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.
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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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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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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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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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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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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Guess what… we are already mutual followers xx
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Doesn’t surprise me.
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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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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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Portraits of the dead were very in vogue in the Victorian Era also. 😉
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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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I love the Victorian period – there is something so atmospheric about it.
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Reblogged this on Lily Wight.
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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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Yep, that’s right 😀
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