Search results for ""author victoria"

A reissue of Rachel Holmes's landmark biography of Dr James Barry, one of the most enigmatic figures of the Victorian age. James Barry was one of the nineteenth century’s most exceptional doctors, and one of its great unsung heroes. Famed for his brilliant innovations, Dr Barry influenced the birth of modern medical practice in places as far apart as South Africa, Jamaica and Canada. Barry’s skills attracted admirers across the globe, but there were also many detractors of the ostentatious dandy, who caused controversy everywhere he went. Yet unbeknownst to all, the military surgeon concealed a lifelong secret at the heart of his identity: on his death Barry was claimed to be anatomically female and in fact a cross-dresser. Vividly drawn and meticulously researched, The Secret Life of Dr James Barry brings to life one of the most enigmatic figures of the Victorian age, elevating its subject to a latter-day transgender icon – and is a landmark in the art of biography.

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From the notable emergence of orphan figures in late eighteenth-century literature, through early- and middle-period Victorian fiction and, as this book argues, well into the fin de siecle, this potent literary type is remarkable for its consistent recurrence and its metamorphosis as a register of cultural conditions. The striking ubiquity of orphans in the literature of these periods encourages inquiry into their metaphoric implications and the manner in which they function as barometers of burgeoning social concerns. The overwhelming majority of criticism focusing on orphans centres particularly on the form as an early- to middle-century convention, primarily found in social and domestic works; in effect, the non-traditional, aberrant, at times Gothic orphan of the fin de siecle has been largely overlooked, if not denied outright. This oversight has given rise to the need for a study of this potent cultural figure as it pertains to preoccupations characteristic of more recent instances. This book examines the noticeable difference between orphans of genre fiction of the fin de siecle and their predecessors in works including first-wave Gothic and the majority of Victorian fiction, and the variance of their symbolic references and cultural implications.

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This beautiful and informative volume continues where the authors' two-volume set, Victorian Staffordshire Figures, 1835-1875**, ended, expanding on these works. Over 1,100 mid-nineteenth century British historical ceramic figures are shown here in over 860 beautiful color photographs organized and numbered to coincide with the previous set, allowing this volume to merge seamlessly with it. Also included are sound advice on collecting Victorian Staffordshire figures, histories of the people represented, numerous source listings, relevant bibliographical details, and a thorough guide to current market prices in both British pounds and U.S. dollars. This book will delight everyone interested in nineteenth-century Staffordshire ceramics and history, earthenware figures, and folk art.

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This book explores the relationship between the justice system and local society at a time when the Industrial Revolution was changing the characteristics of mid Wales. Crime, Courts and Community in Mid-Victorian Wales investigates the Welsh nineteenth-century experiences of both the high-born and the low within the context of law enforcement, and considers major issues affecting Welsh and wider criminal historiography: the nature of class in the Welsh countryside and small towns, the role of women, the ways in which the justice system functioned for communities at that time, the questions of how people related to the criminal courts system, and how integrated and accepting of it they were. We read the accounts of defendants, witnesses and law- enforcers through transcription of courtroom testimonies and other records, and the experiences of all sections of the public are studied. Life stories – of both offenders and prosecutors of crime – are followed, providing a unique picture of this Welsh county community, its offences and legal practices.

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Colonialism left an indelible mark on writers from the Caribbean. Many of the mid-century male writers, on the eve of independence, looked to England for their models. The current generation of authors, many of whom are women, have increasingly looked—and relocated—to the United States. Incorporating postcolonial theory, West Indian literature, feminist theory, and African American literary criticism, Making Men carves out a particular relationship between the Caribbean canon—as represented by C. L. R. James and V. S. Naipaul, among others—and contemporary Caribbean women writers such as Jean Rhys, and Jamaica Kincaid, Paule Marshall, and Michelle Cliff, who now live in the United States. Discussing the canonical Caribbean narrative as it reflects national identity under the domination of English cultural authority, Belinda Edmondson focuses particularly on the pervasive influence of Victorian sensibilities in the structuring of twentieth-century national identity. She shows that issues of race and English constructions of masculinity not only are central to West Indian identity but also connect Caribbean authorship to the English literary tradition. This perspective on the origins of West Indian literary nationalism then informs Edmondson’s search for female subjectivity in current literature by West Indian women immigrants in America. Making Men compares the intellectual exile of men with the economic migration of women, linking the canonical male tradition to the writing of modern West Indian women and exploring how the latter write within and against the historical male paradigm in the continuing process of national definition. With theoretical claims that invite new discourse on English, Caribbean, and American ideas of exile, migration, race, gender identity, and literary authority, Making Men will be informative reading for those involved with postcolonial theory, African American and women’s studies, and Caribbean literature.

