Queen Victoria Read online

  Queen Victoria

  Paula Bartley’s Queen Victoria examines Victorian Britain from the perspective of the Queen. Victoria’s personal and political actions are discussed in relation to contemporary shifts in Britain’s society, politics and culture, examining to what extent they did – or did not – influence events throughout her reign.

  Drawing from contemporary sources, including Queen Victoria’s own diaries, as well as the most recent scholarship, the book contextualises Victoria historically by placing her in the centre of an unparalleled period of innovation and reform, in which the social and political landscape of Britain, and its growing empire, was transformed. Balancing Victoria’s private and public roles, it examines the cultural paradox of the Queen’s rule in relation to the changing role of women: she was a devoted wife, prolific mother and obsessive widow, who was also queen of a large empire and the Empress of India.

  Marrying cultural history, gender history and other histories ‘from below’ with high politics, war and diplomacy, this is a concise and accessible introduction to Queen Victoria’s life for students of Victorian Britain and the British Empire.

  Paula Bartley has published extensively on women’s history. Her previous publications include Emmeline Pankhurst (Routledge Historical Biographies, 2002), Votes for Women (2007) and Ellen Wilkinson: From Red Suffragist to Government Minister (2014).

  Routledge Historical Biographies

  Series Editor: Robert Pearce

  Routledge Historical Biographies provide engaging, readable and academically credible biographies written from an explicitly historical perspective. These concise and accessible accounts will bring important historical figures to life for students and general readers alike.

  In the same series:

  Bismarck by Edgar Feuchtwanger (second edition 2014)

  Calvin by Michael A. Mullett

  Edward IV by Hannes Kleineke

  Elizabeth I by Judith M. Richards

  Emmeline Pankhurst by Paula Bartley

  Franco by Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez

  Gladstone by Michael Partridge

  Henry V by John Matusiak

  Henry VI by David Grummitt

  Henry VII by Sean Cunningham

  Henry VIII by Lucy Wooding (second edition 2015)

  Hitler by Michael Lynch

  John F. Kennedy by Peter J. Ling

  John Maynard Keynes by Vincent Barnett

  Lenin by Christopher Read

  Louis XIV by Richard Wilkinson

  Martin Luther by Michael A. Mullet (second edition 2014)

  Martin Luther King Jr. by Peter J. Ling (second edition 2015)

  Mao by Michael Lynch

  Marx by Vincent Barnett

  Mary Queen of Scots by Retha M. Warnicke

  Mary Tudor by Judith M. Richards

  Mussolini by Peter Neville (second edition 2014)

  Nehru by Benjamin Zachariah

  Neville Chamberlain by Nick Smart

  Oliver Cromwell by Martyn Bennett

  Queen Victoria by Paula Bartley

  Richard III by David Hipshon

  Thatcher by Graham Goodlad

  Trotsky by Ian Thatcher

  Forthcoming:

  Churchill by Robert Pearce

  Cranmer by Susan Wabuda

  Gandhi by Benjamin Zachariah

  Khrushchev by Alexander Titov

  Stalin by Christopher Read

  Wolsey by Glenn Richardson

  Queen Victoria

  Paula Bartley

  First published 2016

  by Routledge

  2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

  and by Routledge

  711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

  © 2016 Paula Bartley

  The right of Paula Bartley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

  Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Bartley, Paula, author.

  Queen Victoria / Paula Bartley.

  pages cm. — (Routledge historical biographies)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  1. Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819–1901. 2. Queens— Great Britain—Biography. 3. Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901. I. Title.

