Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901)

The longest reigning monarch

The Hanoverians
George I (r. 1714-1727)
George II (r. 1727-1760)
George III (r. 1760-1820)
George IV (r. 1820-1830)
William IV (r. 1830-1837)
Victoria (r. 1837-1901)
Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her Edward VII (r.1901-1910)
father died shortly after her birth and she became heir to the throne because The House of Windsor
the three uncles who were ahead of her in succession - George IV, Frederick George V (r. 1910-1936)
Duke of York, and William IV - had no legitimate children who survived. Edward VIII (Jan-Dec 1936)
On William IV's death in 1837, she became Queen at the age of 18. George VI (r.1936-1952)

Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and,
especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.

In the early part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne,
and her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Both men taught her much about how to be
a ruler in a 'constitutional monarchy' where the monarch had very few powers but could use much
influence. Albert took an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry; the project for which he
is best remembered was the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which helped to establish the
South Kensington museums complex in London. Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she
sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal
trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black.

Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children
married into other Royal families of Europe: Edward VII (born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of
Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie
of Russia. Arthur, Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia. Leopold, Duke of Albany
(born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Victoria, Princess Royal (born 1840) married Friedrich III,
German Emperor. Alice (born 1843) married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena (born 1846)
married Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise (born 1848) married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll.
Beatrice (born 1857) married Henry of Battenberg.

Victoria and her family travelled and were seen on an unprecedented scale, thanks to transport improve-
ments and other technical changes such as the spread of newspapers and the invention of photography.
Victoria was the first reigning monarch to use trains - she made her first train journey in 1842.

Victoria bought Osborne House (later presented to the nation by Edward VII) on the Isle of Wight as a
family home in 1845, and Albert bought Balmoral in 1852. Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle
of Wight, on 22 January 1901 after a reign which lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history.

[http://www.royal.gov.uk ]

The Crystal Palace, 1851

The Victorian Age

In 1825 the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened, followed by the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway five years later. The age of the railway had begun, reducing transport
times, lowering transport costs, consuming raw materials and stimulating investment. The
1840s saw 'railway mania': by 1851 6,800 miles of track had been laid. Soon it was possible to
travel from London to Bristol in hours rather than days at speeds of around 60 mph.

The spread of railways stimulated communication, and Rowland Hill's standardisation of postal
charges in 1839 saw a boom in mail services. But this was nothing compared to the revolution
of the telegraph. It opened in the 1840s and soon went stratospheric - within ten years
exchanging telegrams had become part of everyday life. By the mid 1860s London was
connected with New York and ten years later messages could be exchanged between London
and Bombay in minutes.

With greater speed came a greater need for industries and businesses to make more and make it
quicker. Steam made this possible and changed working life forever. Working life was
becoming increasingly regulated, and the working week was reorganised to promote ever-
greater efficiency. The old custom of St. Monday - when no work was done - was gradually
phased out and to compensate, work stopped around midday on Saturday and did not resume
until Monday morning. A new division between 'work' and 'leisure' emerged, and this new
block of weekend leisure time coincided with the development of spectator sports like cricket
and football, and the rise of music hall entertainment for the new working classes. Factories
had foremen and life became correspondingly more regimented. The clocking-on machine was
invented in 1885 and time and motion studies to increase efficiency would be introduced only
some twenty years later. The modern world was opening up new opportunities for those who
would work hard enough to take them.

This spirit of competition extended even as far as science. Charles Darwin's Origin of Species
(1859) described the theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest: the ultimate rat
race. The nineteenth century was a world of free markets, free trade and laissez-faire
government, with all moves towards paternalism - in areas such as public health and poor laws
- fiercely resisted. It was every man for himself.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians ]
Famous Victorians
Charles Darwin (1809 -1882)
Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. In 1831 he joined a
scientific expedition bound for South America and the Pacific Ocean on a sailing
ship called The Beagle (1831 - 36). He was to be the ship's naturalist, the expert on
plants and animals.
In the Galapagos Islands Darwin noticed how the same species of birds, cut off from
centuries on different islands, had developed in quite different ways. This and many
other amazing discoveries led him to his theory of 'evolution by natural selection'.
This theory lies behind all modern ideas on how different species of living things
have become to be the way they are and how they will change in the future.

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)

Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England on 7 February 1812. He spent
much of his life in Kent and London. Charles Dickens wrote some of the
most popular and widely read novels of the 19th century, from Oliver Twist
to A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Dickens had ten children.
He died of a stroke in 1870 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Lewis Carrol (1832 -1898)

(real name Charles Lutwidge Dogson) He was born in 1832 and was a lecturer in
mathematics at Oxford University. He was the author of the well known book Alice in
Wonderland which he wrote in 1865.
Alice in Wonderland came from stories he told to Alice Lidell and her sisters (the daughters
of the Dean of his Oxford college) during a boat trip one sunny afternoon in 1862.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Stevenson was born in 1850 and was a scottish author who wrote Treasure
Island and Kidnapped which are two of the most popular children's stories
ever written.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922)

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Bell is best known for his invention of the telephone. Many inventors had
been working on the idea of sending human speech by wire, but Bell was the
first to succeed. In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone.

Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912)

Enemy of germs who started antiseptic surgery. Lister was born on the 5 April 1827
in Upton, Essex.
In 1853, Lister, a young English doctor, became a house surgeon at Edinburgh Royal
Infirmary. He was horrified at the number of patients whose wounds became infected
and went rotten.
At that time no one knew what caused infection. It wasn't until 1865 that Lister heard
about the great French Scientist, Louis Pasteur. Pasteur had discovered that diseases
are caused by tiny living things, now called 'germs'. Lister realised it was important to
kill the germs in wounds so the wounds wouldn't get infected. Lister used carbonic
acid as the most effective germ-killer - or 'antiseptic'. The results were a lot less rotting
of wounds than there used to be and the number of deaths dramatically fell.

