Victorian era in England. What is the Victorian era famous for?

The Victorian era, like any other, is characterized by its own peculiarities. When people talk about it, there is usually a feeling of sadness, because it was a time of high moral principles, which is unlikely to return.

This period was characterized by the flourishing of the middle class, and high standards of relations were established. For example, such qualities as: punctuality, sobriety, diligence, hard work, thriftiness and frugality have become a model for all residents of the country.

The most significant thing for England at that time was the absence of military action. The country did not wage wars at that time and could concentrate its funds for internal development, but this is not the only one characteristic feature of that time, it was also distinguished by the fact that it was during this era that the rapid growth of English industry began.

During this period, a young woman ascended the throne. She was not only wise, but also very beautiful woman, as her contemporaries noted. Unfortunately, we mostly know of her portraits, where she is in mourning and no longer young. She wore lifelong mourning for her husband, Prince Albert, with whom she lived happy years. Their subjects called their marriage ideal, but they revered it. dreamed of being like the queen, respected by everyone.

An interesting fact is that during the reign of Queen Victoria, the custom arose at Christmas to decorate the Christmas tree and give gifts to children. The initiator of this innovation was the queen's husband.

What is the Victorian era famous for, why do we often remember it, what was so special about it? First of all, this is the industrial boom that began in England and led to rapid changes in the country. The Victorian era in England forever destroyed the previous, familiar, old and very stable way of life. There was literally no trace left of it before our eyes; it was uncontrollably disintegrating, changing the attitude of the inhabitants. At this time, mass production was developing in the country, the first photography studios, the first postcards and souvenirs in the form of porcelain dogs appeared.

The Victorian era also saw the rapid development of education. For example, in 1837, 43% of the population in England was illiterate, but in 1894 only 3% remained. Printing was also developing at a rapid pace at that time. It is known that the growth of popular periodicals has increased 60 times. The Victorian era is characterized by rapid social progress; it made the residents of their country feel at the very center of world events.

It is noteworthy that at this time writers were the most respected people in the country. For example, Charles Dickens, a typical Victorian writer, left great amount works in which moral principles are subtly noted. Many of his works depict defenseless children and necessarily demonstrate retribution for those who treated them unfairly. Vice is always punishable - this is the main direction of social thought of that time. This is what the Victorian era was like in England.

This time was characterized not only by the flourishing of science and art, but also special style in clothing and architecture. In society, everything is subject to the rules of “decency”. Suits and dresses for both men and women were strict, but sophisticated. Women, going to the ball, could wear jewelry, but they could not afford to put on makeup, since this was considered the lot of women of easy virtue.

Victorian architecture is a special asset of that time. This style is loved and popular to this day. It has luxury and variety decorative elements, he is attractive to modern designers. The furniture of that time was formal, with stuccoed magnificent forms, and many chairs with high backs and bent legs are still called "Victorian".

Many small tables with ottomans weird shape and, of course, paintings and photographs were an indispensable attribute of every decent home. Long lace tablecloths were always present on the tables, and heavy, multi-layered curtains covered the windows. It was a style of luxury and comfort. This is how the stable and prosperous middle class lived in the Victorian era, which ensured the prosperity of England for many years.

Victorian architecture is, first of all, a successful mixture of styles such as neo-Gothic, styles, and it also contains elements. The architects gladly used rich details and used bright decorative techniques. This style is characterized by very tall windows that resemble an inverted shield, graceful wood paneling, traditional granite fireplaces, and fences with majestic Gothic spiers.

The Victorian era, or the era of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) was a strange time when some traditions were broken and others were born - strange and repulsive. Perhaps the reason was that the British were crazy about their kings, and with the death of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert in 1861, widespread, continuous mourning began in the country. In conditions of eternal sorrow, to death loved one you begin to look from a different angle. What now terrifies and causes unpleasant movement of the hair on the head was then not obvious, but the norm...

Attention: the article contains shocking images and is not recommended for viewing by site visitors under 18 years of age, as well as by people with a traumatized psyche!

Posthumous portraits

Until 1839, portraits were painted with a brush on canvas (or wood) - this was a long and expensive task, not accessible to everyone, but with the invention of the daguerreotype, acquiring your own portrait, or a portrait of loved ones, became accessible to almost everyone. True, the middle class often did not think about this, and grabbed their heads only after family members “played the box.”

Post-mortem portraits began to become very popular. And with the invention of the carte de visite in the middle of the century, photographs could be printed in any quantity and distributed to all close and distant relatives and friends.