  DA554.B26 2016

  941.081092—dc23

  [B]

  2015031871

  ISBN: 978-0-415-72090-8 (hbk)

  ISBN: 978-0-415-72091-5 (pbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-315-64209-3 (ebk)

  Typeset in Sabon

  by Apex CoVantage, LLC

  For Jonathan Dudley

  Contents

  List of figures

  Acknowledgements

  Chronology

  Introduction

  1 Becoming Victoria: 1819–1837

  2 The young queen: 1837–1840

  3 Leisure, love and family: 1837–1844

  4 Revolutionary times: 1840–1851

  5 Victoria and motherhood: 1842–1861

  6 Queen Victoria, Palmerston and political interference: 1850–1860

  7 Life after Albert: 1861–1868

  8 Victoria, Gladstone and Disraeli: 1868–1880

  9 Trading places – Victoria, Gladstone and Salisbury: 1880–1892

  10 The last years: 1892–1901

  Conclusion

  Select bibliography

  Index

  Figures

  1 Victoria, Duchess of Kent, with Victoria

  2 The Queen and Prince Albert at home

  3 The royal cake: dividing up the world

  4 The extended family of Queen Victoria

  5 Queen Victoria

  Acknowledgements

  My first thanks are to the series editor, Dr Robert Pearce, who commissioned Queen Victoria, steered me through Routledge’s book proposal guidelines and edited the manuscript with style and wit. His comments were not just astute and well judged but also made with such wry humour that he even made revisions pleasurable. Thanks also to the four independent reviewers who recommended that my book proposal be accepted, and to Catherine Aitken and Laura Pilsworth at Routledge for their enduring patience, support and guidance. I would also like to thank Hamish Ironside for his extraordinarily assiduous proofreading skills; and Dr Megan Hiatt for her careful attention to detail while preparing the book for publication. Naturally, I take responsibility for any remaining errors.

  I am grateful to Dr Diane Atkinson, Prof Maggie Andrews, Rosie Keep, Prof Angela V. John and Dr Kathy Stredder for their advice and encouragement, and to Cathy Loxton and Dawn Rumley for their apposite comments on early drafts of the book. Special thanks to Prof Sue Morgan for her reassuring and helpful observations on the final manuscript and to Prof Andrew August for his endorsement of the book. I should like to thank Colin and Libby Bennett for an unforgettable trip to Osborne House; and Myles and Alison, Earl and Countess of Bessborough, for sharing their knowledge of Henry Ponsonby with me. Thanks also to Dr Teresz Kleisz for helping me
to understand Hungarian history.

  This book could not have been written without the labours of previous biographers and historians who have written extensively on Queen Victoria, her family and her times – so thank you to all those included in my bibliography. Thanks are due to Queen Elizabeth II for giving permission for the journals of Queen Victoria to be made available online and to the Bodleian libraries for helping to fund the website and make it free of charge to all users in the United Kingdom. Thanks to all those in Britain who pay their taxes for helping to keep such institutions flourishing.

  A special thanks to the Royal Archives for giving me permission to quote from the journals and to one anonymous individual for some exceedingly useful comments on my manuscript. Victoria’s journal entries were accessed online at www.queenvictoriasjournals.org. Subsequent quotations from the journals are cited according to the guidance listed at www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/info/about.do, using the code RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) followed by the date of the entry. Between 1832 and 1840 I used Lord Esher’s typescripts unless otherwise stated, and from 1840 onwards, Princess Beatrice’s copies. These were all accessed between February 2013 and May 2015.

  My final thanks are to my fantastic Dudley family, especially Jonathan, Edmund, Kata, Réka and Dóra, who individually and collectively provided me with the love and encouragement necessary to engage in the solitary pursuit of research and writing. The book is dedicated to my husband, Jonathan, whose emotional and intellectual support continues to be a source of strength to me.

  Chronology

  Date Personal events British events World-wide events

  * * *

  1819 Birth of Victoria, birth of Albert. Peterloo massacre. Shelley's 'The Mask of Anarchy' and Scott's Bride of Lammermoor published. Factory Act.

