Nick Shepley - Explaining Britain and Her Empire: 1851-1914: A Students Guide to Victorian Britain

Title Page

Explaining Britain and Her Empire

1851-1914

A Students Guide to Victorian Britain

Nick Shepley

Publisher Information

Published in 2015 by AUK Authors,

an imprint of Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The right of Nick Shepley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2015 Nick Shepley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Introduction

In the second half of the 19 th Century, Britain changed economically, politically and socially at a rate never previously experienced in her history. Britain was the first country in the world to experience an industrial revolution and the massive expansion in industry, railways and finance had far reaching effects on every aspect of life in Britain. In addition to this, Britain, already the worlds largest imperial power expanded her global influence, increasing her control over India and colonising most of East Africa. By 1914 she had the largest navy in the world and dominated global trade, but was facing growing competition from emerging nations such as the USA and a newly unified Germany.

The immense wealth generated by Britains industrialisation came at a high price to those who did most of the work. Britains industrial working class by 1851 had a life expectancy shorter than that of peasants during the middle ages, and the half century saw the development of a powerful trade union movement and governments that prioritised social reform. All of this was the result of electoral reform and the expansion of the franchise to the working classes, enabling the mass of Britains poor to vote for the first time. Britains imperial legacy in Ireland would be a constant source of political instability and crisis throughout the period and by 1914 potential civil war loomed across the Irish Sea. Even though statesmen like William Gladstone attempted to address the Irish Question, the issue of Home Rule for Ireland was still as far away in 1914 as it had been in the 1880s when the issue first became part of Liberal Partys political agenda.

The purpose of this e-textbook is to equip students with the skills and the knowledge to address Victorian Britain at A-Level (UK qualification) or its equivalent in other international exam boards. This book does not adhere to any one syllabus but should be applicable to most of them (you can check with your teacher or look at the specification for your exam board online if you are unsure).

At the end of this eBook there will be a link through to the Explaining History website. Here you will find assignments, essay guidance and other useful notes that well help you better understand the period and work towards outstanding essays on the topics explored below.

Part One

Reform and Empire, 18511886

Chapter One

The Mid-Victorian Boom and Society, 18511886

Chapter Overview

Between 1851 and the mid-1870s, Britain experienced the longest economic boom in her history and by the 1880s she had amassed the largest empire in world history, one that would continue to grow in size even after the First World War. How did a small island, close to Europe but never quite fully part of it, come to dominate the world in the mid to late 19 th Century?

The source of Britains extraordinary prosperity was the industrial revolution that had been gathering pace across the country for almost a century. Britains capacity for the mass production of manufactured goods and materials was, in the view of historian Eric Hobsbawm, the most important event in world history, only rivalled by mankinds discovery of agriculture or the development of towns and cities. It meant that by the end of the century more people lived in towns and cities than lived on the land and that no longer were people in Britain dependent on harvests or the cycles of nature for their livelihood. Instead a new urban world of cities, factories and in many cases pollution, poverty and disease, was born. This chapter will explore the hard realities of nineteenth-century living and the move for social reform to try to improve living standards. Reforms to education, public health, housing, sanitation and working conditions were not simply acts of kindness by wise politicians to the working classes, they were essential policies to appeal not just to the workforce but to a new electorate. After 1867 the vote was extended to a majority of working class men, meaning that the political priorities of the main parties were forever changed; electoral reform and social reform were closely linked, as we shall see in section three.

In this chapter we will explore the following topic areas

1. Monarchy and Parliament: The ruling elites and the political system.
2. Industrial expansion, railways and the Great Exhibition.
3. The development of British society throughout the period.

Section 1

Monarchy and Parliament: the ruling elites and the political system

Question: How was the monarchy changing in the 19 th Century? Why was Victoria and Alberts appeal to the public so important ?

Victoria, Albert and Victorian Society

In 1837, Princess Victoria, the niece of William IV and daughter of the late Duke of Kent, became heir to the throne after her uncle died. She was 18 years old and very inexperienced, but she quickly became very popular with the British public, who were better educated and more engaged with politics than any previous generation. When this book is published in 2015, Queen Victoria will still (by a matter of a few months) be the longest reigning monarch in British history. When she died in 1901 an entire age of British and indeed world history was seen to draw to a close. Because Victorias importance stretched far beyond herself as an individual, she lent her name to an entire generation and culture: the Victorians.

In 1839 she married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, after her uncle King Leopold of Belgium arranged the match. She fell deeply in love with Albert when they met and he became Prince Consort to the Queen. Alberts role in Britain was different to that which he was accustomed to in Germany, the Queen herself had very little constitutional role in governing, she was simply there to be consulted, and to sometimes advise. Albert became a patron of the arts, commerce and science and acted as an unofficial mediator in diplomatic affairs. Both Victoria and Alberts public appeal were hugely important; since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 Britain had seen decades of unrest and protest from the urban and rural poor. On the continent there had been Europe-wide revolutions in 1848 where countless monarchs and princes had been overthrown. Public opinion in an age of mass population, growing literacy and mass democracy was essential for the royal family to harness and to stay on the right side of. Victoria came to rely on Albert over the next two decades and she retreated into the life of their marriage and their rapidly growing family (by the time of Alberts death in 1861 they had produced eight children together). From 1859 onwards Alberts health declined and he complained of increased back and stomach pains and in 1861, after exhausting himself mediating between Britain and the USA over Britains tacit support for the Confederacy in the South, he died, doctors diagnosing typhoid as the cause.

Victorias grief was all consuming, she became a reclusive figure, mourning for much of the rest of her life. Her self imposed retreat from the public scene was harmful to her public standing, the natural sympathy that many had for her loss was replaced by criticism of her excessive grief. This was fuelled by the Victorian press and their growing readership whose articles added to a culture of scandal and speculation, particularly when Victoria established a close friendship with her highland ghilly (groundsman) John Brown. Victoria was an enthusiastic imperialist, she had little to do with the day-to-day running of the British Empire but believed it had a civilising mission.