Victoriana At The Arcade Of Arts & Arcana

June 22, 2012 by Lily Wight

Updated 09/06/2014

All these amazing facts have been borrowed from the Snapping-Turtle Guide, Victorian Life by John Guy.

*The average life expectancy for a Victorian city-dweller was a measly 40 years!

*At the beginning of Victoria’s reign (1837) 20% of the population lived in towns. By the end of her reign (1901) this figure had risen to 75%.

*Beer was less than a penny a pint causing problems with drunkenness… especially amongst children.

*This was probably because both boys and girls wore dresses until they reached about five years old.

*Thomas Edison didn’t just invent the phonograph (1877) he suggested talking-books for the blind.

*The Railway Age created affordable travel for all and inspired that Great British pursuit: a day-trip to the seaside!

*Victorian Artists and Poets reacted against The Industrial Age by incorporating romanticised Myths, Legends and The Natural World into their work. (Click the Gallery tab for an album of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.)

*Thank whatever gods you believe in for the invention of chloroform! Available for use on patients as an anaesthetic from 1847.

*According to royal protocol no one is allowed to propose to a queen so Victoria had to ask for Albert’s hand in marriage (and we all know where he kept the ring *warning* this link features adult content)!

*Women (and anything they earned or owned) were considered the property of their husbands or fathers until legal amendments beginning 1882.

Click for another post you might enjoy 🙂

16 Responses

on June 22, 2012 at 6:36 pm | Reply bluebutterfliesandme

LOL We are so in synchronicity, Fantastic post! Just yesterday I was looking for Queen Birthday images, because it is going to be a friends birthday, who I call “Queen,” and i saw some amazing images, and thought to make a post on Queen Elizabeth and The Tudors (sexy HBO series too) but after your fantastic post, I may not. LOL

I just posted this before I saw yours,
http://peaceandpeanutbutterdotcom.wordpress.com/

If it is uncool to link my post, tell me.

Sindy

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- on June 22, 2012 at 9:04 pm | Reply Lily Wight
  
  Of course it’s fine, Miss Butterfly 🙂 I love the Marie Antoinette movie – the sets, the costumes and the cake. I have a few more Victorian facts coming before the month is out.
  I’ve seen a few of The Tudors and if you enjoy lush costume craziness check out The Borgias if you haven’t already 😉
  
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  - on June 22, 2012 at 9:26 pm | Reply bluebutterfliesandme
    
    We don’t have HBO only Showtime, therefore “Game of Thrones.” LOL
    It was you that didn’t like GOT right?
    
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    - on June 22, 2012 at 9:35 pm | Reply Lily Wight
      
      Don’t think that was me, perhaps a different Blogsprite. I quite like GOT although it’s not my favourite. Maybe I should change that to I quite like Sean Bean! I tend to do most of my viewing on DVD so I can get behind with what’s new. Trying to catch-up with True Blood.
      
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      - on June 22, 2012 at 9:41 pm bluebutterfliesandme
        
        LOL I can’t recall who blogged it but you would like the blogger.
        Yes I caught the first season of GOT ON Demand, so I got to see the whole thing at once. Way too behind ob True Blood.
        
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      - on June 22, 2012 at 9:50 pm bluebutterfliesandme
        
        Here is the blogger who doesn’t like GOT. LOL
        http://adreainwonderland.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/game-of-thrones-or-sea-of-yawns/
        
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      - on June 22, 2012 at 10:16 pm Lily Wight
        
        Guess what… we are already mutual followers xx
        
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      - on June 22, 2012 at 10:27 pm bluebutterfliesandme
        
        Doesn’t surprise me.
        
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on June 22, 2012 at 7:24 pm | Reply snowbrdr47

I think this time period is so interesting. A lot of sayings that we still use today come from around this time. Like “saved by the bell,” “bring home the bacon,” when you have a “wake” for the dead. A lot of interesting customs and beliefs associated with this time period as well. I had to do a presentation about this a couple months ago and really learned a lot!

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- on June 22, 2012 at 9:09 pm | Reply Lily Wight
  
  I love all these nutty little facts. It must have been so exciting being a Victorian because everything was so new and remarkable… unless you were a laudanum addled prostitute of course.
  Thanks for following, I always follow back. Keep commenting too xx
  
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on June 22, 2012 at 7:33 pm | Reply bluebutterfliesandme

Portraits of the dead were very in vogue in the Victorian Era also. 😉

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on June 22, 2012 at 7:45 pm | Reply snowbrdr47

That’s where playing cards come from too, little portraits of royalty that they started playing games with. (living portraits, of course!)

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on June 25, 2012 at 10:00 am | Reply loonyliterature

I love the Victorian period – there is something so atmospheric about it.

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on June 9, 2014 at 8:24 pm | Reply Lily Wight

Reblogged this on Lily Wight.

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on June 10, 2014 at 2:06 pm | Reply Sherry Key, Artist

Very interesting! I love these little Victorian tidbits.

I went to Dallas A-Kon last weekend and took a “How to build Steampunk” class and have a refreshed interest in it again.

So 40 was the old 60…(-:

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- on June 14, 2014 at 7:09 pm | Reply Lily Wight
  
  Yep, that’s right 😀
  
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