Life in Victorian Britain

What was daily life like for people in the Victorian era? From the slums of 19th-century London and life in the workhouse to the court of Queen Victoria and the revolution of the railways, we bring you the facts

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

Victorian zoos: animal attraction in the 19th century

The characters Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, from Charles Dickens's work 'A Christmas Carol'

Did Charles Dickens invent Christmas as we know it today?

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Pod John Jacob Woolf WL

Black Victorians: radicals, muses, inmates & aristocrats . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The opthalmoscope

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

An engraving of a prison hulk at Deptford, from a c1826 painting. (Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Floating hell: the brutal history of prison hulks

Image of Aina Forbes Bonetta and her husband, James Davies (GettyImages-3318942)

15 minutes of fame Hannah Cusworth chooses Aina Forbes Bonetta

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Pod Suzanne Fagence Cooper WL

Love, marriage & wallpaper: the artistic lives of Jane and William Morris . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of fossil hunter Dorothea Bate

Dorothea Bate: A fearless fossil hunter

Women inmates hanging out washing at a British workhouse, circa 1880.

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

Victorian wedding, circa 1900: A wedding group poses in the garden, 1900. (Photo by F J Mortimer/Getty Images)

Living in sin: unmarried relationships in Victorian Britain

Photograph of Mrs Beeton bracing herself against a chair while wearing a long, dark-coloured gown

The secret life of Mrs Beeton: 10 pieces of life advice from her famous Book of Household Management

Residents of a London workhouse drinking beer at rows of tables

How gruelling was the Victorian workhouse?

Kennel Special

The surprising history of Victorian dog shows

Life in the workhouse podcast with Peter Higginbotham

Life in the workhouse: everything you wanted to know

At dinner, St Marylebone Workhouse, London, c1901 (1903)

The rise and fall of the workhouse