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The Victorian era

When was the Victorian age?

The time when Queen Victoria reigned is called the Victorian era or Victorian age . She was queen from 1837 to 1901 , and a lot of things happened in Britain during that time.

During the 64 years that Queen Victoria was on the throne, Britain was also going through the Industrial Revolution . Machines for factories were invented that could make things quickly, like textiles – so, there were more textiles around to sell, and more people who wanted to buy them. With the invention of the steam train, the textiles could get to places further away than before.

Life in the Victorian era changed very quickly for a lot of people, and cities became busier and more crowded.

Top 10 facts

• The Victorian era is what we call the time that Queen Victoria reigned: 1837-1901.
• During the Victorian era, the Industrial Revolution was happening – this is when scientific inventions meant that it was easier to make things to sell, and that those things could be sent to places further away than before.
• One big reason why the Industrial Revolution happened was because of steam power – this lead to the invention of steam trains, which made it faster to travel and to send goods.
• A way to make steel from iron was also discovered, which made it easier to make machines for factories and to even build the factories themselves.
• All of these things during the Industrial Revolution meant that lots of products could be made in the same place at the same time – this is called mass production. Before this, it would have been just one tradesman making one thing at a time.
• Also during the Victorian Era, Great Britain became the British Empire . Britain governed many countries, kingdoms and colonies all over the world. Many of these places are part of the British Commonwealth today.
• Before the Victorian era, it took days – sometimes weeks – to travel places. Inventions such as the steam train and the iron steam ship meant that travel took a lot less time, so people started going to places where they wouldn’t have thought to before, like the (modern day) United States of America and India .
• It was also faster to get in touch with other people, even if you were all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. The telegraph and telephone were both invented in the Victorian era , so people didn’t always have to write letters if they had something important to say.
• People started using electricity for the first time in the Victorian Era. The first electrically-lit streetlights, public building and even village were in the UK.
• By 1901, half of all the people who lived in Britain (not including the Empire) lived in cities. This was a huge change because most people had lived in the country around the start of the Victorian era.
• 24 May 1837 Victoria was crowned queen
• 1837 The SS Great Britain, the first iron steam ship, was built and made the Atlantic Ocean crossing

• 30 June 1841 The Great Western Railway from Bristol to London was completed
• 1842 The Mines Act established that women and children younger than 10 years old were not allowed to work in mines
• 1843 Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol and the first Christmas cards were sold
• 1845 The pneumatic rubber tyre was invented
• 1845 London Road in Nottingham was the first road to be paved with tarmacadam (tarmac), which meant roads didn’t have to be covered in cobblestones anymore
• 1847 The Factories Act set limits on the amount of time women and children could work
• 1850 The first public library opened in Manchester – anyone could borrow books for free!

• 1850 The first workhouses opened, giving poor people a place to live in exchange for their work
• 1851 The Great Exhibition took place at Crystal Palace in London
• 1852 The Victoria and Albert museum opened in London
• 1853 The first post boxes were used – painted green, not red!
• 1853-54 An outbreak of cholera in London killed 11,000 people

• 1856 Scientist Henry Bessemer invented a quick way to convert iron to steel, which helped mass production
• 1857 The National Portrait Gallery opened in London; it was the first portrait gallery in the world
• 1857 The Science Museum opened in London
• 1857 A cable was laid in the Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and Newfoundland, so telegraphs could be sent between North America and Great Britain; it took a few more years to get it working properly, though!
• 1858 India started to be ruled by Britain
• 1863 The London Underground opened, becoming the world’s first underground railway (steam powered)
• 1867 Voting laws gave all men who paid taxes a right to vote
• 1870 The Houses of Parliament in London were completed (they had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1834)

• 1873 The first chocolate Easter eggs were made by Fry, Vaughan & Co. in Bristol
• 1875 A drainage system in London was completed, which improved sanitation in the city
• 1876 Queen Victoria was named Empress of India
• 1877 The first telephones were sold through a company named after inventor Alexander Graham Bell
• 1877 Thomas Edison made the first recording on a phonograph; Queen Victoria was recorded on a phonograph in 1888
• 1878 The first electric streetlights were installed in London
• 1878 The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth to help the poor
• 1880 The Education Act decreed that all children aged 5-10 had to go to school
• 1881 Godalming in Surrey was the first town in the world to have an electricity supply available for everyone to use; also that year, the Savoy Theatre was the first public building in the world to be entirely lit by electricity
• 1882 Thomas Edison opened the world’s first steam-powered electricity generating station in London
• 1883 The first electric railway was built in Brighton
• 1885 The standard bicycle (like the ones we use today) was invented
• 1885 The first motor car was built in Germany by Karl Benz
• 1887 The gramophone was invented by Emile Berliner
• 1887 Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee
• 1891 A law was passed that established every child age 5-13 should have access to a free education
• 22 January 1901 Queen Victoria died and Edward VII became king

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Did you know?