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A fallen woman. An opportunity for redemption. But at what cost?Sheffield, 1867. It’s the height of a long-running and violent campaign known as the Outrages, where murderous acts are carried out on behalf of a rogue union leader.Louisa Leigh, a former maid-of-all-work, is trapped into prostitution and desperate for money to escape. She befriends Ginny Hinchcliffe, a young widow who will do whatever it takes to break free from a life of servitude to her in-laws. The two women become entangled with Joe Crookes, henchman to the man responsible for the Outrages. Joe is looking for a way out even if that means betraying those closest to him.With a single act, Louisa’s freedom would be paid for. But it’s not just her life on the line, and she’ll need to decide if she can live with the choices she’s about to make…A sensationally compelling and gritty saga, for fans of Emma Hornby, Libby Ashworth and Kitty Neale.Praise for Joanne Clague‘A powerful and absorbing story. Her passion for the era shines through.’ Emma Hornby‘A fabulous new saga author!’ AnneMarie Brear‘Combines real people and fictional characters in a story both tragic and inspiring.’ Libby Ashworth‘Terrific characters and an exciting storyline kept me turning the pages, eager to find out what happened next.’ Lesley Eames‘The Ragged Valley delivers a captivating insight into a part of Sheffield history long forgotten. An authentic story with motivating characters.’ Sylvia Broady ‘Written with passion and attention to detail, Clague leaves no stone unturned… a must read for saga fans.’ Andie Newton, USA Today bestselling author of The Girls from the Beach ‘A compelling story… The Girl at Change Alley is a must-read for all historical fiction readers.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘A fabulous book that draws you into the story from the very first chapter. The characters Louisa and Ginny were wonderful… you really wanted it to end well for them.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review ‘This is a total five stars for me… historical fiction at its best.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘I adored this book. These characters are so real that when the unthinkable happens… it's truly gut-wrenching.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘It had me hooked from the first page. The writing is gorgeous and the characters instantly come alive. It’s a wonderful romance with a lot of heart. A beautifully written book that I highly recommend for lovers of saga, romance or historical novels.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review

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This is a new departure in Scottish and Irish migration studies. The Scottish diasporic communities closest to home - those which are part of what we sometimes term the 'near diaspora' - are those we know least about. Whilst an interest in the overseas Scottish diaspora has grown in recent years, Scots who chose to settle in other parts of the United Kingdom have been largely neglected. This book addresses this imbalance. Scots travelled freely around the industrial centres of northern Britain throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries and Belfast was one of the most important ports of call for thousands of Scots. The Scots played key roles in shaping Belfast society in the modern period: they were essential to its industrial development, they were at the centre of many cultural, philanthropic and religious initiatives and were welcomed by the host community accordingly. Yet despite their obvious significance, in staunchly Protestant, Unionist, and at times insular and ill at ease Belfast, individual Scots could be viewed with suspicion by their hosts, dismissed as 'strangers' and cast in the role of interfering outsiders. This is the only book-length scholarly study of the Scots in modern Ireland. It brings to light the fundamental importance of Scottish migration to Belfast society during the 19th century. It advances our knowledge and understanding of Scotland's 'near diaspora'. It highlights areas of tension in Ulster-Scottish relations during the Home Rule era. It puts forward a new agenda for a better understanding of British in-migration to Ireland in the modern period.

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An interdisciplinary study of British liberalism in the nineteenth century'Victorian Liberalism and Material Culture' assesses the unexplored links between Victorian material culture and political theory. It seeks to transform understanding of Victorian liberalism's key conceptual metaphor - that the mind of an individuated subject is private space. Focusing on the environments inhabited by four Victorian writers and intellectuals, it delineates how John Stuart Mill's, Matthew Arnold's, John Morley's, and Robert Browning's commitments to liberalism were shaped by or manifested through the physical spaces in which they worked. The book also asserts the centrality of the embodied experience of actual people to Victorian political thought. Readers will gain new historical and literary understanding and will be introduced to an innovative methodology that links material culture and political theory.Key featuresAddresses interaction between British liberal thinkers and their workplaces as an essential component in your consideration of nineteenth-century liberalismEnhances understanding of Victorian literature and culture and the history of architecture and design through an interdisciplinary approachBridges differences of perspective between students of material culture and political theoryBased on extensive research in British and American archives, utilizing recently unsealed record

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The queen of the Victorian mystery, New York Times bestseller Anne Perry returns with the 32nd novel in the Inspector Pitt series MURDER ON THE SERPENTINE. Pitt is on a secret mission for the Queen, maybe his last...London, 1899: Head of Special Branch Commander Thomas Pitt is summoned to Buckingham Palace. In the twilight of her years, Queen Victoria is all too aware that the Prince of Wales will soon inherit her empire and must be beyond reproach. She tells Pitt she tasked her close friend and confidante, John Halberd, with investigating the Prince's friends, specifically Alan Kendrick, a wealthy playboy and betting man, but before he could report back, Halberd was found dead in a rowing boat on the Serpentine. The death has been ruled an unfortunate accident and the investigation closed, but the Queen is not convinced that all is as it seems and tasks Pitt with finding the truth. Forced to act alone in this most sensitive of investigations, Pitt finds himself embroiled in a plot that threatens not only the reputations of men, but also the safety and reputation of the Empire. . .

