2 Existing Knowledge Somewhere in this Victorian scene are ten anachronisms - things that are out of place and do not fit in this time. Can you spot the modern products and services hidden? Session 1: Who were the Victorians? Key Knowledge The Victorians were the people who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria, from the 20 June 1837 until the date of her death on the 22 January 1901. Victorians were about orderliness. People knowing their place and behaving correctly. They worked hard and valued learning. It is remembered as a time of exciting discoveries, inventions and exploration. The Great Exhibition, housed within the ‘Crystal Palace’, was Prince Albert’s vision to display the wonders of industry from around the world. Key Vocabulary Coronation: special event making a person king or queen of a country Abdicate: stop ruling a country, give up being king or queen Assassinate: kill Empire: where one country controls and rules lots of other countries Prefabricated: made in a factory and taken to a site to be put together Navvies: workers Innovation: new thing or new method of doing something Task: Which of these two pictures do you think is most useful for us in finding out about Queen Victoria? Why? Explain your ideas. Queen Victoria and her family, painted in 1846. Queen Victoria towards the end of her life. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 4 Victoria and Albert Victoria was born in 1819, in Death of Albert Kensington Palace, London. She did Albert died in 1861, probably from not expect to rule – she was fifth in line typhoid carried in the bad drains of to the throne – but in 1837, at the age Buckingham Palace. Victoria was of 18, she became Queen. She devastated. She mourned Albert for the continued to rule until her death in rest of her life. She refused to carry out 1901. In 1840, she married her cousin any royal engagements for many years. Albert, a German prince. They were It is recorded that she wore nothing very much in love, and had nine but black after her husband died. children, although Queen Victoria hated being pregnant and was a very Jubilee strict mother. She was very short, only In 1887, Victoria celebrated her Golden 1.5 metres tall, but when she was Jubilee. Over 50 kings and princes young, she was very attractive. The from around the world were invited to royal couple were very popular. Over London to join the celebrations. The 400,000 visitors came to London for event showed how powerful Britain Victoria’s coronation. She was the had become while Victoria was Queen. first monarch to live in Buckingham The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Palace, and the first to use the new procession on 22 June 1897 followed a anaesthetic chloroform, while giving route 10 kilometres long through birth to her son Leopold in 1853. London and included troops from all Victoria had a very unhappy childhood, over the empire. There were vast totally controlled by her mother, so crowds of spectators. After the Jubilee, was determined to do things her way. she became increasingly unwell, and She was in control. For example, she died in January 1901 at one of her threatened to abdicate several times favourite places- Osbourne House. when she could not persuade her prime Because many of her children married minister, who ran the Government, to into the royal families of Europe, she do exactly as she wanted! There were became known as ‘the grandmother of at least six attempts to assassinate her. Europe’. Task: Why do you think the young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were so popular? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ The Great Exhibition The Crystal Palace In 1848, it was decided to hold a ‘Great Exhibition’ to highlight Britain’s new The Great Exhibition industrial wealth. Prince Albert was The exhibition contained 100,000 heavily involved in the process. A exhibits, about half from Britain and competition was held to design a the rest from across the whole world. building. There were over 240 entries, Inventions like the electric telegraph but no one won! In the end Joseph were on show, as was the Koh-i-Noor Paxton was asked to design and build diamond – at the time, the biggest in his Crystal Palace. It was 562 metres the world. One of the strangest exhibits long and 124 metres wide. It was was a folding piano, suitable for sailors prefabricated and used 300,000 to use on their yachts. The exhibition sheets of glass. Over 5000 navvies was supposed to show off Britain’s were employed building it. It had to be industrial expertise. Instead, new built around a huge tree after agriculture machines from America, complaints about chopping it down! precision engineering from Germany, and watches from Switzerland grabbed much of the attention of visitors. Task: Why do you think Joseph Paxton’s building became known as the Crystal Palace? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ The Koh-i-Noor diamond. _____________________________________ 6 Visitors The Exhibition ran from May to October and in that time over 6 million tickets were sold. On the opening day admission was £1. Then until 22 May, it cost 5 shillings (25p) to get in; after that, it was 1 shilling (5p) except on Fridays, when it cost 2 shillings and 6 pence (12.5p) and Saturdays, when the price was 5 shillings (25p). The different prices were designed to keep The Royal Albert Hall. rich and poor people separate. One old lady walked all the way from Penzance, Profits in Cornwall, to London to see the Great By October 1851, the Great Exhibition Exhibition. (As a comparison, typical had made a profit of £186,000 (£16 worker’s wage at this time was about 16 million in today’s money). This was shillings, or 80p, per week.) enough money to buy land in South Kensington, London and build the museums that stand there today, as well as the Royal Albert Hall. Many of the exhibits formed the first collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and can still be seen there today. The Crystal Palace was moved to South London, where it remained in use until it burned down in 1936. The Great Exhibition is a perfect symbol of the Victorian age – innovation in industry, confidence and wealth, and trading with countries across the world. The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Task: What do the admission prices for the Great Exhibition tell us about Victorian Britain? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Task: Do you think the Great Exhibition was a success? Why? Write your answer in a diary entry of a visit you might have made to the Exhibition. What would you go see? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 8 Session 2: How did the Victorian countryside change? Key Knowledge Most people lived outside of cities, in villages in the countryside working the land. They did everything by hand and were paid very little. Even children had to work. Technology developed allowing farmers to use machines to do the jobs quicker. More food was needed so there was more work, but the pay was still very low. Food started to arrive from other countries which caused more competition with British farms so food dropped in value. Key Vocabulary Communally: together, agreeing what to do Poach: steal Mechanisation: when machines are included in a process Live in: have a room or bed in the house of the farmer who employed them Domestic System: making things, like wool, at home on a small scale Census: counting everyone who lives in the country Traction Engines: vehicles used to pull heavy loads Broth: a soup made of meat or vegetables cook in stock Knowledge Quiz 1. When did Queen Victoria die? 1837 1840 1887 2. When did Victoria become Queen? 1837 1901 1840 1887 3. When did Britain and