19th C. Britain’s Changes Under Unchanging Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was born 24 May 1819, the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent. A year later her uncle, the Prince Regent, became George IV. He reigned for 17 years. When George IV died 20 June 1837, Victoria became queen. She was crowned on 28 June 1838, a mere 18 years old.

Thus began the second-longest reign of an English monarch – Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years and seven months, a length of time which has only been surpassed by the present Queen, Elizabeth II.

During those six decades and more, England underwent great social, political, economic and technological changes.

The English Regency, which lasted from 1811 to 1820, marked the beginning of the end of the old agrarian and feudal social structures. The Industrial Revolution had its roots in the inventions which were pioneered in the late 1700s. By the early 1800s, advances in steam engines, textile-making machinery and iron founding processes made possible the development of efficient new factories.

Factory work prompted a shift in the overall social structure of the nation, since individuals could now sell their labor for hire to the highest bidder, rather than occupy an unchanging position in the hierarchy of a feudal system. Distinctions between social classes began to erode. An individual’s birth and family origins became less important to their later success in life.

The first British steam railway locomotive was built in 1811, and by 1830, the first intercity route, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was opened. A mere twenty years later, by the early 1850s, Britain boasted of over 7,000 miles (11,000 km) of railways. Now people could move more freely around the country.

In 1838, the first commercial telegraph in the world was installed on the Great Western Railway over the 13 miles (21 km) from Paddington station to West Drayton. This made it possible to accurately communicate messages over long distances anytime day or night. By the mid-1840s, commercial mass communications systems enabled personal long-distance communications, with telegraph instruments being installed in post offices across the country. By the 1870s transoceanic telegraph lines were able to connect the UK with America and Australia.

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert on 10 February 1840. She loved him dearly, and they had 9 children together. Victoria survived 4 assassination attempts and one assault, but the greatest blow she sustained was the death of Prince Albert on 14 December 1861. Queen Victoria was inconsolable and wore black for the rest of her life. However, after several years of mourning, she was convinced to return to public life. Although British society was changing, they still wanted their monarch.

In January 1878, inventor Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his recently developed telephone to Queen Victoria. A few days later the first telephone in Britain was installed, under licence from the General Post Office. From 1878, the telephone service in Britain was provided by private sector companies. In 1896, the service was taken over by the General Post Office.

Wireless technology, including Marconi’s system, began to be possible in the 1890s, but a regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service was not begun until 1907, several years after Victoria’s death.

In the 1890s, horseless carriages began to appear on the British scene. Frederick Simms, a London-based consulting engineer, became friends with German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, who had invented a high-speed petrol engine in 1885. In June 1895 Simms and his friend Evelyn Ellis promoted motorcars in the United Kingdom by completing the first British long-distance motorcar journey from Southampton to Malvern in July 1895.

The world’s first moving picture was shot in Leeds, England by French inventor Louis Le Prince in 1888. The next year, the first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London by William Friese Greene, a British portrait photographer and inventor. He patented his celluloid film process in 1890.

Queen Victoria reigned until her death in 1901. Her oldest son, Bertie, then became King Edward VII, ushering in the Edwardian Era.

Queen Victoria lived to see a great many changes in the lives of her subjects and in her own life. What changes in society, politics, and technology have you lived through in your life?

Leave me a comment and let me know!

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