Scarica La Gran Bretagna Vittoriana dal 1837 alla Prima Guerra Mondiale e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Victorian Britain 1837- until the World War I These period was a period of many economic and political changes not only in Britain but all over the Europe. People in the city increased but a lot of them emigrated to other countries above all to the United States to look for a job and a piece of land. Important inventions changed the life of people such as: • Electric light by Thomas Edison in 1880 • The telephone in 1876 by Antonio Meucci • The telegraph by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 • Morse telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1896-1897 The working classes asked for better and healthy conditions living in the crowded cities. To solve the problem of traffic it was indeed built the underground in 1863. The reform during the reign of George IV • Trade unions in 1824:were made lawful and were set to protect the industrial workers • Death penalty in 1826:was abolished for nearly of offenses exceptmurder • Catholic emancipation act in 1829: allowed catholics to hold any offices. • Abolition of slavery in 1833: abolished slavery also in the colony The political and social reforms in the Victorian Age • First reform act 1832: and it gave at the new industrial towns the right to elect members of parliament. • People’s Charter in 1838: Universal suffrage, secret ballot and payment of Members of Parliament to enable working-class men to enter the House of Commons. But the Chartists’ Petition was rejected by parliament. • Franchise act in 1918: the vote to women over thirty years age. Ten years later the franchise was extended to women over twenty-one. • Factory act in 1833: improved the situation of the working classes. Education became compulsory from age of 5 to 12 The two political parties changed their names: the Wings became Liberals and the Tories became Conservative. Two great prime minister, William Gladstone (liberal) passed the Education act in 1870, Benjamin Disraeli (conservative) was interested in foreign an political affairs. Oxford movement: Greater freedom was granted to the catholics, a group of reformers advocate some reforms inside the established Church in favor of the Church of Rome The class that benefited most from the changes of the time was the middle class. Made up of manufacturers, merchants and bankers increased and also favored by the progress in industrial and technological fields and the resulting prosperity. The belief that happiness could be reached through technical progress made for optimism throughout the country. The Victorians were proud of their welfare of their good manners and of their middle-class values, and tended to ignore the problems which still afflicted England. The working class, among which misery and distress were still widespread. The new urban condition, made worse by the growth of slum, had created a lot of health problems (cholera). The New poor Law in 1834 had not been a solution for the stille extant problems. Poverty was considered a crime and penalized as such. Teachers were often incompetent and corporal punishment was still regularly. This particular situation which saw prosperity and progress on the one hand and poverty, ugliness and injustice on the other, which opposed ethical conformism to corruption, moralism and philanthropy to money and capitalistic greediness, is usually referred to as the “Victorian compromise” Great influence was exercised by Evangelicalism a religious movement were deeply concerned with human problems and sociale reforms. Their contributed to such achievements ad the abolition of slavery and the First reform bill. Their rather puritanical view of life led them to advocated the abolition of some public entertainments. The fabian society was founded in 1884 by Sydney and Beatrice Webb. It consisted of socialists who advocated gradual reforms instead of drastic, immediate revolutionary measures. Under the influence of Queen Victorian, the age turned excessively puritanical. Sex became a taboo subject and all the words with vaguely sexual connotations were driven out of everyday language. The father proved even more authoritarian than before and the mother was to be submissive and fruitful.
