Understanding the Victorians: Politics, Culture and Society in 19th Century Britain

362 Pages·2017·5.992 MB·English

by  Susie Steinbach

Understanding the Victorians
Understanding the Victorians paints a vivid portrait of this era of dramatic change,
combining broad survey with close analysis and introducing students to the
critical debates taking place among historians today. Encompassing all of Great
Britain and Ireland over the whole of the Victorian period, it gives prominence to
social and cultural topics alongside politics and economics and emphasizes class,
gender, and racial and imperial positioning as constitutive of human relations.
This second edition is fully updated throughout, containing a new chapter on
leisure in the Victorian period, the most recent historiographical research in
Victorian Studies, and enhanced coverage of imperialism and working-class life.
Beginning with the Queen Caroline Affair in 1820 and coming up to the start
of World War One in 1914, Susie L. Steinbach uses thematic chapters to discuss
and evaluate politics, imperialism, the economy, class, gender, the monarchy,
arts and entertainment, religion, sexuality, religion, and science. There are also
three chapters on space, consumption, and the law, topics rarely covered at this
introductory level.
With a clear introduction outlining the key themes of the period, a detailed
timeline, and suggestions for further reading and relevant internet resources, this
is the ideal companion for all students of the nineteenth century.
Susie L. Steinbach is Professor of History at Hamline University, Minnesota,
USA. She is the author of Women in England 1760–1914: A Social History (2004) and
the editor of Millicent Garret Fawcett by her Contemporaries (2008), and has written
widely on Victorian history, with a particular emphasis on gender and the law.
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Understanding
the Victorians
Politics, culture and society
in nineteenth-century Britain
Second edition
Susie L. Steinbach
This edition published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012, 2016 Susie L. Steinbach
The right of Susie L. Steinbach to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
First edition published 2012 by Routledge
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Steinbach, Susie, author.
Title: Understanding the Victorians: politics, culture and society in
nineteenth-century Britain / Susie L. Steinbach.
Description: Second edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York,
NY: Routledge, 2016. | “First published 2012”—Title page verso. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002743| ISBN 9781138906082 (hardback:
alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781138906105 (paperback: alkaline paper) |
ISBN 9781315545301 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901. | Great Britain—
Politics and government—1837–1901. | Great Britain—Economic conditions—
19th century. | Great Britain—Social conditions—19th century. | Politics and
culture—Great Britain—History—19th century. | Social classes—Great
Britain—History—19th century. | Sex role—Great Britain—History—
19th century.
Classification: LCC DA550. S73 2016 | DDC 941.081—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016002743
ISBN: 978-1-138-90608-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-90610-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54530-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Baskerville
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
For Sam, Sophie, and Benjamin
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Contents
List of figures ix
Preface to the second edition xi
Acknowledgements for the second edition xiii
Acknowledgements for the first edition xv
Timeline xvii
“Playing on the piano-forte”: Introduction 1
1 A “green and pleasant land” of cities and slums: Space 12
2 “Discussions on the subject of reform”: Politics 35
3 Ruling the world: Imperialism 65
4 Wealth and poverty, growth and slumps: The economy 84
5 “Bristling with shops”: Consumption 106
6 “Born into the lower-upper-middle”: Class 123
7 “Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside”: Leisure 145
8 “A common cause with all the females in this kingdom”:
Gender 165
9 A “dignified part”: Monarchy 182
10 “The court was crowded all day”: The law and the police 195
viii Contents
11 “Good, murderous melodramas”: Arts, entertainment,
and print culture 211
12 Marriage, free love, and “unnatural crimes”: Sexuality 240
13 “Begin and end with the Church whatever you do
between-whiles”: Religion 260
14 Vestiges and origins: Science and medicine 279
Index 305
List of figures
0.1 Pianoforte advertisement circa 1870 8
1.1 A typical late Victorian slum 19
2.1 1886: A mob kicking British Prime Minister William
Gladstone in the air 57
3.1 A British depiction of the 1857 “Massacre at Cawnpore” 77
4.1 Charing Cross Railway Station 98
5.1 A department store: Bunney’s Establishments 115
6.1 This engraving from the Illustrated London News depicts class
distinctions through the division of rail travel into first, second,
and third class 127
7.1 “Punch and Judy on the beach at Llandudno” 161
8.1 Circa 1912: a horse-drawn campaign van driven by the
suffragettes 172
9.1 The Royal Family of Queen Victoria 187
10.1 Judge Alexander Cockburn presiding over the trial of the
Tichborne Claimant 206
11.1 “My Missis Thinks She’s Trilby” comic song 216
11.2 Stage and Screen, Personalities 230
12.1 Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park 255
13.1 The Salvation Army 268
14.1 Etching by Thomas Kearnan showing apparatus and
visitors in the Adelaide Gallery 283