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Articles on religion and the religious during the Victorian period, showing its unity and disunity. The major themes of Catholic historiography and the history of education during the Victorian era unite the essays collected here, as is fitting for a volume honouring the work in these fields of Professor Vincent Alan McClelland.There is a particular emphasis upon the life and work of Cardinal Manning; other figures and topics considered include Father Randal Lythgoe, Cardinal Newman, the English Benedictine contribution to the British Empire, modern Scottish Catholic history, and Victorian Christianity in its various forms, as in the essays on Methodism and the Church of Ireland.

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Tracing the Victorian crisis over the representation of working-class women to the 1842 Parliamentary bluebook on mines, with its controversial images of women at work, Hidden Hands argues that the female industrial worker became even more dangerous to represent than the prostitute or the male radical because she exposed crucial contradictions between the class and gender ideologies of the period and its economic realities. Drawing on the recent work of feminist historians, Patricia Johnson lays the groundwork for a reinterpretation of Victorian social-problem fiction that highlights its treatment of issues that particularly affected working-class women: sexual harassment; the interconnections between domestic ideology and domestic violence; their relationships to male-dominated working-class movements such as Luddism, Chartism, and unionism; and their troubled connection to middle-class feminism. Uncovering a series of images in Victorian fiction ranging from hot-tempered servants and sexually harassed factory girls to working-class homemakers pictured as beaten dogs, Hidden Hands demonstrates that representations of working-class women, however marginalized or incoherent, reveal the very contradictions they are constructed to hide and that the dynamics of these representations have broad implications both for other groups, such as middle-class women, and for the emergence of working-class women as writers themselves.

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Highlighting the contributions of Victorian and Edwardian women to the study, protection, and writing of nature, this text recovers their works from the misrepresentation they often faced at the time of their composition. Barbara T. Gates discusses not just well-known women like Beatrix Potter but also others - scientists, writers, gardeners, and illustrators - who are little known today. Some of these women discovered previously unknown species, others wrote and illustrated natural histories or animal stories, and still others educated women, the working classes, and children about recent scientific advances. A number of women also played pivotal roles in the defence of animal rights by protesting overhunting, vivisection, and habitat destruction, even as they demanded their own rights to vote, work, and enter universities. This text shows the enormous impact Victorian and Edwardian women had on the natural sciences and the environmental movement, and on our own attitudes toward nature and human nature.

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Physically frail, badly educated girls, brought up to lead useless lives as idle gentlewomen, married to dominant husbands, and relegated to "separate spheres" of life—these phrases have often been used to describe Victorian upper-middle-class women. M. Jeanne Peterson rejects such formulations and the received wisdom they embody in favor of a careful examination of Victorian ladies and their lives. Focusing on a network of urban professional families over three generations, this book examines the scope and quality of gentlewomen's education, their physical lives, their relationship to money, their experience of family illness and death, and their relationships to men (brothers and friends as well as fathers and husbands). Peterson also examines the prominent place of work in the lives of these "leisured" Victorian ladies, both single and married. Far from idle, the mothers, wives, and daughters of Victorian clergymen, doctors, lawyers, university dons, and others were accomplished and productive members of society who made substantial public and private contributions to virtually every sphere of Victorian life.

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This book analyses how Victorian novels and plays used the actress, a significant figure for the relationship between women and the public sphere, to define their own place within and among genres and in relation to audiences.

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Here is a bold new vision of Victorian culture: a study of myths of womanhood that shatters the usual generalizations about the squeezed, crushed, and ego-less Victorian woman.Through copious examples drawn from literature, art, and biography, Nina Auerbach reconstructs three central paradigms: the angel/demon, the old maid, and the fallen woman. She shows how these animate a pervasive Victorian vision of a mobile female outcast with divine and demonic powers. Fear of such disruptive, self-creating figures, Auerbach argues, produces the approved ideal of the dutiful, family-bound woman. The awe they inspire associates them with characters in literature, the only vehicles of immortality in whom most Victorians could unreservedly believe.Auerbach looks at a wonderful variety of sources: Svengali, Dracula, and Freud; poets and major and minor novelists Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and Ruskin; lives of women, great and unknown; Anglican sisterhoods and Magdalen homes; bardolatry and the theater; Pre-Raphaelite paintings and contemporary cartoons and book illustrations. Reinterpreting a medley of fantasies, she demonstrates that female powers inspired a vivid myth central to the spirit of the age.

