Victorian

Edmund Gosse and the Victorian Nude

Jason Edwards takes a fresh look at attitudes to the nude in Victorian art, to coincide with Tate Britain's major exhibition on the subject opening this month.

Crime and Justice in 19th-Century England

How far, asks R.D. Storch, did the reforms in the system of law enforcement, and the detection, trial and punishment of criminals introduced in the nineteenth century make for better order and a real reduction in crime?

Photography at War

Jonathan Marwil tells how the wars of the mid-19th century, in Europe and beyond, proved the perfect subject for a new medium to show its amazing potential.

The Hunt for Jack the Ripper

William D. Rubinstein reviews the achievements of the Ripperologists and considers the arguments surrounding the so-called Ripper Diaries.

The Victorian Slaughter of the Innocents

Why did infant mortality rates remain so high in the last quarter of the 19th century, when general death rates experienced a steady decline? Phil Chapple investigates.