Life in Victorian Britain

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 crowd admiring the artworks at an exhibition by the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, London. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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

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

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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

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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

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

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

History explorer Victorian 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