Victorian

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?

Mr Punch and the Iron Duke

The Duke of Wellington proved a gift to the cartoonists of 'Punch' - he was a figure the magazine's readership would recognise, and he did not look unlike Mr Punch himself.

A Royal Gentleman of Colour

Ben Shephard looks at the career of Peter Lobengula, the African ‘Prince’ who tantalised the British press and public and died in poverty in Salford in 1913, highlighting Victorian attitudes towards race, colour and sex.

1883 Cup Final: 'Patricians' v 'Plebians'

Until 1883, the Football Association Cup was won every year by former public schoolboys. As Christopher Andrew shows here, at the Cup Final that May, a working-class team from Lancashire snatched the honours from the Old Etonians.