What does the rotten carcass of a turtle, poisonous pickles, and a raging river of poo all have to be connected to Britain’s most powerful Queen? We’ll find out in this comprehensive listing of Victorian facts!
Are you a fan of history? Find out how much you know about these fascinating facts about the Victorian period! You’ll be amazed by the majority of these!
Are you bored by Victorian Britain now? Check out these old Egypt facts as well as the WW2 details, and take this hilarious quiz to discover the extent to which you are British!
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Victorian Era Facts
Victorians are named for Victoria, the Queen of England. Victoria
“The Victorians” is just our nickname for those who lived under the reign of Queen Victoria and that includes everyone from 1837 to 1901. Due to the fact that it was the case that British Empire was huge in the 1837- 1901 period (we’ll come back to the subject in a minute), you didn’t need the status of being British to qualify as a Victorian. You only had to be alive at the time the time came! Simple!
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Queen Vic was rather small
Perhaps the most strong British Queen of all time, Victoria was really short with a height of 5 feet tall, roughly the size of five Beanos! Indeed, historians have made jokes about her death, she was twice as wide in height as she had been. It was a bit cruel!
Victoria’s Empire was huge
The British Empire was almost at its largest and most powerful in the time of Queen Vic. In 1920, just a few years after Victoria passed away in 1920, the Empire was able to cover nearly a quarter of the entire surface area on Earth and had four12 million citizens! The phrase of the period was that it was “the Empire on which the sun never was set”. It was that huge!
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The Empire was not a good thing for anyone.
Many British people became extremely wealthy through the Empire (in fact, it was the whole point) However, it wasn’t as fun for those living in the countries which Britain assumed control. There’s a huge list of very sloppy activities Britain did during its Empire days, which included places such as India, China, Australia… in fact, many places!
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Who were they that they didn’t invade??
It’s easier to identify all the nations Britain hasn’t invaded since of the 200 nations that exist on Earth, there are just 22! It’s fair to say that this has been the case all through the history of Britain, but the invasions were frequent in the Victorian era. The only countries Britain hasn’t conquered have been (ahem): Andorra, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mali, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Mongolia, Paraguay, Sao Tome and Principe, Sweden, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City. That’s it.
Victoria’s Empire transformed Britain forever
A lot of truly British items emerged from the Empire and items that were popular during the Victorian time are in high demand even today. One of the most popular British foods, Curry, started becoming famous in Victorian times, not just because Queen Victoria was a Curry fan! Other items that were once considered luxury items, such as sugar and tea, became increasingly commonplace due to exports to India and the Caribbean.
Victoria was a fan of a great dinner
It wasn’t just curried. Victoria enjoyed! As the empire leader, she had the opportunity to try the world’s most exotic cuisines. She would often be able to tuck into plates of ostrich meat, turtle egg omelets, and bird’s nest soup. We might stick to the Curry.
The Victorians were extremely busy!
The Victorians were constantly creating new things all over the globe, including factories, bridges and railways, and even boats. This was in close connection with everything that was part of the Empire thing. The Empire provided them with money that helped finance all of the new things, and the new technology lets them keep expanding into new areas.
They came up with lots of cool stuff.
The Victorians set the stage for a lot of things we enjoy in the present. They created camera technology, the first phones and the first film that moved, and typewriters and cars, to name a few! Every industry boomed in the Victorian period!
This made many people wealthy
There was plenty of wealth in Victorian Britain as well. For the very first time, there were tales that showed people were poor but went on to become wealthy. In past times, wealthy people were almost all wealthy, but in the present, there were a lot of new opportunities for those who wanted to be rich.
However, some people remained extremely poor
Despite all the technology and money the Victorians were equipped with, many individuals in Britain were still very poor. Many children worked in squalid factories known as workhouses and it was common to be injured or even be sick.
Victorian Britain has inspired a lot of wonderful stories
You may have an impression of Victorian Britain’s kind of life from the novels written during the time. Think about A Christmas Carol or Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, or even Dracula by Bram Stoker! several important science books were published as well…
Particularly, Charles Darwin wrote the Origin of Species (what do you think is up that people refer to as Charles or famous works?) This was among the first arguments in favor of evolution. People were furious at Darwin’s notion of humans evolving from monkeys at the time.
Today, we know Darwin was correct; However, many were unhappy in the early days! Other notable Victorian researchers included Beatrix Potter, who found numerous fascinating facts about the mushrooms. You might recognize her from her books for children The Tale of Peter Rabbit!
Things began to change for women.
Throughout the entire Victorian period, women were denied practically no rights. They couldn’t vote or even have property ownership if they were married. In the final few years of Victoria’s reign , things slowly began to change however the change didn’t come until 1918 when women were granted the right to vote. Until 1928, women were given the same rights as males! This is particularly surprising the fact that Victoria herself was female!
Victorian food
Victorians were omnivores and ate all kinds of foods! If you were wealthy, you might expect meat and perhaps some of this new food item from the Empire, such as coffee and spices that came from India. If you were poor, you could be expecting dishes like peelings of potatoes, the dripping of beef, rotten vegetables and just about anything else you could discover. No fair!
It’s school time!
Prior to the Victorians schools were only reserved for the rich. In 1870, it was a law that ALL children between the ages of 5 and 13 were required to attend school. The schools weren’t perfect in many ways. However, they were a good starting point!
The Thames was a complete mess
Victorian London was huge. The rapid growth of the population and the absence of drainage systems meant no toilets. River Thames was the only location for people to go to wash their poop. This meant that tons of poo would be being thrown into the river each day, which caused the spread of illnesses and stinky. The situation changed following 1858’s “Great Stink” of 1858. This was when the situation became so serious that the government had to take action!
Nearly everything was extremely dangerous!
It was not a time of Health and Safety in Victorian time, which meant that it was possible to purchase poison from chemist shops and even items such as sweets had hazardous ingredients. In those days, lead was a food coloring agent that we know is not a good thing to eat. But not if you’re a fan of your brain, of course. Most often, rotten food would be advertised as fresh food and fall ill. It was commonplace to add arsenic into pickles to create a more sour taste!
They were awash with ridiculous customs
Certain Victorians were really into bizarre things. For instance, they made jewelry out of human hair. or stuffed dead animals with hair to create the appearance of people. or they were going to circus shows. It’s possible to go on.
Victorian fashion was pretty cool.
The majority of Victorian costumes were very plain and boring, just as the people dressed in them. However, when it came to social gatherings, Victorians were awestruck by big, extravagant dresses with lots of folds and extravagant frilly pieces. Of course, this was during the Victorian period, so they were frequently incredibly risky and could easily catch flames! Nooo!