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On May 11, 1857, Hindu and Muslim sepoys massacred British residents and native Christians in Delhi, setting off both the whirlwind of similar violence that engulfed Bengal in the following months and an answering wave of rhetorical violence in Britain, where the uprising against British rule in India was often portrayed as a clash of civilization and barbarity demanding merciless retribution. Although by twentieth-century standards the number of victims was small, the Victorian public saw "the Indian Mutiny" of 1857-59 as an epochal event. In this provocative book, Christopher Herbert seeks to discover why. He offers a view of this episode--and of Victorian imperialist culture more generally--sharply at odds with the standard formulations of postcolonial scholarship. Drawing on a wealth of largely overlooked and often mesmerizing nineteenth-century texts, including memoirs, histories, letters, works of journalism, and novels, War of No Pity shows that the startling ferocity of the conflict in India provoked a crisis of national conscience and a series of searing if often painfully ambivalent condemnations of British actions in India both prior to and during the war. Bringing to light the dissident, disillusioned, antipatriotic strain of Victorian "mutiny writing," Herbert locates in it key forerunners of modern-day antiwar literature and the modern critique of racism.

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'A Victorian Tragedy', for the first time, describes how the landmark court case of Banks v Goodfellow (1870) came about, what happened to the protagonists and how an enlightened judgment provided a practical definition of testamentary capacity that has since been used throughout the common law world law. This fascinating story is set against the backdrop of the mid-Victorian world and how it affected the lives of those caught up in the case. Set in the Lake District, around Keswick, the central issue was the mental illness of the testator, John Banks, and how he coped with living in a world that often derided his paranoia – “From the appearance of the man anyone would take him for a person out of his mind” as a local clergyman put it. The lives of John’s relatives were scarred, and often ended early, by other illnesses common at that time, but these lives also interweave with 19th century issues of emigration, marriage reform and early mortality. Extensive use is made of original court papers and contemporary newspaper reports, both from the national and local press, to present the picture that was placed before the court of how John Banks was affected by his insane delusions. The conduct of the Assize court hearing is explained, together with how the court and jury dealt with the radically opposed evidence from either side. 'A Victorian Tragedy; covers this case in detail not previously dealt with before and offers a different approach to re-evaluate an important case in the context of its time and the treatment of the insane in the 19th century. While the book will undoubtedly appeal to lawyers, the book’s portrayal of a mid-Victorian family and the treatment of the insane will also be of interest to the more general reader.

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Though underexplored in contemporary scholarship, the Victorian attempts to turn aesthetics into a science remains one of the more fascinating aspects of that era. As mind and emotion were increasingly understood in terms of biology, aesthetic experience began to be thought of less as abstract judgment and more as an interaction between the nervous system and the materiality of art. In The Outward Mind, Benjamin Morgan approaches this period of innovation as an important origin point for current attempts to understand art or beauty using the tools of the sciences. Moving chronologically from natural theology in the early nineteenth century to laboratory psychology in the early twentieth, Morgan draws on little-known archives of Victorian intellectuals such as William Morris, Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and others, to argue that scientific studies of mind and emotion transformed the way that nineteenth-century writers and artists understood the experience of beauty and effectively redescribed aesthetic judgment as a biological adaptation. Looking beyond the Victorian period to humanistic critical theory today, he also shows how the historical relationship between science and aesthetics could be a vital resource for rethinking aspects of contemporary literary and cultural criticism such as materialism, empathy, practice, and form. At a moment when the tumultuous relationship between the sciences and the humanities is the subject of ongoing debate, Morgan argues for the importance of understanding the arts and sciences as being incontrovertibly intertwined.

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Though underexplored in contemporary scholarship, the Victorian attempts to turn aesthetics into a science remains one of the more fascinating aspects of that era. As mind and emotion were increasingly understood in terms of biology, aesthetic experience began to be thought of less as abstract judgment and more as an interaction between the nervous system and the materiality of art. In The Outward Mind, Benjamin Morgan approaches this period of innovation as an important origin point for current attempts to understand art or beauty using the tools of the sciences. Moving chronologically from natural theology in the early nineteenth century to laboratory psychology in the early twentieth, Morgan draws on little-known archives of Victorian intellectuals such as William Morris, Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and others, to argue that scientific studies of mind and emotion transformed the way that nineteenth-century writers and artists understood the experience of beauty and effectively redescribed aesthetic judgment as a biological adaptation. Looking beyond the Victorian period to humanistic critical theory today, he also shows how the historical relationship between science and aesthetics could be a vital resource for rethinking aspects of contemporary literary and cultural criticism such as materialism, empathy, practice, and form. At a moment when the tumultuous relationship between the sciences and the humanities is the subject of ongoing debate, Morgan argues for the importance of understanding the arts and sciences as being incontrovertibly intertwined.

