Victorian England, 1830-1901
George IV was succeeded by his brother William IV in 1830. William had
served in the Royal Navy for many years and was popularly known as the
"Sailor King." His detractors, however, preferred to call him "Silly
Billy." He indulged in a long (from 1790 until 1811) and fruitful (to
the tune of ten children) affair with an actress named Mrs. Jordan,
though in 1818 he married a German princess named Adelaide. She bore
him two daughters, neither of whom survived to adulthood. He became
king at the age of sixty-four, and his seven-year reign was marked by
the passing of a number of reform acts, including the Reform Act of
1832, which extended voting rights and redistributed Parliamentary
representation; the Factory Act of 1833, which sought to relieve
conditions of labor for children and women; the Poor Law Act of 1834,
which created workhouses for the poor; and the Municipal Reform Act of
1835, which sought to counteract abuses within town councils. It was
during William's reign that slavery was abolished throughout the
British Empire and that the public became increasingly aware of such
social problems as those depicted in the novels of Charles Dickens,
whose career as a novelist began with the publication of Oliver Twist in 1837, the same year
that William died at Windsor Castle.
William IV's death in 1837 established the monarchy of one of England's
most notable, most beloved, and most accomplished rulers, Queen
Victoria, who succeeded her uncle when she was only eighteen years old.
Her own exceedingly high personal standards and unquestionable common
sense defined the spirit of the age and the development of the nation.
She was devoted to her family and deeply mourned the death of her
beloved husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Prince Albert
was her greatest supporter and one of her best advisors and took an
active role in promoting industry and the arts. His greatest
accomplishment was the organization in Hyde Park of the Great
Exhibition of 1851, with 17,000 exhibitors and nearly seven million
visitors. When he died of typhoid in 1861, Victoria secluded herself
from the
public for approximately thirteen years and wore black for the rest of
her life. Both the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial were
erected as monuments to him. Though Britain did endure tragedies (the
great potato famine in Ireland in 1845-88, outbreaks of cholera in
London, increasing crime rates, poverty) and war (Crimean War, 1853-56)
during this period, it also saw major social and political reforms
(compulsory smallpox vaccinations in 1853, founding of the Salvation
Army in 1863, Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 extending the vote,
compulsory primary education in 1870, legalization of trade unions in
1871, founding of the Independent Labour Party in 1887). Victoria's was
the longest rule in British history, and during her reign, Britain
became the greatest nation in the world.