Lessons from Lord Rosebery
Britain's political elite are often criticised for having few achievements away from Whitehall. Richard Foreman contrasts their inexperience with the 19th-century statesman Lord Rosebery.
Victorian
Birth of John Bright
The leading Victorian radical and Liberal politician John Bright was born on November 16th 1811.
Victorian Jokes: The best in 19th-century humour
Lee Jackson of Victorian London selects some of his favourite Victorian jokes.
When Britain Still Believed in God
The Victorian era was an age of faith – which is why it was also a golden period of progress, argues Tim Stanley.
Crystal Palace: Reflections of the British Empire
Was Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace a monument to Britain’s colonial achievement or a fragile symbol of a fragmenting imperial dream?
From Georgian to Victorian
Nicholas Dixon asks whether there was a radical transition between the two eras.
Chekhov and Conservation
The great Russian author Anton Chekov drew inspiration from the countryside and explored the practical and spiritual impact of trees and the consequences of deforestation.
The Woman in White: A Novel for Hysterical Times
Wilkie Collins’ haunting mystery of false identity and female instability reflected one of the lunacy panics of the age. Sarah Wise looks at three events that inspired The Woman in White.
India: An Inspector Calls
Rosie Llewellyn-Jones recalls the Victorian economist who helped resolve the financial crisis in India after the Mutiny of 1857.