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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…

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.

HistoryExtra AcademyLife in Victorian Britain, with Ruth Goodman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Part twoLeisure: how did people spend their free time in the 19th century?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Part oneDaily life: how did people live in the 19th century?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Visitors promenade alongside a lake with Surrey Zoological Gardens in the background, 1844 (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Victorian zoosAnimal attraction in the 19th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Manchester dog show, c1909

The surprising history of Victorian dog shows. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Week two quiz: leisure in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian cricket. (Photo by Getty Images)

Cricket, cocaine and cocoa houses: 5 ways Victorians spent their free time. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Brontës: everything you wanted to know. 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.

Abraham Lincoln

How Abraham Lincoln's 1860 election victory set America on the path to Civil War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. 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.

Gustave Doré's famous engraving, produced to illustrate the 1872 book 'London: A Pilgrimage', depicts (and exaggerates) the squalor of tightly packed terraced houses. Yes, as Rosalind Crone observes, the washing lines in Doré's picture demonstrate that "slum-dwellers were not all very dirty - or, at least, they didn't choose to be". (Photo by Getty Images)

Was Victorian life really so grim? 5 reasons why the Victorians were 'happy'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Workhouses were meant to be unpleasant. Inmates worked hard (like these women hanging out laundry c1880). (Photo by Sean Sexton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Victorian daily life: what was it like for 'ordinary' Victorians?

From fire hazard petticoats to garments that caused fainting and even death by poison, some trends in 19th-century women’s fashion were risky business for those who wore them. (Photo by Toronto Star Archives/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

A bodice-ripping revolution: how Victorian women cast off deadly fashion trends. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastCocaine: a Victorian sensation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastFlorence Nightingale: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Florence Nightingale: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Cocaine: a Victorian sensation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.