Victorian

Portraits for the Nation

Homes for heroes? Gertrude Prescott Nuding argues that the inspiration behind and debates over the founding of Britain's National Portrait Gallery reveal the Victorian establishment at its most earnest about who was worth celebrating in 'our island story'.

Dickens and His Readers

Philip Collins argues that Dickens' writing reflects not only a marvellous rapport with a cross-section of Victorian society but an integration of populism with a concern for 'the raising up of those that are down.'

The Quest for Englishness

Paul Rich describes how the aggressive imperialism of the late Victorian age co-existed uneasily with the intellectual search for English 'roots' in a pre-industrial and mythical past.

Stewart Headlam and the Christian Socialists

'Stirring up divine discontent' by education to effect a transformation of the social order became the credo of one of Victorian Christian Socialism's most colourful characters, far outpacing the more temperate aims of its founders.

Classes and the Masses in Victorian England

Despite the aspirations of Disraeli and others for 'one nation', the dynamics and disparities of Victorian society inexorably sharpened the sense of class identity and its verbal expression.

Agricultural Gangs

'Rude, rough and lawless' was one view of the women and children employed on the land in Victorian England. But was theirs a harsher fate than work in the factory system?