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Victorian

The Victorian era takes its name from Queen Victoria, who ruled between 1837-1901. There were nine British prime ministers during the Victorian era. The Victorians are popularised by famed author Charles Dickens; the technological and social change caused by the industrial revolution; serial killer Jack the Ripper; and the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Find out everything you need to know about the Victorians here…

Queen Victoria receiving the sacrament at her coronation

QuizHow much do you know about the Victorian period?

Part sixWhat was family life like in Victorian Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The massacre that shattered the old Ottoman world. 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.

Part fiveWhat was work like in Victorian Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Part fourWhat was health and medicine like in the 19th century?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian family life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. 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.

How to celebrate a Victorian wedding. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American actress Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hayes. (Image by Alamy)

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.

Week five quiz: work and labour rights in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian 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.

A portrait of King John of England

9 of the worst monarchs in history

A Victorian cult: inside the strange world of the Agapemone. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of men in front of cannon with a ruined building behind them and rubble on the street

The war Britain won in 38 minutes

'Monster soup commonly called Thames water, being a correct representation of that precious stuff doled out to us!!!', 1828; showing an ugly woman holding a spy glass which touches the circumference of a large circle representing a magnified drop of water filled with grotesque aquatic creatures. A satire on the Metropolitan Water Supply.

From murder bottles to arsenic wallpaper: 5 hidden killers in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Week four quiz: medicine and health in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The opthalmoscope revolutionised ophthalmology, allowing physicians to examine the inside of the human eye. (Image by Getty Images)

Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

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.

Part threeWhat was school and education like in Victorian Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian education and school | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Week three quiz: education and school in Victorian Britain. 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.

The school for girls imprisoned at Tothill Fields in the late 1850s. A dedicated schoolmistress was employed to teach that institution’s large female population; in other prisons, the matron took lessons. (Engraving from Chronicle, via Alamy)

Reading, writing and retribution: inside Victorian prison schools. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Shaftesbury Welcome Ragged School in Battersea , 1899. Classes of 40 were not rare, and they could stretch to 80 during staff shortages. (Photo by Mary Evans)

Class warfare: a day in the life of a Victorian schoolchild. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The golden age of the country house. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian schools: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.