The
Victorian Age
Queen Victoria ruled
England for sixty-four years (1837 -1901). Her reign witnessed remarkable
changes in many fields. She was affectionately called ‘Grand Mamma’ by the
people. Her rule was disturbed by the Chartist movement or Chartism. It shows
the difference between the haves and the have-nots. Under the leadership of
Feargus O’Connor, they drew up a Charter called the People’s Charter. It
contained six demands. It was presented to Parliament. It was so shocking to
Whigs as well as Tories. The demand was turned down by the Parliament.
After Napoleonic War,
working classes suffered a lot. To eradicate it, the first Anti-Corn Law League
was founded in 1839. Prompted by humanitarian consideration, the Prime Minister
Robert Peel repealed the Corn law in 1846.
The Great Exhibition of
1851, was a clear evidence to see artistic works and raw materials gathered
from every corner of the empire and the world. Henry Bessemer’s process which
made possible the mass production of steel and Michael Faraday’s discoveries of
electrical power added much to the material prosperity of the period. The use
of chloroform in medical practice by Simpson in 1847 and the anti-septic
surgery developed by Joseph Lister came as great relief to the suffering
humanity. In 1859, Charles Darwin, the great scientist of the day published
‘The Origin of Species’. It brought forth a rather shocking theory that man and
all other species of life had evolved from a common source. It was a bolt from
the blue and clashed with the Biblical account of the creation of man and in
turn led to a bitter battle of words between churchmen and scientist.
Along with these social
and scientific advancement there was going on a religious movement similar to
the Methodist movement, started by the Wesley brothers in the previous century.
This was the Oxford movement otherwise known as the Tractarian Movement started
by John Henry Newman and a few other Oxford scholars in 1833.
The Crimean War came to
an end with the treaty of Paris in 1856. On 1st January 1877, Queen
Victoria was declared Empress of India. There was a marvelous output of
literature in the Victorian age. Alfred Tennyson became the Poet Laureate in
1850. Robert Browning, famous for his dramatic monologues was his nearest
rival. The other poets of the period were, Matthew Arnold, Swinburne, Dante
Gabriel, Rossetti, his sister Christina Rossetti, Fitzgerald, William Morris,
Arthur Clough. Great among the prose writers were, Carlyle, Macaulay, Ruskin,
Newman and many others. As far as the novel was concerned it was the age of
giants. Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackaray, George Eliot and many
others.
The latter half of
Queen Victoria’s reign was noted for many reforms in the field of both politics
and education. The Reform Act of 1867 and 1884 extended the right of vote to
larger and larger sections of society. At any rate, speaking on the whole, the
Victorian Age was a period of peace and prosperity.
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