Given the high infant mortality rate, postmortem photographs of infants of all ages have become especially popular. At that time, such images were not perceived as taboo, but were a kind of norm.

The idea of ​​post-mortem photographs took root so well that it eventually came to new level. Photographers tried to add “life” to the portraits, and corpses were photographed surrounded by family.

The deceased children had their favorite toys shoved into their hands, and their eyes were forcibly opened and propped up with something so that they would not accidentally slam shut during the slow filming process. Sometimes the photographer's students added rosy cheeks to the corpse.

Sad decorations

The only acceptable thing for women was to wear brown items as mourning jewelry. coal– dark and gloomy, it was supposed to personify longing for the departed. Jewelers, it must be said, did not charge anything for products made from coal. less money than for jewelry with rubies or emeralds.

This was worn during the first stage of mourning. A year and a half. On the second, the woman could afford to wear some Jewelry. But with one caveat - they had to contain hair. Human. Hair from the head of the deceased.

Brooches, bracelets, rings, chains, everything was made from hair - sometimes they were included in gold or silver jewelry, sometimes the jewelry itself was made exclusively from hair cut from a corpse.

The widow was required to wear a heavy black veil that hid her face for the first three months after her husband's death. After three months, the veil was allowed to be lifted onto the hat, which, of course, significantly facilitated the movement of women in space.

Almost nothing was visible through the mourning veil. The woman wore a veil on her hat for another nine months. In total, the woman did not have the right to remove her mourning for two years. But the majority, along with the queen, preferred not to take it off for the rest of their lives.

Haunted houses

When a family member died, the mirrors in the house were covered with dark cloth. For some reason this norm has taken root in Russia, but not in such a global time frame - in Victorian England mirrors were kept closed for at least a year.

If a mirror fell and broke in the house, this was considered a sure sign that someone in the family would definitely die one of these days. And if someone did die, the clocks in the whole house were stopped exactly at the moment of his death. People sincerely believed that if this was not done, it would bring more deaths and troubles.

But they carried the dead out of the house head first so that the rest of the family would not “follow” him.

With all this, coffins with bells were especially popular in the Victorian era. So, it seemed, he died and died, but just in case, the corpses were not buried for almost a week, and then they hung a bell over the grave, in case the deceased, by coincidence of circumstances, turned out to be alive and well and, waking up in the grave, would be able to tell the whole world, that it needs to be dug up.

The fear of being buried alive was so great that bells were attached just in case to everyone who was buried in the ground, even to a corpse with obvious signs of decomposition. To make the task completely easier for a potential living person, the bell was connected by a chain to a ring, which was put on forefinger deceased.

Well, and for a snack – completely unrealistic photographs of people without heads from the Victorian era. If you believe all sorts of archives, this method of photo manipulation was exactly in second place after post-mortem photography. Damn these Englishmen...

The prim British people during the reign of Queen Victoria seem to be models of decorum and good behavior. It’s hard to imagine, but British women of those years wore trousers with a hole in the very interesting place, and reputable doctors relieved them of hysteria with the help of a thorough massage... of the clitoris. Rotten food and canned food with arsenic, dead children in photos, a glutton queen, and other strange and disgusting facts about the Victorian era.

Doctors of the era treated hysteria in women with masturbation

At that time, female "hysteria" (i.e. restlessness, irritability, nervousness and other similar symptoms) was seen as a serious problem. But doctors have discovered that these symptoms can be temporarily relieved with the help of “finger massage in the intimate area,” which, if done correctly, will cause a “hysterical paroxysm.”

Women's underwear was open in the crotch area

Victorian pantaloons were, as it were, cut in two, the halves for each leg were cut separately and connected with ties or buttons at the waist and on the back. Thus, the crotch seam (i.e. the crotch) was open, which could be very convenient in certain cases, which we, being very well-bred, will not mention.

Many historians believe that due to the lack of special hygiene products at that time and the fact that women's clothing consisted of many layers of fabric, most women did nothing at all during menstruation and allowed bleeding flow freely and be absorbed into petticoats. Other solutions to the delicate problem involved the use of cloth diapers, which were secured with a belt, or sheep's wool, which was glued to the vulva with lard. Thank God modern women There are pads and tampons.

During this era, women were very hairy... everywhere

In the Victorian era, there were no such useful items as safe Shaver. And although depilatory compounds had already been invented, they were very toxic and were used only for removing hair from the face and hands. So armpits, legs and intimate area were terribly overgrown. But considering that they were all hidden under several layers of clothing, it didn't matter.