  1820 Death of father, Duke of Kent; death of George III. George IV succeeded. Cato Street conspiracy.

  1821 Coronation of George IV. Death of Queen Caroline. Guardian newspaper launched. Death of Napoleon I.

  1822 Death penalty repealed for over 100 crimes. Precursor to the computer invented.

  1824 National Gallery opened. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) founded.

  1825 Victoria recognised as heir to the throne. First public railway opened. Nicolas I became Tsar.

  1826 Victoria met George IV.

  1827 Prince Frederick died. Canning appointed PM. Goderich appointed PM. Treaty of London.

  1828 Princess Feodora married. Wellington appointed PM. London Zoo opened. Russo-Turkish War.

  1829 Catholic Emancipation Act. First Oxford-Cambridge boat race. Metropolitan police established.

  1830 George IV dies. William IV succeeded. Grey PM. First intercity railway. Swing Riots. Revolution in France. Louis Philippe crowned king of France. Belgian Independence movement.

  1831 William IV crowned. Factory Act forbade nightwork for those under 21. Darwin sets sail on HMS Beagle. Leopold crowned first king of Belgium. Revolts in Italy.

  1832 Tour of England and Wales. Victoria began journal. Great Reform Act. Tennyson's 'Lady of Shalott'. Greece recognised as an independent nation: Treaty of London. Bavarian prince appointed king of Greece.

  1833 Princes Alexander and Ernst visited. Tour of south and west England. Factory Act regulated hours of women and children. Slavery abolished in Britain. Norma opened in London.

  1834 Feodora visited. Melbourne PM (July). Peel PM (December). Poor Law Amendment Act. House of Commons burnt down. Slavery abolished in British Empire. Throne of Portugal seized. Palmerston sent British forces to re-instate legitimate heirs.

  1835 Tour of north of England. Leopold visited. Victoria confirmed. Victoria contracted typhoid. Municipal Corporations Act. Melbourne PM (April) English became official language of India.

  1836 Princes Ferdinand and Augustus; Prince William and Alexander; Prince Ernest and Albert all visited. Civil Marriages Act. Pickwick Papers serialised. Queen Maria II of Portugal married Prince Ferdinand.

  1837 Victoria celebrated 18th birthday. Death of William IV. Victoria became queen. Palace orchestra appointed. Melbourne PM. Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths Act. Oliver Twist serialised. Rebellion in Canada.

  1838 Victoria crowned. Chartist petition. Lucia di Lammermoor opened in London. National Gallery moved to Trafalgar Square. Pitcairn Islands became Crown Colony. First Anglo-Afghan war.

  1839 Flora Hastings affair. Bedchamber crisis. John Conroy dismissed. Victoria proposed to Albert. Custody of Infants Act. Rebecca riots began. First Grand National race. First telegraph sent. Anti-Corn Law League Founded. Belgium recognised as independent country: Treaty of London. First Anglo-Afghan war. Egyptian rebellion against Ottomans. First Opium War.

  1840 Victoria and Prince Albert married. Princess Victoria born. First assassination attempt. Albert appointed Regent. Penny post established. Canadian Act of Union. Beirut bombarded by British and Ottoman troops. British claimed New Zealand.

  1841 Prince Albert Edward born. Melbourne resigned. Peel PM. Great Western railway completed. Punch magazine launched. Convention of London. United Province of Canada proclaimed. Afghan war.

  1842 Lehzen leaves. Victoria, Albert and Bertie vaccinated against smallpox. Victoria's first train ride. First visit to Scotland. Second and third assassination attempts. Mines Act. Chartist petition. Railway Act. Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess' published. Income tax levied for the first time in peace time. Chadwick's The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Poor published. Opium War ended, Treaty of Nanking. Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

  1843 Princess Alice born. Victoria's first visit abroad. Rebecca riots ended. Opening of Thames tunnel. News of the World launched. First propellor-driven steamship launched. First commercial Christmas card. Natal became British colony.

  1844 Prince Alfred born, chloroform used for his delivery. Osborne House bought. Factory Act. Bank Charter Act. Railway Regulation Act.

  1845 Foundations laid for new Osborne House. Victoria visited Albert's birth-place. Irish potato blight. Increase in Maynooth Grant. Last British duel fought. Disraeli's Sybil published. First Anglo-Sikh War.

  1846 Koh-i-Noor diamond acquired. Princess Helena born. Repeal of Corn Laws.Peel resigned. Russell PM. Palmerston foreign secretary. Oregon Treaty. Treaty of Lahore.

