THE
VICTORIAN AGE
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v INTRODUCTION
The
Victorian age was called the great reform era because many social, political
and economic reforms were brought about in this period. Queen Victoria ascended the throne at the
young age of eighteen and ruled the country for a long period of sixty four
years. During her reign there was peace
and prosperity in the country as a whole.
v CHARTIST MOVEMENT
The reform
bill of 1832 gave rise to a new party called the chartists and their activities
were known as the chartist movement. Its
leader was Fergus O’Connor. He drew up a
charter called the people charter containing six demands and was presented to
the parliament in 1839 in the shape of a cylinder. As the demands were turned down, violence
broke out. But it was put down by the
government and the leaders were arrested.
Though the movement was a failure, most of its demands were conceded in
the course of time
v ANTI CORN LAW LEAGUE
In order
to protect the English agriculturists Corn Laws were passed from time to
time. The Corn Law passed in 1815,
caused much sufferings to the poor. So
the Corn Law league was founded in 1839 by Richard Cobden. He held meetings throughout the country and a
popular appeal was made to repeal the Corn
Law. The Prime Minister Property peel,
repealed the Corn Law in 1846.
v THE GREAT EXHIBITION
The spite
of the disturbances made by the chartist movement and anti Corn Law league, the
country was peaceful. The great
exhibition was held in 1851. The
exhibition lasted for nine months and about six million people visited the
exhibition.
v PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL
SCIENCE
Michael
faraday’s discoveries of electrical power increased the material prosperity and
Henry Bessemer’s process made the mass production of steel possible. In 1847 Simpson discovered the use of
chloroform and Joseph leister developed anti-septic surgery. These discoveries relieved humanity from
great sufferings.
v CHARLES DARWIN
In 1859 Charles
Darwin the great scientist published his origin of species’ in which he had explained
the evolution theory and the survival of the fittest. As his theories clashed with the biblical
account f creation, there were disputes between scientists and church men.
v OXFORD MOVEMENTS
The Oxford
movement was inaugurated by Newman and a few oxford scholars in 1833. Newman who
studied the history of the church felt that the Church of England was out of
tune with the early church. So the only
remedy was to return to the old practices of sacraments and rituals of the
early church. There was immediate
response. But Newman converted himself to
a roman catholic and many followed him.
v FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Miss
Florence nightingale with a band of 38 nurses came to the hospital of scoter
too rescue the soldiers wounded in the Crimean war. She carried out non-stop work and brought
order out of chaos and restored hope to the soldiers. She brought a new dignity and respectability
to the profession of nursing. She opened
the nightingale training school for nurses in 1860.
v VICTORIA, THE EMPRESS OF INDIA
The sappy
mutiny of 1856 in Meerut in India spread to Delhi. Though it was put down, the British
government transferred the political power from the east India Company to the
crown, in 1877 queen Victoria became the empress of India.
v LITERATURE
In the
Victorian age in English literature, poetry, prose novel and history were
produced in large quantities. There were
also painting and writings on paintings.
Alfred Tennyson, the poet laureate was the greatest poet of the day. The other well known poets were Robert
browning, Matthew Arnold, Swinburne, A.G. Rossetti and others. Carlyle Ruskin, Macaulay, Newman were the
eminent prose writers Charles dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Anthony
Trollope, the Bronte sisters were the novelists of the day gibbon’s the decline
and fall of the roman empire and Macaulay’s the history of England were the
famous historical works. William turner and George Cruikshank were three
great painters; Ruskin was a great critic of painting.
v OTHER REFORMS
Many
reforms were brought out in the field of politics and education during the
period. The reform acts of 1867 and 1884
extended franchise to many people in the society. This led to educational reforms. The educational reforms affected by Gladstone
helped the progress of the nation. On
the whole,, the Victorian age was a period of peace and prosperity.
v CONCLUSION;
The prosperity
and civilization of the country during the Victorian era made England the most
outstanding country in the world in culture, education, literature, politics,
and industry.
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