The Thames was so full of feces, garbage and dead animals that you could walk on it

By 1860, about a thousand tons of faeces were dumped into the Thames every day, as there was no other storage facility for Wastewater it simply wasn't there. And at the same time the river was the main source drinking water for London residents. People died like flies from dysentery, cholera and typhoid, believing that the dirty air was to blame for everything. Oh, how wrong they were!

An 1891 affidavit by Lady Harberton states that during a short walk around London, the hem of her long dress collected: two cigar butts, nine cigarettes, a piece of pork pie, four toothpicks, two hairpins, a slice cat food, half a shoe sole, a bar of tobacco (chewed up), straw, dirt, scraps of paper and God knows what else.

In the 1960s, crinolines became so wide that women got stuck in the doors

The "Era of Crinolines" lasted from 1850 to 1870. At that time, the basis of the women's toilet was a domed gathered skirt, the shape of which was given by numerous petticoats. Sometimes a lady in such an outfit really could not squeeze through the door. You could also inadvertently touch the candle and knock it over on yourself, and this is truly life-threatening. The satirical magazine Punch even advised husbands to buy insurance for their wives in case of fire due to crinolines. So what's this fashion trend did not last long.

Before the invention of pasteurization, milk could be a source of tuberculosis. The safety of products, especially those purchased in major cities. Unscrupulous traders sold rotten meat mixed with fresh carcass fat; bakers added alum and chalk to the dough to make the bread appear whiter. Arsenic was added to pickles and other canned foods to improve the flavor and make it brighter. Well, and kill the buyer.

Victoria hated spicy food, but, as the ruler of India, she insisted on preparing curry every day - just in case “oriental people” came to visit her.

As a child, Victoria was raised very strictly and was not allowed to eat much, so when she became queen, she did everything to make up for lost time. She ate a lot and at an incredible speed, which was a problem for her guests - after all, according to etiquette, they were supposed to finish each dish as soon as the queen finished eating it (even if they only had time to take a bite). In general, by today's standards, Queen Victoria was a rather obese woman.

One beauty advice writer recommended to readers: “Make a mask every night using thin slices of raw beef, which is said to protect the skin from wrinkles and keep it fresh.” Of course, unless your dog gnaws your face in your sleep.

This Russian boy's name was Fyodor Evtikhiev, and he suffered. Fyodor and his father Adrian were presented to the public as “the two greatest wonders of our time.” Their faces were covered with hair, making them look like Skye terriers. Subsequently, Andrian died from complications caused by alcoholism, but Fedor continued to “delight people” for many more years.

Boys wore dresses as children - until it was time to go to school

In wealthy families, young children, regardless of gender, were usually dressed in white, elegantly decorated dresses with frills and lace. And the caps with ribbons were also the same for both girls and boys.

Almost 50% of children died before reaching the age of five

Most high level infant mortality was, of course, in the slums. The slums of Seven Dials in London and Angel Meadow in Manchester were so terrible that they were called hell on earth. Manchester was home to more than 30,000 workers, mostly Irish immigrants, in just one square mile. The children there were left to their own devices, eating whatever garbage they could find, and some even ate cats and rats.

Rich people usually took photographs, and those who could not afford this expensive pleasure hired an artist. For example, a kind-hearted artist named John Callcott Horsley often visited morgues to paint portraits of recently deceased children. Such a posthumous image was often the only memory of departed relatives.

In the Victorian era, when gluttony coexisted with incredible frugality, not a single piece of food was wasted. For example, whole veal heads were boiled for dinner, and the brains were cooked as a separate dish: they resembled pink lumps floating in a butter sauce. Veal ears were shaved, boiled, and then fried in boiling oil. A sort of feast in the style of Hannibal Lecter.

Charles Darwin was very fond of dishes from exotic animals

Darwin not only studied rare animals, but also loved to feast on them. He joined the Cambridge Glutton Club, whose members ate unusual dishes from hawks, squirrels, grubs and owls. And during his travels, the scientist tasted an iguana, a giant turtle, an armadillo and a puma.

The Victorian era embraced most 19th century. Dramatic changes have occurred in almost every area of ​​life. It was a time of prosperity, widespread imperialist expansion and great political reforms. At the same time, virtue and restrictions taken to the point of absurdity contrasted with the widespread prevalence of prostitution and child labor.

Life was not easy for ordinary Englishmen. (pinterest.com)

So many people were crammed into the huts of the poor that there was no question of any hygiene or sanitary standards there was no question. Often living together in a small area large quantity men and women led to very early prostitution.

Life of hard workers. (pinterest.com)

In the home of a middle-class man, the main place was the living room. It was the largest, most expensively decorated and presentable room. Of course, after all, the family was judged by it.