• The Victorian era is named after Queen Victoria, who was queen from 1837-1901. People who lived during the Victorian era are called Victorians .
• Before the 19th century it used to take people 12 hours to travel between Birmingham and London if they were riding in a horse-drawn coach. Steam trains meant they could make the journey in under six hours!
• The police force was set up during the Victorian era by a man called Robert Peele (which is why we sometimes call the police "bobbies"!).
• Electric light bulb
• Steam and electric trains
• Rubber pneumatic tyres
• Sewing machines
• Postage stamps
• Chocolate Easter eggs
• Christmas cards
• In 1851 the Great Exhibition was a huge collection of all kinds of inventions and art from Britain as well as places like America and Russia . The money that was made from people paying to see the Great Exhibition was used later to build museums in London, like the Science Museum.
• the first electric street lights were in London
• the first building lit with electric lights was a theatre in London
• the first village to have its own access to electricity was Godalming in Surrey.
• At the beginning of the Victorian era in 1837, more people lived in the country than in cities. By the end of the Victorian era in 1901, half of the British population lived in cities. Find out more about life under Queen Victoria.

See if you can spot all the following in the gallery below:

• Queen Victoria
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Joseph Wilson Swan
• Volks Electric Railway in Brighton
• A steam engine used in a factory
• A map of the British Empire in 1897 (all the red areas)
• People riding a penny-farthing bicycle
• The SS Great Britain ship (Photo Credit: mattbuck via Wikimedia Commons)

When the Victorian era began, Britain was going through the Industrial Revolution. Scientists had learned how to use steam to create power, and from that came a whole list of other inventions that used steam power to make machines operate.

One of these machines was the steam train, in the early 1800s. It meant that travelling was a lot faster than using a horse and carriage, and that goods could be transported much more quickly than using the canal system.

This was good because more and more goods were being made! For instance, the textile industry was growing thanks to the invention of machines that could do the spinning and weaving instead of people, meaning it took much less time to produce. This is called mass production , and it was a key factor in the Industrial Revolution. It wasn’t a case anymore of just one person making one item – machines could do the same job in a fraction of the time.

While all this was going on, Britain was becoming bigger. The British Empire was the term used to describe all of the places that were under British rule, and during the Victorian era, this got so big that one poet said ‘the sun never sets on the British Empire’ (meaning that wherever the sun was shining at the time, it would be shining on something that belonged to Britain). Many countries that were part of the British Empire are now part of the Commonwealth.

The Great Exhibition in 1851 celebrated not just great accomplishments from around the world, but also within Britain and the British Empire.

Names to know:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) – a famous engineer who build steam ships, bridges, tunnels and even helped with the Crystal Palace used to house the Great Exhibition James Watt (1736-1819) – a Scottish engineer who invented an improved steam engine used in factories and mines Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) – most famous for inventing the telephone Thomas Edison (1847-1931) – an American inventor who made the phonograph and helped Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in Britain create the first electric light bulbs. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) – Prime Minister in 1868 and again from 1874-1880 William Gladstone (1809-1898) – Prime Minister four different times between 1868 and 1894, which is more than any other prime minister; he supported laws that allowed more people to vote W. H. Fox-Talbot – an inventor who found ways to take photographs using negatives Robert Peel (1788-1850) – Prime Minister from 1834-1835 and 1841-1846, who set up the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

• Quiz yourself on the Victorians!
• Watch a Horrible Histories video about the Victorian age:  Queen Victoria - British Things Song
• Read English Heritage's Kids Rule! guide to Victorian England magazine to learn all about the Victorians
• Travel back in time to a Victorian house
• Print out some Victorian scenes to colour in
• Did  life really improve in Victorian times ?
• Follow along with loads of Victorian recipes 
• Listen to a radio play about Prisoner 4099 , 12-year-old William Towers who was caught stealing two rabbits (possibly for food for his family) in 1872 and sent to Wandsworth prison

Best children's books about the Victorians

Find out more:

• A children's guide to Victoria's reign , with information about the Queen Victoria's family , the  British Empire , Victorian architecture and Victorian cities
• Watch a  BBC Bitesize clip about the history of the steam engine
• A guide to some  great Victorians  and their lives
• See a BBC Bitesize introduction to the British Empire
• Read fiction books set in Victorian times
• Victorian Britain  information and links from the National Archives
• A BBC bitesize introduction to The Victorian Era
• Understand the impact of the steam engine on Victorian life
• Life in the workhouse, including a guided tour
• Read about workhouses in Victorian times
• Find out about  crime and punishment in Victorian times
• Information about Victorian prisons
• Watch a BBC Bitesize video about the Industrial Revolution and what life was like in Britain before, during and after industrialisation
• Find out about famous Victorian author, Charles Dickens
• Read about the Great Exhibition , which embodied Prince Albert's desire to showcase the wonders of industry from around the world
• Look closely at William Powell Frith's painting Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside) , 1852-4, to see an image of Victorian life
• Consult a Victorian inventions timeline (1837 to 1901)
• Read about Victorian transport in Preston , including trams and stem engines
• Explore posters, newspapers, illustrations and more that showcase Victorian Britain

