppression of
indigenous peoples.

Social Reform: Despite the rigid social hierarchy, the Victorian era witnessed
significant social reform efforts aimed at improving living conditions, promoting

29
health and hygiene, and advancing women's rights. These movements laid the
groundwork for future social justice movements.

Economic Growth: The Victorian era saw tremendous economic growth, driven by
industrialization and trade. Urban centers grew rapidly, providing opportunities for
employment and upward mobility.

Political Stability: Queen Victoria's reign brought stability to the British monarchy
and helped maintain peace and order throughout her rule.

In summary, the Victorian Age was a transformative period marked by rapid

progress and profound change. While it was characterized by social inequality and
moral rigidity, it also paved the way for modern society through advances in
science, culture, politics, and economics.

30
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For successfully completing my course work I have taken help from the following
website.
1. www.wekipidia.com
2. www.google.com

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