Victorian Period

Victorian Period

England was the most powerful country because it had a lot of colonies in Asia, India and Africa.
Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901. This period was a period of unprecedented material progress, imperial expansion and political reforms. This period is divided in early, mid and late Victoria Age.
During this period England reached the highest level of industrialization. England became the first country in the world, leading power. Important discoveries were made such as railways: they helped a lot with commerce and it became primarily a passenger service then to transport goods. Midland railway wanted to transform a regional network into a strategic long-distance system, carrying Yorkshire coal to the industries in London. So they built another line into London and the Great London Gothic station at St. Pancras opened in 1868.
Mid Victorian Age is considered an optimistic period because the Dutch War in South Africa was won by English people and they obtained South Africa as a colony, so precious for mines.
The most important period was the Mid-Late period. There were a series of reforms. The first one was the “reform bills” in 1867. People started to have the right to vote. Another important law was the “factory act” to improve the quality of workers’ life.
Between 1838-1848 Chartism played an important role. Workers asked for freedom and universal suffrage. Those requests weren’t accepted. As a result we have the creation of Trade Union.
Another important law was the “Corn Law” to protect the production of corn, so they maintained the price of corn artificially high.
During this period the middle class was the strongest class, got the money and played an important role in politics.

The Victorian compromise

During the Victorian age the population faced a large number of problems, so they promoted a code of values that reflected the world as they wanted to be. They preferred to ignore those problems to give a good appearance (beautiful life, family, house). They were only interested in making money and becoming powerful, thanks to the reading. In fact the level of reading was very high.
The Victorian novel has a defined plot, setting and characters, with a happy ending because the reader wanted it (the writer was at one with the reader). Those novels were understandable and talked about common situations. Why? Because the writer came from the middle class and addressed the middle class, instead in the modern novel the writers didn’t care about the readers.
The Great Exhibition was the first one in 1851, world recognized because was the first one. Goods from all the different countries of the Empire, as well as from all over Britain were exhibited. England showed all the scientific discoveries. The Great Exhibition attracted huge crowds. Thanks to the profits from this exhibition they build the: Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria Museum and Albert Museum.