Virtual Victorians contains Victorian artefacts, objects, news, photographs, presented in an innovative, exciting way for schools, parents and those interested in the Victorian era Harper's Bazaar- Suitable Clothing for Victorian Servants THE uniformity of dress is a characteristic of the people of the United States. The man of leisure and the laborer, the mistress and the maid, wear clothes of the same material and cut. Political equality renders our countrymen and countrywomen averse to all distinctions of costume which may be supposed to indicate a difference of caste. Our working-people, in vindicating their claims to social equality, by putting on their heads the stove-pipe hat and flimsy bonnet, and clothing their bodies in tight-fitting coats and flowing robes, not only interfere with the picturesque, which is of minor importance, but make, we think, an unwise sacrifice of comfort, convenience, and economy. As for the suitableness of the female dress of fashion to working-day purposes no one will venture, we suppose, to hold that crinoline is convenient in the china-closet or safe in the proximity of a red-hot stove, and that a flowing train of silk is the most appropriate broom for the kitchen floor.
Victorian Period - A Time of Change "All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their own peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their own peril."--by Oscar Wilde, Preface, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" The Victorian Period revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria. Of course, in the literature from this period, we see a duality, or double standard, between the concerns for the individual (the exploitation and corruption both at home and abroad) and national success--in what is often referred to as the Victorian Compromise. Against the backdrop of technological, political, and socioeconomic change, the Victorian Period was bound to be a volatile time, even without the added complications of the religious and institutional challenges brought by Charles Darwin and other thinkers, writers, and doers. Victorian Period: Early & Late The Period is often divided into two parts: the early Victorian Period (ending around 1870) and the late Victorian Period. More Info.
Primary History - Victorian Britain Victorian History The Metropolitan Police Aprons are Defences; against injury to cleanliness, to safety, to modesty, sometimes to roguery. From the thin slip of notched silk, which some highest-bred housewife . . . has gracefully fastened on; to the thick-tanned hide, girt round him with thongs, wherein the Builder builds, and at evening sticks his trowel. . . . How much has been defended, how much concealed in Aprons! The Maintenance of Law and Order before 1829 Authorities had few resources to cope with riot, crime and disorder. The industrial revolution put new pressures on society, leading to violence. Debate about the creation of a standing police force in England raged during the early part of the 19th century. In 1829 Peel's Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Wellington's government as a political compromise, the Act applying only to London. Crime and disorder were to be controlled by preventive patrols and no stipends were permitted for successful solutions of crimes or the recovery of stolen property.
English literature: The Victorian Age The Reform Bill of 1832 gave the middle class the political power it needed to consolidate—and to hold—the economic position it had already achieved. Industry and commerce burgeoned. While the affluence of the middle class increased, the lower classes, thrown off their land and into the cities to form the great urban working class, lived ever more wretchedly. The Novel The Victorian era was the great age of the English novel—realistic, thickly plotted, crowded with characters, and long. Emily Brontë's (see Brontë, family) single novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), is a unique masterpiece propelled by a vision of elemental passions but controlled by an uncompromising artistic sense. Thomas Hardy's profoundly pessimistic novels are all set in the harsh, punishing midland county he called Wessex. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. More on English literature The Victorian Age from Infoplease: See more Encyclopedia articles on: English Literature, 20th cent. to the Present
Rare glimpse of Victorian London's working class captured by street photographer John Thomson / Courtesy Dominic Winter Auctioneers 'Crawlers', one of a series of pictures of 19th century London by pioneering street photographer John Thomson. Ben Cavanna / Courtesy Dominic Winter The volume of Street Life in London containing 36 of John Thomson's photographs that will be sold at auction on Thursday. By Yuka Tachibana, Producer, NBC News A book of photographs depicting the grueling poverty lived by many residents of Victorian London is due to be auctioned on Thursday. "In or around 1877, photography was mainly about beautiful landscapes or portraits of the wealthy, but these images [photographer John] Thomson deliberately set out to take were those of the Victorian underclass," John Trevers of auctioneers Dominic Winter told NBC News. "This was a pioneering work of social documentation," he added. Scottish photographer John Thomson, a pioneer of street photography, captured images of London's working class in the 1870s. Update, 12.40 p.m.
Victorians The Victorian period in Britain was one of huge industrial and technological change, shocking divisions between rich and poor, sensational crimes, spectacular entertainments for the masses, and grand attempts to combat squalor and disease. Discover Victorian life through the posters, pamphlets, diaries, newspapers, political reports and illustrations that the 19th century left behind... Written by Liza Picard The Working Classes and The Poor Street sellers, omnibus drivers, mudlarks, the workhouse and prostitution, the poor were forced to survive in any way that they could... The Middle Class Bank clerks, housewives shopping, magazine readers and holiday makers: all members of the Victorian middle class... Popular Culture No matter how poor people were, they could usually raise a penny or so for the music hall, circus or magic show... Transport and Communications Crime The police force was still in its early years and executions were a public source of entertainment. The Great Exhibition Health
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