  1847 New education system devised for royal children. Ten Hours Act. Thackeray's Vanity Fair serialised. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre published. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights published. Chloroform first used as anaesthetic.

  1848 Princess Louise born. Charles Kean appointed director of Windsor Castle theatricals. First visit to Balmoral. Royal family retreated to Osborne. Habeus corpus suspended in Ireland. Revival of Chartism. Cholera epidemic. Public Health Act. European revolutions. Spanish marriages. First Schleswig-Holstein war. First German National Assembly. Californian Gold rush. French royal family given asylum in Britain.

  1849 Fourth assassination attempt. Victoria and Albert visited Ireland. Albert devised rigorous educational programme for Bertie. Revolutions crushed.

  1850 Prince Arthur bom. Fifth assassination attempt. Brighton Royal Pavilion sold. Haynau incident. Factory Act. Tennyson appointed Poet Laureate. Peel died. Public Library Act. Pope issued Bull. Don Pacifico incident. Colony of Victoria, Australia created.

  1851 Great Exhibition Ecclesiastical Titles Act. Kossuth incident. Palmerston resigned as Foreign Secretary. Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor published. Coup d'état Louis Napoleon. Australian Gold Rush began.

  1852 Balmoral bought. Victoria and Albert Museum opened. Russell resigned. Earl of Derby PM (February). Millais's Ophelia exhibited. Death of Wellington. First free public library opened. First pillar box erected. New Houses of Parliament opened. Lord Aberdeen PM (December). Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin published. London Protocol established independence of Schleswig-Holstein.

  1853 Prince Leopold born. Swiss Cottage built at Osborne House. Foundations laid for Balmoral.

  1854 Victoria bought
Frith's Ramsgate Sands. Crimean medal created. John Snow established cause of cholera. Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South serialised. Florence Nightingale went to Crimea. Crimean War began. British defeated Russians at Battle of Alma. Battle of Balaclava. Charge of the Light Brigade. Siege of Sebastopol. Battle of Inkerman.

  1855 Princess Victoria engaged to Prince Frederick of Prussia. Palmerston PM. Abolition of Stamp Duty. Daily Telegraph launched. Little Dorrit serialised. Sebastopol captured. Livingstone saw Victoria Falls.

  1856 Prince Alfred sent away to study. Victoria gave audience to Florence Nightingale. Mass production of steel began. County and Borough Police Act. Crimean War ended. Peace of Paris. Second Opium War. Serbia and Romania became independent.

  1857 Princess Beatrice born. Victoria awarded first Victoria Cross. V&A Museum moved to Kensington. Albert made Prince Consort. Matrimonial Causes (Divorce) Act. Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays published. Indian Mutiny. Cawnpore massacre. Relief of Lucknow.

  1858 Princess Victoria married Prince Frederick. Prince Alfred passes naval exams. The Great Stink. Public Health Act. Derby PM. Jewish Disabilities Act. First transatlantic telegraph. Hallé orchestra founded. Government of India Act. Orsini attempted to assassinate Louis Napoleon.

  1859 Victoria's first grandchild born. He later became Kaiser Wilhelm. Derby resigned. Palmerston appointed PM. Peaceful picketing allowed. J.S. Mill's On Liberty, George Eliot's Adam Bede, Dickens's Tale of Two Cities, Wilkie Collins's Woman in White, Darwin's Origin of Species published. Napoleon III declared war on Austria. Second Italian war of independence. Treaty of Villafranca.

  1860 Granddaughter Charlotte bom. Food and Drugs Act.

  1861 Death of Victoria's mother, Duchess of Kent. Death of Albert. First colour photograph. Mrs Beeton's Household Management published. American Civil War began.

  1862 Foundation stone for Royal Mausoleum laid. Princess Alice married Prince Louis of Hesse. Grandson Henry born. Ladies Sanitary Association founded. Christina Rossetti's poem 'Goblin Market' published. Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies serialised.