When we think of the Victorian times we think of a time of great change and time of innovation, largely due to the Industrial Revolution, a time of great social expansion and the growth in the middle class. Also, the divide in rich and poor during the later part the 19 century.
You can argue that some of these are not the greatest achievements but, they are my favourite parts of the Victorian legacy.
5 Free Time!
Arguably the Number One thing left to us you might say: the Victorians came up with leisure time!
it was during the 19th century that we started seeing Victorian’s spending more time and money on leisure activities. This was largely due to the growth in middle classes. It was also at this time that we see a ban on blood sports, which included Bear Baiting and Cock Fighting, changing the activities that people partake in.
By the middle of the century people were heading to the seaside and travelling further on days off (which were still few and far between but becoming more popular), helped by the development of the railways.
4 The Penny Farthing.
Invented in 1871 by a British engineer called James Stanley. This is credited as the first successful bicycle. There were a few inventions before this that could be interpreted as bicycles but didn’t ever amount to much. The Penny Farthing was a revolutionary (literally) invention at the time and remained popular for more than two decades.
The Penny Farthing got its name from two coins, the Penny and the Farthing. It was very unique to look at with the front wheel being much bigger than the back wheel.
This invention led to a new leisure activity that quickly spread. The bicycle is still a very popular mode of transport over 150 years after it was first invented.
3 Christmas
Christmas wasn’t really celebrated at the beginning of the 19th century. This changed dramatically and quickly by the middle part of the century. Arguably the main two factors to the popularity of Christmas is due to the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Albert helped bring the Christmas tree to the UK population. Which also helped with the change in the way we gave and received gifts.
Originally something that occurred on New Year’s Eve and was a fairly small affair, quickly changing to Christmas and becoming a grand affair by the end of the century
Charles Dickens book the Christmas Carol was a major catalyst for Christmas just as much as Prince Albert was. When talking about the invention of Christmas you need to talk about both.
2 The Camera
Invented in1816 by Frenchman Louis Prince.
Technically invented before the Victorian era, but due to the industrial revolution in printing and production, meant that the camera became very popular with the Victorians. With their bizarre practice of taking family photos of the dead, photography became a very popular industry in the Victorian times.
The camera is so popular that nearly everybody carries one around in their pocket.
1 The Telephone
The telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. He wanted a way to talk to the deaf people, and instead came up with this invention.
Why I chose this as my number one, is due to this leading the way for other inventions such as Phonograph (recording voices). It’s hard to imagine the world without the Telephone today. Without this invention we wouldn’t have the smartphone! A computer in your pocket. There is a staggering 6.648 billion smartphones on the planet as of 2022.
There are many things to thank the Victorians for, but these are definitely my top five, what would yours be?