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HistoryExtra Academy: Victorian Life
Welcome to our Academy course – Life in Victorian Britain with Ruth Goodman.
This six-week course covers everything you need to know about Victorian Britain, guided by historian Ruth Goodman and filmed on location at Black Country Living Museum.
Each week includes a video lecture by Ruth, as well as supplementary reading and a 20-question quiz for you to test your knowledge.
You'll have an opportunity to put your questions to Ruth Goodman in a live Q&A taking place on Tuesday 14 January.
The course is free as part of a HistoryExtra membership. This course is free for members of HistoryExtra. JOIN NOW
About the expert
Ruth Goodman is a historian of the social and domestic life of Britain. She has advised the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Globe Theatre and presented a number of BBC television series, including Victorian Farm.
Part one | Daily life: how did people live in the 19th century?
Ruth introduces the cold and heavy physical labour of everyday living. She examines the normal routines of life – from washing and dressing, to eating and sleeping – and how this differed for people from different walks of life.
MembershipvideoVictorian life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Week one quiz: Victorian life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
5 things you (probably) didn't know about Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Victorian daily life: what was it like for 'ordinary' Victorians?
Was Victorian life really so grim? 5 reasons why the Victorians were 'happy'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
A bodice-ripping revolution: how Victorian women cast off deadly fashion trends. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Part two | Leisure: how did people spend their free time in the 19th century?
Ruth explores exactly how little leisure time most people had in the 19th century – and what they did with their precious snatched hours
MembershipvideoVictorian leisure | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Cricket, cocaine and cocoa houses: 5 ways Victorians spent their free time. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The surprising history of Victorian dog shows. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Victorian zoosAnimal attraction in the 19th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Frozen Charlotte dolls: the Victorian Barbie
Part three | What was school and education like in Victorian Britain?
It was in the Victorian period that school shifted to becoming a more universal experience. Learn more about the Ragged school movement, the social mobility that schooling offered and how the classroom was a different experience depending on whether you were a boy or a girl.
MembershipvideoVictorian education and school | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Schools of hard knocks: Georgian and Victorian public schools. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Reading, writing and retribution: inside Victorian prison schools. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Class warfare: a day in the life of a Victorian schoolchild. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioVictorian schools: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Part four | What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?
In the 19th century, work changed for most of the population with shift working made possible by gas light, a new adherence to fixed hours of work and a fierce concentration upon a smaller number of tasks whilst at work. Ruth explains all of this – as well as the slow movement towards protection for workers that took place over the course of the 19th century.
MembershipvideoVictorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
"An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change
From murder bottles to arsenic wallpaper: 5 hidden killers in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Part five | What was work like in Victorian Britain?
In the 19th century, work changed for most of the population with shift working made possible by gas light, a new adherence to fixed hours of work and a fierce concentration upon a smaller number of tasks whilst at work. Ruth explains all of this – as well as the slow movement towards protection for workers that took place over the course of the 19th century.
MembershipvideoVictorian working life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
How gruelling was the Victorian workhouse?
What working-class autobiographies can tell us about the Industrial Revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
From family to factory: women's lives during the Industrial Revolution
MembershipaudioThe Industrial Revolution: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Part six | What was family life like in Victorian Britain?
In the 19th century, men took more control at home than at any other time in history. Ruth explains the ‘male breadwinner pattern’ and the employment of boys and how this affected the whole family.
MembershipvideoVictorian family life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Week six quiz: Victorian life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Living in sin: unmarried relationships in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioLiving on the edge in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
How to celebrate a Victorian wedding. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
How Georgian and Victorian same-sex couples co-opted marital traditions and made them their own. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Course syllabus
Part one: How did people live in the 19th century?
Ruth introduces the cold and heavy physical labour of everyday living. She examines the normal routines of life – from washing and dressing, to eating and sleeping – and how this differed for people from different walks of life.
Part two: How did people spend their free time in the 19th century?
Discover exactly how little leisure time most people had in the Victorian period – and what they did with those precious snatched hours. Ruth also looks at how people in towns took up sport and gardening for fun, plus the pleasure found in reading a book with a nice cup of cocoa…
Part three: What was school and education like in Victorian Britain?
It was in the Victorian period that school shifted to becoming a more universal experience. Learn more about the Ragged school movement, the social mobility that schooling offered and how the classroom was a different experience depending on whether you were a boy or a girl.
Part four: What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?
Ruth examines the move towards clean water supplies, improved waste disposal, antiseptics in hospitals and in the home. We’ll then learn about the slow adoption of germ theory and how it improved life expectancy.
Part five: What was work like in Victorian Britain?
In the 19th century, work changed for most of the population with shift working made possible by gas light, a new adherence to fixed hours of work and a fierce concentration upon a smaller number of tasks whilst at work. Ruth explains all of this – as well as the slow movement towards protection for workers that took place over the course of the 19th century.
Part six: What did the family look like in Victorian Britain?
In the 19th century, men took more control at home than at any other time in history. Ruth explains the ‘male breadwinner pattern’ and the employment of boys and how this affected the whole family.
How to access the course
This course is free for members of HistoryExtra. JOIN NOW
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