The Victorian era's societal changes and cultural advancements are explored through the lens of daily life

The Victorian era is arguably the most exciting and invigorating reign of an English monarch ever, and one of progress on a massive scale. By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, England was almost unrecognisable. The Victorians neatly avoided revolution, built upon what the Georgians started and turned the country into a political powerhouse which ran the biggest Empire the world had ever seen.

Meanwhile, Victorian writers and journalists were observing, questioning, and recording for prosperity the life and times of what would become known as the Victorian era: a steady, relentless building of the modern world. Using quotes from Victorian literature, How the Victorians Lived will help you on your way to understanding how society coped with the upheaval of the industrial revolution during one of the most innovative centuries England has ever seen.

This book is a detailed exploration of the daily lives of mainly working- and middle-class Victorians. It recreates the remarkable and wondrous world of the English Victorians: their traditions, their expectations, their hopes and their fears and how these have shaped the society we live in today.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter One A Victorian Way of Life
• Chapter Two Who ran the Country?
• Chapter Three Gender Roles and Separate Spheres
• Chapter Four Home and Hearth
• Chapter Five Education
• Chapter Six The World of Work
• Chapter Seven Money
• Chapter Eight Poverty, the Poor Laws and the Workhouse
• Chapter Nine The State of the Water
• Chapter Ten Fashion and Beauty
• Chapter Eleven Food Glorious Food?
• Chapter Twelve Communication and Travel
• Chapter Thirteen Science
• Chapter Fourteen Inventions
• Chapter Fifteen Victorian Medicine
• Chapter Sixteen Crime and Punishment and the Police Force
• Endnotes
• Plates