" Queen Alexandrina Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward of Kent and his wife,Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. "
In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of Continental Europe. Morally and politically, this period began with the passage of the Reform Act 1832. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists, and the Evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Ideologically, the Victorian era witnessed resistance to the rationalism that defined the Georgian period and an increasing turn towards romanticism and even mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts.[1] Technologically, this era saw a staggering amount of innovations that proved key to Britain's power and prosperity.[2][3] Doctors started moving away from tradition and mysticism towards a science-based approach; modern medicine saw the light of day thanks to the adoption of the germ theory of disease and pioneering research in epidemiology.[4] Multiple studies suggest that on the per-capita basis, the numbers of significant innovations in science and technology and of scientific geniuses peaked during the Victorian era and have been on the decline ever since.[5]
Domestically, the political agenda was increasingly liberal, with a number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform, social reform, and the widening of the franchise. There were unprecedented demographic changes: the population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901,[6] and Scotland's population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Ireland's population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to emigration and the Great Famine.[7] Between 1837 and 1901 about 15 million emigrated from Great Britain, mostly to the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.[8] Thanks to educational reforms, the British population not only approached universal literacy towards the end of the era but also became increasingly well-educated; the market for reading materials of all kinds boomed.[9][10][11]
Britain's relations with the other Great Powers were driven by the colonial antagonism of the Great Game with Russia, climaxing during the Crimean War; a Pax Britannica of international free trade was maintained by the country's naval and industrial supremacy. Britain embarked on global imperial expansion, particularly in Asia and Africa, which made the British Empire the largest empire in history. National self-confidence peaked. Britain granted political autonomy to the more advanced colonies of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and avoided war with the United States. Apart from the Crimean War, Britain was not involved in any armed conflict with another major power.
The two main political parties during the era remained the Whigs/Liberals and the Conservatives; by its end, the Labor Party had formed as a distinct political entity. These parties were led by such prominent statesmen as Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, and Lord Salisbury. The unsolved problems relating to Irish Home Rule played a great part in politics in the later Victorian era, particularly in view of Gladstone's determination to achieve a political settlement in Ireland.
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than any previous British monarch. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Though a constitutional monarch, privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading hemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. She died on the Isle of Wight in 1901. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Queen Victoria of England children are:
Name Birth Death Spouse and children
Victoria, Princess Royal 21 November
1840 5 August
1901 Married 1858, Frederick, later German Emperor and King of Prussia (1831–1888);
4 sons (including Wilhelm II, German Emperor), 4 daughters (including Queen Sophia of Greece)
Edward VII of the United Kingdom 9 November
1841 6 May
1910 Married 1863, Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925);
3 sons (including King George V of the United Kingdom), 3 daughters (including Queen Maud of Norway)
Princess Alice 25 April
1843 14 December
1878 Married 1862, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892);
2 sons, 5 daughters (including Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia)
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 6 August
1844 31 July
ed.[204][206]
Events
The 1843 launch of the Great Britain, the revolutionary ship of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
First Opium War: British ships approaching Canton in May 1841
The last of the mail coaches at Newcastle upon Tyne, 1848
Governor-General of India Lord Canning meets Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, 1860
The defence of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879
Following the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1896, the British proclaimed a protectorate over the Ashanti Kingdom.
The author Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar Wilde, pictured with son Cyril, 1889
Daimler Wagonette, Ireland, c. 1899
British and Australian officers in South Africa during the Second Boer War
Workmen leaving Platt's Works, Oldham, 1900
1832
Passage of the first Reform Act.[210]
1833
The first Tract for the Times is written by John Henry Newman, starting the Oxford Movement in the Church of England.
1837
Ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne.[210]
1838
Treaty of Balta Liman (Great Britain trade alliance with the Ottoman Empire).
1839
First Opium War (1839–42) fought between Britain and China.
1840
Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. He had been naturalised and granted the British style of Royal Highness beforehand. For the next 17 years, he was known as HRH Prince Albert.
1840
New Zealand becomes a British colony, through the Treaty of Waitangi. No longer part of New South Wales
1842
Treaty of Nanking. The Massacre of Elphinstone's Army by the Afghans in Afghanistan results in the death or incarceration of 16,500 soldiers and civilians.[211] The Mines Act of 1842 banned women/children from working in coal, iron, lead and tin mining.[210] The Illustrated London News was first published.[212]
1845
The Irish famine begins. Within 5 years it would become the UK's worst human disaster, with starvation and emigration reducing the population of Ireland itself by over 50%. The famine permanently changed Ireland's and Scotland's demographics and became a rallying point for nationalist sentiment that pervaded British politics for much of the following century.
1846
Repeal of the Corn Laws.[210]
1848
Death of around 2,000 people a week in a cholera epidemic.
1850
Restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales. (Scotland did not follow until 1878.)
1851
The Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) is held at the Crystal Palace,[210] with great success and international attention. The Victorian gold rush. In ten years the Australian population nearly tripled.[213]
1854
Crimean War: Britain, France and Turkey declare limited war on Russia. Russia loses.
1857
The Indian Mutiny, a concentrated revolt in northern India against the rule of the privately owned British East India Company, is sparked by sepoys (native Indian soldiers) in the company's army. The rebellion, involving not just sepoys but many sectors of the Indian population as well, is largely quashed within a year. The East India Company is replaced by the British government beginning the period of the British Raj.
1858
The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, responds to the Orsini plot against French Emperor Napoleon III, the bombs for which were purchased in Birmingham, by attempting to make such acts a felony; the resulting uproar forces him to resign.
1859
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, which leads to various reactions.[210] Victoria and Albert's first grandchild, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, is born – he later became William II, German Emperor. John Stuart Mill publishes On Liberty, a defence of the famous harm principle.
1861
Death of Prince Albert;[210] Queen Victoria refuses to go out in public for many years, and when she did she wore a widow's bonnet instead of the crown.
1865
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.
1866
An angry crowd in London, protesting against John Russell's resignation as Prime Minister, is barred from Hyde Park by the police; they tear down iron railings and trample on flower beds. Disturbances like this convince Derby and Disraeli of the need for further parliamentary reform.
1867
The Constitution Act, 1867 passes and British North America becomes Dominion of Canada.
1875
Britain purchased Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal[210] as the African nation was forced to raise money to pay off its debts.
1876
Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
1878
Treaty of Berlin. Cyprus becomes a Crown colony.
1879
The Battle of Isandlwana is the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War.
1881
The British suffer defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill, leading to the signing of a peace treaty and later the Pretoria Convention, between the British and the reinstated South African Republic, ending the First Boer War. Sometimes claimed to mark the beginning of the decline of the British Empire.[214]
1882
British troops begin the occupation of Egypt by taking the Suez Canal, to secure the vital trade route and passage to India, and the country becomes a protectorate.
1884
The Fabian Society is founded in London by a group of middle-class intellectuals, including Quaker Edward R. Pease, Havelock Ellis and E. Nesbit, to promote socialism.[215] Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies.
1885
Blackpool Electric Tramway Company starts the first electric tram service in the United Kingdom.
1886
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Liberal Party tries passing the First Irish Home Rule Bill, but the House of Commons rejects it.
1888
The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murders and mutilates five (and possibly more) prostitutes on the streets of London.
1889
Emily Williamson founds the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
1870–1891
Under the Elementary Education Act 1870, basic State Education becomes free for every child under the age of 10.[216]
1898
British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat the Mahdist forces at the battle of Omdurman, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan. Winston Churchill takes part in the British cavalry charge at Omdurman.
1899
The Second Boer War is fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics. The Boers finally surrendered and the British annexed the Boer republics.
1901
The death of Victoria sees the end of this era. The ascension of her eldest son, Edward, begins the Edwardian era.