[http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/famous.htm ]
 Florence Nightingale
'The lady with the Lamp'
(1820 - 1910)

Who was Florence Nightingale?

Florence Nightingale was a truly inspirational nurse.

Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing work during the

Crimean War (1854 - 56). She changed the face of nursing from a
mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected
medical profession with very important responsibilities.

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on 12 May

1820. Her father was a wealthy landowner. She was brought up in Derbyshire (where she spent
her summers) and Hampshire (where she spent her winters).

Florence was named after the place of her birth

Rich English girls such as Florence were expected to do - almost nothing.

At the time when Florence was born, many girls did not receive any type of education.
Florence was very lucky because her father, William Nightingale, believed that all women
should receive an education. He taught Florence and her sister a variety of subjects ranging
from science and mathematics to history and philosophy. As Florence grew up she developed
an interest in helping others. She cared for sick pets and servants whenever she had the chance.

At seventeen years of age, she believed she was called into service by God “to do something
toward lifting the load of suffering from the helpless and miserable.” At first her parents
refused to allow her to become a nurse because, at that time, it was not thought to be a suitable
profession for a well-educated woman. But Florence did not give up. Eventually in 1851 her
father gave his permission and Florence went to Germany to train as a nurse.

In 1853 she was running a hospital in London.

Work Timeline

1849 - travelled to Europe to study the European hospital system.

1850 - travelled to Alexandria, Egypt and began studying nursing at the Institute of Saint
Vincent de Paul.
1851 - aged thirty-one, went to Germany to train to become a nurse.
1853 - became superintendent of the Hospital for Gentlewomen in London.
1854 - the Crimean War broke out.
 Crimean War

In 1854 Florence Nightingale was

asked to go to Turkey to manage the
nursing of British soldiers wounded in
the Crimean War (1854 - 56). She
travelled to Scutari (the location where
the wounded and ill soldiers of the
Crimean War were taken) to help the
wounded soldiers.

She found the hospital conditions to be

in a very poor state. Many of the
wounded were unwashed and were
sleeping in overcrowded, dirty rooms
without blankets or decent food. In
these conditions diseases such as
typhus, cholera and dysentery spread quickly. As a result, the death rate amongst wounded
soldiers was very high. Most soldiers died from infections and disease. (Only one in six died
from their war wounds; the other five in six died from infections and disease.)

Florence and her nurses changed these conditions. They set up a kitchen, fed the wounded
from their own supplies, dug latrines for sanitation, and asked for help from the wives of the
wounded. They were then able to properly care for the ill and wounded and the death rate
among the soldiers dropped.

Why was Florence Nightingale called 'The lady with the lamp' ?

Florence was very dedicated to her job. She would often visit the
soldiers at night when every one was asleep just to make sure they
were o.k. She was then referred to as “The Lady with the Lamp”
because she hardly took time off to sleep. Florence became a true
hero to the soldiers and everyone back home in England.

[http://www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/florence/index.htm

She set up a training school for

nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital

Further information

BBC Florence Nightingale - An online story book about her life

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/nightingale/learn/page24.shtml#focus
Inventions from the Victorian Age
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/significant-inventions-from-the-victorian-era/12761.html

• Significant inventions from the Victorian era

• Duration: 08:21
• An introduction to some Significant inventions from the Victorian era. Adam Hart-Davis explains how
the tree found to have an antedote to malaria helped invent the 'gin and tonic' (used to disguise its taste).
The use of iron significantly helped the Victorians develop further, building railways and steams at a
rapid pace. In 1837 Isambard Kingdon-Brunel build the SS Great Britain, connecting the UK with
American. However, Adam demonstrates how these iron ships caused problems for the navigational
compasses and explains how Lord Kelvin's invention the Binnacle worked to overcome these. We see a
'Tempest Prognosticator' (Leech barometer) which the Victorian's tried to use to predict the weather.
With the increasing need to international trade, we are shown original telegraph cables linked together
across the globe. Taken from the television series 'What the Victorians did for us' with Adam Hart-Davis.
• Subject:

History: Topic: Technology

• Keywords: Adam Hart-Davis, Empire, malaria, antedote, gin, Victorians, iron, SS Great Britain,
steamer, compass, magnet, magnetic, leech, binnacle, telegraph, Isambard, Kingdom-Brunel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/development-of-transport-during-the-victorian-era/12768.html

• Development of transport during the Victorian era

• Duration: 08:10
• An introduction to the development of transport from the bone shaker bicycle to the steam powered car
and on to the petrol car. The Victorians developed the railway network from 500 miles of track to 7,000
miles by 1850. Isambard Kingdom Brunel finished building the Great Western Railway in 1851 at a cost
of £6.5 million. Adam Hart-Davis shows a life size recreation of the experiment Isambard Kingdom
Brunel used to demonstrate the power of propellers. Taken from the television series 'What the Victorians
did for us' with Adam Hart-Davis.
• Subject:

History: Topic: Transport

• Keywords: Adam, Hart, Davis, Boneshaker, bicycle, penny, farthing, steam, victorians, car, petrol,
railway, Isambard, Kingdom, Brunel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/transport-the-railway-age-in-britain/5278.html

• Transport: the railway age in Britain

• Duration: 04:16
• There were 6,000 miles of railway in Britain by 1850. Railways transformed travel for people in Britain.
This is the story of the railways from George Stephenson and the reaction to the earliest forms of steam
engine through to their greatest days. This technology inspired great social, political and economic
change that had far reaching consequences for Britain.
• Subject: