Life in Victorian Britain

What was daily life like for people in the Victorian era? From the slums of 19th-century London and life in the workhouse to the court of Queen Victoria and the revolution of the railways, we bring you the facts

Victorian family. (Photo by Sean Sexton-Getty images)

The Victorians: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Irish people starving during the Potato Famine

The Corn Laws crisis. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Florence Nightingale

Nursing by numbers: how Florence Nightingale campaigned for better conditions

A woman in riding gear breaks out in a grin in the c1860s. "The 'WE are not amused' slogan has tarnished the Victorians for long enough," writes Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. (Image by Mary Evans Picture Library)

Smiling Victorians: why it's a myth that our ancestors didn't smile for pictures. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Policemen from Scotland Yard patrolling at night

Real-life Sherlocks: the detectives of Scotland Yard and their curious cases

Midwives and babies in the sun

Midwifery and childbirth: a historical A–Z guide

An illustration from 1883 shows the phrenology chart of the skull

The Victorian phrenology craze

Hallie Rubenhold. (Photo by Fran Monks)

The women killed by Jack the Ripper. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria’s pets and animals

Oxtail stew. (© CICO Books 2017)

Top 5 Dickensian recipes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Intellectuals, dieting businessmen, Indian students and fitness fanatics were among those to exhort the benefits of a meat-free diet in the 19th century, as shown in our illustration. (Illustration by Femke de Jong for BBC History Magazine)

Veggie Victorians: how Britain responded to the rise of the meat-free movement

An 1870s illustration of a typical London artisan terraced houses with washhouses, privies and yards leading on to an alley, all dominated by railway viaducts. (Photo by Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Victorian London’s East End: what can a foul murder tell us about life in the city?

London & North Western Railway locomotive, 1848. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

8 ways railway travel changed everything for Britain

Four police officers, members of the Bow Street Horse Patrol, pose for a photograph with a horse.

The rise of the Great British 'bobby': a brief history of Britain's police service

Street urchins in Lambeth, London, 19th century

Escaping the workhouse: the Victorian war on child poverty

A brief history of London tourism since 1800

A poster produced for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) promoting express rail travel to the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool

The great escape: Britain's love affair with the seaside holiday

Eating with Dickens. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian medicine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A brooch commemorating Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897. Queen Victoria is surrounded by a gold frame, ribbons and laces. (Photo by Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The Victorian shadow over the 20th century

The Royal Opera House. (Getty Images)

History Explorer: Opera in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Indian princes and British Army officers in the Hyderabad contingent polo team, c1880. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Cricket, curry and cups of tea: India's influence on Victorian Britain

‘Quacks’: the terrors and theatrics of Victorian medicine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

High Victorian style garden designed by James Bateman. (Getty Images)

History explorerVictorian gardens. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Veteran cars – a 1898 Benz and an early Panhard – outside Glover Brothers Cycle Makers, c1900. (Photo by National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How the Victorians ruined the world

The weird and wonderful world of Victorian entertainment

Charles Darwin sports his trademark bushy beard in 1877. (Photo by Corbis Historical/Getty Images)

From Charles Darwin’s beard to George Eliot’s right hand: 4 famous Victorian bodily quirks

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee, near Wrexham, North Wales. The aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Thomas Telford: the man who built modern Britain

The French ballerina who became wealthier than Queen Victoria

6 strange newspaper stories that shocked Victorian Britain