See for yourself

• Look at an online collection of Victorian objects , including carbolic soap, candle snuffers, clothes wringers and oil lamps
• See posters, British Exhibition tickets and other items from the height of the British Empire at the Museum of London
• Learn more about the amazing inventions around the Victorian Era at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
• Walk around Buckingham Palace in London to see evidence of Victorian life: a route map highlights all the places of interest
• At York Castle Museum, Kirkgate is a recreated Victorian cobbled street with a schoolroom, police cell and Hansom cab
• At Blists recreated Victorian Town  you can meet some "real" Victorians in their authentic shops and cottages, buy Victorian goods and watch tradespeople in action  

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8th October 2016

The Victorians was a time for railways, Queen Victoria and the establishment of many familiar companies, such as chocolate maker Cadbury and soft drink company Coca Cola.

Queen Victoria

The Victorian era started when Princess Victoria was crowned Queen, at 18 years old, in 1837. Three years later, she married her cousin, Prince Albert. They had 9 children together, before he passed away in 1861. Victoria was distraught, and missed him so much that she wore black for the rest of her life.

You can find out more about Queen Victoria here.

Life in Victorian Britain

How your life was in Victorian Britain depended on who you were and how much money you had. If you were rich, then life was luxurious, although how luxurious your life was depended on how rich you were. If you were poor, then life was hard, and in some cases, you literally had to fight to survive.

Workhouses were places where some poor people lived and worked. They worked long hours on the factory floors. In return for their work, they would get a roof over their heads and food (although not very much.)

Many workhouses were dark and dirty, and you weren’t treated very well. It wasn’t a place you wanted to be in.

The house(s) that you owned and lived in depended on how much you and your family earned.

Rich families usually had a country estate and a house in the city. During the working week, the owner of the house would usually be in the city for work and go back to their country estate for the weekend. This wasn’t always the case, but it was common.

Middle-class families usually lived in either the outskirts of the city or in medium-sized cottages in the countryside. If the family had enough money, they might have both.

Working class and unemployed people, who usually lived in the cities (although they could be farmers in the countryside) usually rented or owned a terraced house, or for the poorest, shared a single (or double) room with other families as they couldn’t afford to rent an entire house.

Servants for the rich

A more attractive job than working in factories or the workhouse would be to work for a rich family as a servant. You got paid a wage (how much that wage was depended on your job) and a roof over your head. Because you were fed and had a roof over your head, your wage was usually sent back to your family.

Servants were summoned by their owners to particular rooms through a network of bells. In the Servants Quarters’ of that house, there was usually a row of bells, with a sign saying what room it was coming from, so the servants knew where to go, and who was demanding their assistance.

Among the servants, there was a hierarchy, as there was in the family. The more senior your job was, the more time and the closer you were to the family. The closest to the family were the house-steward or the butler (or both, if the family was very rich), the lady’s maid, the valet, the housekeeper and the nanny (who supervised any children.)

Victorians had more free time than in previous eras. With the introduction of weekends and bank holidays, workers could now spend their free time however they wanted. Many people, rich and poor, sometimes decided to go down to one of the many new seaside resorts that were being built.

The seaside

The invention of the railways meant that many people could escape from the city to one of the many new seaside resorts that were being built. Train tickets were relatively cheap, meaning even factory workers and their families could afford a day or two at the seaside.

Piers were being built across the coastline. The first one was built on the Isle of Wight in 1814, and exactly 100 years later, there were at least 100 piers across the British coast.

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The Victorian Era Primary Resource

Learn all about this period of amazing inventions and discoveries.

This history primary resource explores Britain’s Victorian period in a fun, colourful comic. Join max the mouse on his time-travelling journey to discover the significant events that occurred during this exciting period in British history. When was the Victorian era? How did the British empire expand during Queen Victoria’s reign? What were the ground-breaking inventions of the Victorian era?

Pupils will learn about the key social, political and cultural changes that occurred during Britain’s Victorian period in this National Geographic Kids history primary resource.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for discussion about the Victorian era and 19th century Britain, It could be used as a printed handout for each pupil to read themselves, or for display on the interactive whiteboard, as part of a whole class reading exercise.

Activity : In the same way that Queen Victoria dedicated monuments to her husband Albert, ask pupils to design a monument dedicated to someone they love or feel inspired by. They could also design their own postage stamp/s, inspired by their favourite people, places and things. Once finished, get the children to present their work to the class, or write a short description explaining their designs.

N.B.  The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the  English National Curriculum  and  Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including  South Africa ,  Australia  and  New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email:  [email protected]

This History primary resource  assists with teaching the following  History objectives  from the  National Curriculum :

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 History objective:   

• Pupils should be taught: significant historical events, people and places in their own locality
• Pupils should be taught: the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong]

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 History objective:

• Pupils should be taught a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

This History primary resource  assists with teaching the following  Social Studies Second level objective  from the  Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence
• I can compare and contrast a society in the past with my own and contribute to a discussion of the similarities and differences

Download primary resource

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