Victorianism

Every historical period has an influence on the society, on the people, on the culture, on the literature of that time but it seems that The Victorian Age played an imported role in creating the English Society as we know it. In the next pages, we will point out how this happened.

The Victorian Age covers almost the entire 19th century and although we consider it the decades under the reign of Queen Victoria, it lasted less than her reign. Victorianism started in 1832, the year of the first democratic Reform Bill, and finished in 1880 with the last Bill.

But we can not speak about Victorianism without mentioning the person whose name inspired the age: Queen Victoria. She became Queen of Britain in 1937 at the age of 18. Although young, she proved to have a strong character, dignity, a sense of duty and responsibility. She became a symbol of the 19th century Britain not only because of the length of her reign, 64 years, but also because she represented the Victorian values. After her marriage with Prince Albert, she gave the image of happiness in domestic life, they had nine children. Although the monarchy was slowly losing its rights, especially after the 1861 Reform Bill and the formation of political parties, the Queen was still a model to fallow to, to admire and to be loyal to. The monarchy preserved its moral power and even increased it when the monarch was named Queen of India.

With regard to the English Society of the period, there were some important political democratic changes which transformed the political structure in what we know today. The 1832, 1860 and 1880 Reform Acts gave suffrage to the majority of people and more seats in the Parliament for the common, while the 1833 Factory Act, the 1834 New Poor Act and the 1835 Municipal Reform Act improved the working conditions.

On the other hand, the agriculture based society rapidly changed into an urban industrial one under the effect of the new technologies and innovations. If in the earlier decades the economy of Britain was based on the exports of wool, now it was coal that enriched the British people, especially after the invention of the steam engine.

The rapid industrial progress changed the face of Britain. The technological development, the railways, the waterway system and shipbuilding encouraged foreign trade. The social and economic impact was tremendous. People were coming from the countryside to work in the cities in the manufactory industry, in the cotton factories and in the mills. All of this contributed to the growth of industrial cities and a development of science. Nevertheless, agriculture developed due to the industrialization. But with the introduction of machinery in the farms the life of the farmers changed radically.

The high pick of the Industrial Revolution was the Great Exhibition on 1 May 1851. Over six million visitors pass through its doors to see the inventions of the century from all over the world. Although it presented technologies from other countries, Trevor May agrees that: “While this was to be an international exhibition, the opportunity to display Britain’s national economic strength was not to be ignored” . Not only the objects on display but the building itself represented a masterpiece of engineering. Crystal Palace, the building that housed the exhibition was made up of iron and glass and factory-made parts, “it was a supreme monument to the Victorian engineering, and to their ability to get things done quickly if they so desired” .

During the Victorian age the social structure suffered great transformation. New social classes were born due to industrialization and the enrichment of non aristocratic people. May argues that “At one level, social class is simply a means of classifying or placing people into recognizable groups. All sorts of factors are involved including: occupation, income, education, where a person lives, his religious convictions, how he spends his income, how he dresses, and so on. “