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Revealed here are children’s and women’s clothing, including undergarments, leisurewear, and street apparel from 1860 to 1900. Over 270 photographs combine with text to enable accurate dating of clothing to within a three- to seven-year time frame. Nineteenth century photographs are supplemented by surviving examples of period clothing, many picturing both the outside and inner construction. The text is based on Victorian fashion, medical, etiquette, and advice literature and reveals the often-surprising reasons females were willing to become such devoted slaves to dress, as well as the impact dress had upon their lives and health. This well-researched book also explores the constraints of childhood during this era, which lends valuable insight into women’s acceptance of nonsensical fashions as adults. Endnotes are included.

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This book is a crucial resource for instructors interested in bringing the past alive for their students through hands-on, immersive educational experiences. While sharing a common historical field, the contributors hail from multiple disciplines, including art history, human biology, biological anthropology, and English literature. Ranging from assignments that involve students editing and annotating a primary work to producing an array of digital projects, and from participating in study-abroad programs to taking part in service-learning initiatives, the chapters will furnish readers with strategies for creating engaged and dynamic classrooms. Although the focus of the book is on Victorian Britain, the pedagogical approaches outlined in each chapter will be useful to instructors of any historical field.

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This volume is a reprint of a book designed for engineering students in the mid Victorian period, it has a good text written in a modern and accessible style and is relevant to modern day enthusiasts restoring or constructing replica or miniature steam locomotives. The book has a good selection of drawings and photographs depicting locomotives of the period from 1804-1879, which complement the historic text. At the time this book was written by two of the leading engineering academics, the steam locomotive was regarded as one of the finest examples of advanced engineering and its drivers and firemen were at the forefront of skilled working people.

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To save her home, she faces a difficult choice.When Rose Hamilton’s mother died in childbirth, her father, a farmer on the royal Sandringham estate, turned his back on the daughter whose birth killed his beloved wife. Rose’s one joy is Orchards, her father’s beloved farm. When he collapses, it is left to Rose to manage their land and do battle with their landlord Bertie, the lecherous Prince of Wales, who quickly turns vindictive. Faced with more family tragedy, Rose is left with a choice to make – either she must marry in order to stay on at Orchards, or leave the farm.Reliable Basil Pooley has been in love with Rose for years, though Rose has never returned his feelings. But Geoffrey Devlin, a man she has both loved and hated in equal measure since she was a girl, is an impossibility. Will she be forced into a marriage with somebody she does not love, or can she find a way to save her beloved home?An engaging saga set in Victorian Norfolk, perfect for fans of Rosie Harris and Iris Gower.

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A spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror, perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Creek'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' NEW YORK TIMES'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' IAN RANKIN_______New Year's Day, 1889.In Edinburgh's lunatic asylum, a patient escapes as a nurse lays dying. Leading the manhunt are legendary local Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray and Londoner-in-exile Inspector Ian Frey. Before the murder, the suspect was heard in whispered conversation with a fellow patient - a girl who had been mute for years.What made her suddenly break her silence? And why won't she talk again? Could the rumours about black magic be more than superstition?McGray and Frey track a devious psychopath far beyond their jurisdiction, through the worst blizzard in living memory, into the shadow of Pendle Hill - home of the Lancashire witches - where unimaginable danger awaits . . ._______Praise for The Strings of Murder:'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it' Manda Scott'One of the best debuts so far this year - a brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written. Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review

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Levine shows how Darwin's ideas affected nineteenth-century novelists—from Dickens and Trollope to Conrad. "Levine stands in our day as the premier critic and commentator on Victorian prose."—Frank M. Turner, Nineteenth-Century Literature. "Magnificently written, with a care and delicacy worthy of its subject."—Nina Auerbach, University of Pennsylvania

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By connecting Fenian and anarchist violence found in popular fiction from the 1880s to the early 1900s with the avant-garde writing of British modernism, Deaglan O Donghaile demonstrates that Victorian popular fiction and modernism were directly influenced by the explosive shocks of late nineteenth-century terrorism.

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The latest Yorkshire volume provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of an important area centred upon Sledmere. This volume covers seven parishes and some sixteen ancient settlements on the eastern dip-slope of the Yorkshire Wolds. Its rich and varied past extends from the important Iron Age settlements with their well-known chariot burialsto the great estate - at its high point one of the largest in England - built up by the Sykes family in the 18th and 19th centuries and centred upon the village of Sledmere. The volume includes a substantial introduction coveringthe history and archaeology of the area as a whole and analysing the impact of the Sledmere estate on local villages, churches and farmsteads. There are also detailed sections on the landscape and topography, economic, social andreligious history of the parishes and their settlements. The villages covered by the volume are Cowlam, Duggleby, Fimber, Fridaythorpe, Helperthorpe, Kirby Grindalythe, East and West Lutton, Sledmere, Weaverthorpe and Wetwang. DAVID and SUSAN NEAVE are former staff of the University of Hull.