Classic interior a decent home. (pinterest.com)

Slum life. (pinterest.com)

The generations of Hanoverians preceding Victoria led a very dissolute lifestyle: illegitimate children, alcoholism, debauchery. The prestige of the British monarchy was low. The Queen had to rectify the situation. Although they say that she collected images of male nudes.

Fashion victims. (pinterest.com)

Family portrait. (pinterest.com)

Victorian era fashion. (pinterest.com)

Men and women were forced to forget that they had a body. Courtship consisted of ritual conversations and symbolic gestures. Words about the body and feelings were replaced by euphemisms (for example, limbs instead of arms and legs). Girls were not supposed to know anything about sex and childbirth. The middle class believed that prosperity was the reward of virtue. Puritanism taken to extremes family life gave rise to feelings of guilt and hypocrisy.

English family in India, 1880. (pinterest.com)

Flower sellers. (pinterest.com)

It must be said that the harsh rules did not apply to ordinary people. Peasants, workers, small traders, sailors and soldiers lived in unsanitary conditions, poverty and overcrowding. To require them to adhere to Victorian morality would be simply ridiculous.

Life of the poor. (pinterest.com)

The clothing was elaborate and elegant. For each case, a specific style was provided. The main characters of a woman's wardrobe were the crinoline and the corset. And if only wealthy ladies could afford the first, then the second was worn by women of all classes.

Fashionistas. (pinterest.com)

In the bathroom. (pinterest.com)

Victorian fashion. (pinterest.com)

Victorian era, 1837–1901

These years, like the Elizabethan era, are often depicted as a golden age in English history. Trade flourished industrial production gained unprecedented strength, lively cities grew everywhere, and the possessions of the British Empire extended throughout the world.

Among the many changes that took place in those years, I would like to note one, the most significant, - the outflow of the population from rural areas to cities. If in 1801, according to the census, urban population was only 30% of total number English, then by the middle of the century this figure had increased to 50%, and in 1901 80% of the population lived in cities and their suburbs. This trend was undoubtedly very convenient for the developing industry, since it created an inexhaustible reserve work force, but she also gave birth to serious problems. Due to the great overcrowding, terrible dirt and poverty reigned in the cities. At first, the government tried to turn a blind eye to the plight of poor citizens, but then individual employers appeared who tried to take care of their employees. Gradually they realized that this could only be done properly if there were appropriate state laws. Such laws began to appear under pressure from industrialists, and each new law, controlling the living and working conditions of workers, meant increasing interference in the lives of British citizens. The army of civil servants grew steadily: in 1832 there were about 21 thousand, by 1880 there were already over 50 thousand, and in 1914 there were state enterprises Over 280 thousand hired workers worked.

Victoria: Queen and Wife

For for long years Queen Victoria was a symbol of reliability and stability for the entire nation. This woman, even in her youth, showed extraordinary strength of character, as evidenced by her refusal to sign documents while ill with typhoid fever in 1835. However, she achieved true greatness when she ascended the English throne. Already in the first year of her reign, one of the journalists noted: “She never leaves her post for a minute - the most hardworking and obliging queen in the world.” Although there were those who considered Victoria a limited and stubborn person.

A year after her coronation, in 1838, the queen fell in love with her brilliant cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the wedding soon took place. Since then, Victoria relied on her husband in everything, recognizing his intellectual superiority. Those around him immediately felt Prince Albert's influence. If before that Victoria had the habit of sleeping late, then the very next day after her marriage, her subjects saw their queen walking hand in hand with her husband in the predawn fog. As one of the courtiers sarcastically remarked: “Not the most The best way give the country the Prince of Wales."

It was an extremely successful marriage, although, naturally, there were some disagreements: the parents did not always see eye to eye on raising children. And they had a lot of children - nine. The first, in 1840, was born Victoria, who later became the wife of the German emperor. She was followed in 1841 by Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Besides them there were three more boys and four girls. Prince Albert gave great importance family life, especially concerned about the education of children. Their married couple served as role models throughout England for many years.

Queen Victoria

If in previous centuries Since members of the royal family were often prone to gambling, drinking and love affairs, the current monarchs expressed vehement disapproval of all these vices. Part of this condemnation fell on their eldest son, who indulged too zealously in the joys of life. Victoria inherited three estates - Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Either these buildings were not spacious enough for the royal family, or did not seem private enough, but the family acquired two more houses - Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Balmoral Castle in Scotland. In these places they finally found the peace and solitude they had so dreamed of. Queen Victoria later wrote: “Here we can stroll peacefully without fear of running into a crowd of curious people.”