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An authoritative and comprehensive account of an important area centred around the town of Howden. This is the second part of a study of Howdenshire, containing a history of the town of Howden and its ancient minster, the least known of the great medieval churches of Yorkshire. The volume also deals with the lordship and civilunit of which the town was the heart, the area called Howdenshire, one of the more complicated regions of England. The book offers a history of the origins and development of the liberty of the bishop of Durham, its ruler until 1836. The liberty of Howdenshire covered all the bishop's possessions in the East Riding, and the book looks at the liberty's scattered exclaves across it, offering a full township and parish study of the most important of them, Welton with Melton, a distant and detached part of Howdenshire until 1894. Finally, the book deals with the two ancient commons associated with Howdenshire. The first is Bishopsoil, a common of 4,000 acres within the bishop's lordship. The volume also contains a study of the administration, drainage and ecology of the great 4,500 acre wetland common of Wallingfen, east of Howdenshire, which from around 1280 until 1781 was governed by the gentry and freeholders of the surrounding parishes, an area of England unique in its history, governance and economy.

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In Victorian Britain scientific medicine encompassed an array of activities, from laboratory research and the use of medical technologies through the implementation of sanitary measures that drained canals and prevented the adulteration of milk and bread. Although most practitioners supported scientific medicine, controversies arose over where decisions should be made, in the laboratory or in the clinic, and by whom-medical practitioners or research scientists. In this study, Terrie Romano uses the life and eclectic career of Sir John Burdon Sanderson (1829-1905) to explore the Victorian campaign to make medicine scientific. Sanderson, in many ways a prototypical Victorian, began his professional work as a medical practitioner and Medical Officer of Health in London, then became a pathologist and physiologist and eventually the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford. His career illustrates the widespread support during this era for a medicine based on science. In Making Medicine Scientific, Romano argues this support was fueled by the optimism characteristic of the Victorian age, when the application of scientific methods to a range of social problems was expected to achieve progress. Dirt and disease as well as the material culture of experimentation -from frogs to photographs-represent the tangible context in which Sanderson lived and worked. Romano's detailed portrayal reveals a fascinating figure who embodied the untidy nature of the Victorian age's shift from an intellectual system rooted in religion to one based on science.

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This book broadens the discussion of pottery and china in the Victorian era by situating them in the national, imperial, design reform, and domestic debates between 1840 and 1890. Largely ignored in recent scholarship, Ceramics in the Victorian Era: Meanings and Metaphors in Painting and Literature argues that the signification of a pot, a jug, or a tableware pattern can be more fully discerned in written and painted representations. Across five case studies, the book explores a rhetoric and set of conventions that developed within the representation of ceramics, emerging in the late-18th century, and continuing in the Victorian period. Each case study begins with a textual passage exemplifying the outlined theme and closes with an object analysis to demonstrate how the fusing of text, image, and object are critical to attaining the period eye in order to better understand the metaphorical meanings of ceramics. Essential reading not only for ceramics scholars, but also those of material culture, the book mines the rich and diverse archive of Victorian painting and literature, from the avant-garde to the sentimental, from the well-known to the more obscure, to shed light on the at once complex and simple implications of ceramics’ agencies at this time.

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“The queen of living history” (Lucy Worsley) dazzles anglophiles and history lovers alike with this immersive account of how English women sparked a worldwide revolution—from their own kitchens. Wielding the same wit and passion as seen in How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman shows that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea. As Goodman traces the amazing shift from wood to coal in mid-sixteenth century England, a pattern of innovation emerges as the women stoking these fires also stoked new global industries: from better soap to clean smudges to new ingredients for cooking. Laced with irresistibly charming anecdotes of Goodman’s own experience managing a coal-fired household, The Domestic Revolution shines a hot light on the power of domestic necessity.

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We know that there were dogs in Victorian Britain, but who were the ‘Doggy People’ who kept them, bred them, showed them, worked with them and cared for them?Chapter by chapter, this book reveals the varied and often eccentric lives of the Victorians who helped define dogs as we know them today. The cast runs from the very pinnacle of society, Queen Victoria, to near the bottom with Jemmy Shaw, a publican, boxer, promoter of dog-fights and rat-killing. The others include an artist, aristocrats, authors, a clergyman, doctors, a dog-dealer, a feminist, journalists, landowners, millionaires, philanthropists, politicians, scientists, a stockbroker, veterinarians, and a showman – none other their Charles Cruft.Looking at the invention and meaning of new breeds such as poodles, collies, Jack Russells, and borzois amongst others, we see how the Victorians thought about pets, sports, dog shows and animal rights.

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From tabloid exposes of child prostitution to the grisly tales of Jack the Ripper, narratives of sexual danger pulsated through Victorian London. Expertly blending social history and cultural criticism, Judith Walkowitz shows how these narratives reveal the complex dramas of power, politics, and sexuality that were being played out in late nineteenth-century Britain, and how they influenced the language of politics, journalism, and fiction. Victorian London was a world where long-standing traditions of class and gender were challenged by a range of public spectacles, mass media scandals, new commercial spaces, and a proliferation of new sexual categories and identities. In the midst of this changing culture, women of many classes challenged the traditional privileges of elite males and asserted their presence in the public domain. An important catalyst in this conflict, argues Walkowitz, was W. T. Stead's widely read 1885 article about child prostitution. Capitalizing on the uproar caused by the piece and the volatile political climate of the time, women spoke of sexual danger, articulating their own grievances against men, inserting themselves into the public discussion of sex to an unprecedented extent, and gaining new entree to public spaces and journalistic practices. The ultimate manifestation of class anxiety and gender antagonism came in 1888 with the tabloid tales of Jack the Ripper. In between, there were quotidian stories of sexual possibility and urban adventure, and Walkowitz examines them all, showing how women were not simply figures in the imaginary landscape of male spectators, but also central actors in the stories of metropolotian life that reverberated in courtrooms, learned journals, drawing rooms, street corners, and in the letters columns of the daily press. A model of cultural history, this ambitious book will stimulate and enlighten readers across a broad range of interests.

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The year 2023 sees the 150th anniversary of the death of William Harry Rogers. Rogers was one of the finest artist-designers of the Victorian period in Britain, someone to be considered in the same company as Pugin, William Burges, Owen Jones and Christopher Dresser. His designs won several prize medals at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the event which provides a ubiquitous reference point for cultural histories of the nineteenth century. He subsequently specialised in designing the appearances of books and his work in this field in the 1850s and 1860s was unrivalled, with many of his designs appearing also in the USA. The present book is the first to be devoted to Rogers and aims to be definitive, containing comprehensive accounts of his work and his life in Soho and the then village of Wimbledon. It includes many new discoveries, and hundreds of colour illustrations.

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The Political Poetess challenges familiar accounts of the figure of the nineteenth-century Poetess, offering new readings of Poetess performance and criticism. In performing the Poetry of Woman, the mythic Poetess has long staked her claims as a creature of "separate spheres"--one exempt from emerging readings of nineteenth-century women's political poetics. Turning such assumptions on their heads, Tricia Lootens models a nineteenth-century domestic or private sphere whose imaginary, apolitical heart is also the heart of nation and empire, and, as revisionist histories increasingly attest, is traumatized and haunted by histories of slavery. Setting aside late Victorian attempts to forget the unfulfilled, sentimental promises of early antislavery victories, The Political Poetess restores Poetess performances like Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus" to view--and with them, the vitality of the Black Poetess within African-American public life. Crossing boundaries of nation, period, and discipline to "connect the dots" of Poetess performance, Lootens demonstrates how new histories and ways of reading position poetic texts by Felicia Dorothea Hemans, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dinah Mulock Craik, George Eliot, and Frances E. W. Harper as convergence points for larger engagements ranging from Germaine de Stael to G.W.F. Hegel, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bishop, Alice Walker, and beyond.

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A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery – but what really happened? Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland’s Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her husband on the picturesque island. This inquest verdict appeared to conclude the melancholy events that consumed the fishing village of Howth, Co Dublin, in September 1852. But not long afterwards, suspicion fell upon Maria’s husband, William Burke Kirwan, as whispers of unspeakable cruelty, an evil character and a secret life rattled through the streets of Dublin. Investigations led to William’s arrest and trial for murder. The story swelled into one of the most bitterly divisive chapters in the dark annals of Irish criminal history. Yet questions remain: does the evidence stand up? What role did the heavy hand of Victorian moral outrage play? Was William really guilty of murder, or did the ever present ‘moral facts’ fill in gaps where hard proof was absent? Now, this compelling modern analysis revisits the key evidence, asking sober questions about the facts, half-facts and fantasies buried within the yellowed pages of the Ireland’s Eye case files.

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This poetry collection includes verse ranging from the tear-jerking "Green Eye of the Yellow God" to the rarely-printed, bawdy "Eskimo Nell". Much borrowed and rarely returned, this is a very popular book for reading aloud in very good company, preferably after a dram or twa. You are guaranteed a warm welcome if you arrive at a gathering with this little volume in your pocket.

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In the quarter of a century between 1830 and 1855, the railway locomotive developed from the small sisters of Rocketto the broad gauge monsters of Daniel Gooch, with a boiler pressure nearly three times that of Rocketand weighing in at nearly 40 tons (eight times the weight of Rocket). There was a marked increase in loads, speeds and reliability as the railways spread across the country from their cradle in the North West, with several thousands of miles of track being laid. In this book, Anthony Dawson charts the rise and development of the steam locomotive in this crucial period in the development of the railways. Drawing on first-hand accounts, and using case studies based on specific classes of locomotive and their working replicas, he charts the development of the locomotive from Rocket, through the Planet and Patentee classes of Robert Stephenson, Edward Bury's 'coppernobs' and finally Firefly and Iron Duke on Brunel's broad gauge. This is a fascinating and well-illustrated insight into a period of engineering ingenuity and genius.

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December 1864. As a cold winter wind scours the Worcestershire countryside, an excursion train comes through a tunnel in the Malvern Hills to be confronted by a blockage on the line ahead. The driver manages to slow the train down so that the impact is minimised, but the passengers are alarmed. The first person to alight is Cyril Hubbleday, the man in charge of the excursion to the delightful spa town of Great Malvern. He walks to the front of the locomotive and as he is talking to the driver, fireman and guard, Hubbleday is shot dead by a sniper. Christmas is coming all too soon and Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming are under pressure to solve the case quickly. However, with a number of disputes and enemies in the shadows behind the seasonal excursion and the investigation hampered by heavy snow, the hunt for a cold-blooded killer is far from straightforward.

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2011 marks the centenary of the death of Edward Whymper, one of the most important figures in the history of mountaineering. His ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, and the deaths of four members of his party on the way down, attracted attention throughout the world, bringing him praise and criticism in equal measure. In later years, he largely devoted his life to lecturing and writing guidebooks, touring Britain, Europe and America. Whymper was an early member of the Alpine Club and in the club's archives is a set of magic lantern slides he used to illustrate his lectures. Based on extensive research, former AC Archivist Peter Berg has combined these images with extracts from Whymper's books and diaries and writings by his contemporaries, to recreate the lecture 'My Scrambles amongst the Alps', first given in 1895. These pictures, mostly not seen for 100 years and never been published as a set before, give us a unique glimpse of the mountain world at the end of the 19th century. We visit the Zermatt valley and its peaks, passes and glaciers, experience Whymper's many attempts to climb the Matterhorn, explore the Mont Blanc region, including the ill-fated building of an observatory on the summit, and share some of the joys and sorrows of mountaineering. Setting the lecture in context, is a foreword by the distinguished mountaineer and former AC President, Stephen Venables.

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Until this century, married women had no legal right to hold, use, or dispose of property. Since the ownership of property is a critical measure of social status, the married women's property acts of the nineteenth century were important landmarks in the legal emancipation of women. Reform campaigns represented the first organized attempts by women in Upper Canada to challenge their status in society. Ironically, emancipation was not the first goal of reformers: their demands reflected a concern with protection from economic instability. The laws granting women new rights and privileges were designed to force men to behave more responsibly and to mitigate the worst hardships imposed upon wives by abusive or negligent husbands. The most detailed and complete account of married women's property law reform yet written for any North American jurisdiction, this fascinating study will be of interest to those in the areas of law, women's studies, and nineteenth-century social history.

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1863. Young student, Bernard Pomeroy, flies into a panic when he receives a letter in the early hours of the morning. Leaving a note for a friend with a porter at Corpus Christi College, he rushes for the next train leaving Cambridge. However, shortly after disembarking at his destination, the undergraduate lies dead on the platform. Summoned by the master of the college, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming begin to investigate Pomeroy's untimely demise. But it seems that Pomeroy had ruffled many feathers during his short tenure at the University. With academic disputes, sporting rivalry and a clandestine romance in play, the Railway Detective will have to disentangle the many threads of Pomeroy's life in order to answer the truth of his death.

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Biography of Joseph Jenkins (1818-98) who left his family and successful farm in Wales to travel Australia as a farm labourer. His self-improvement through reading led to prizes for his poetry, and his diary is one of the most celebrated sources of information about life in rural Australia then.

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October 1854. As an autumnal evening draws to a close, crowds of passengers rush onto the soon to depart London to Brighton Express. A man watches from shadows nearby, grimly satisfied when the train pulls out of the station. Chaos, fatalities and unbelievable destruction are the scene soon after when the train derails on the last leg of its journey. What led to such devastation, and could it simply be a case of driver error? Detective Inspector Colbeck, dubbed the 'railway detective' thinks not. But digging deep to discover the target of the accident takes time, something Colbeck doesn't have as the killer prepares to strike again.

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