Changes in the Quality of Life in the Victorian Empire

Victorian Empire is called the era of Queen Victoria who ruled in the United Kingdom for about 63 years and a few months, from 1837 to 1901. Under her leadership, Great Britain experienced unprecedented expansion in industry, in the construction of railways, bridges, underground sewers, and power distribution networks throughout much of the Empire. There were great advances in science (Darwin's theory of evolution) and technology (telegraphy and popular press), as there were a large number of inventions. At the same time, the urbanization of rural areas brought about an increase in population. During the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain expanded its imperial reach, doubling the size of its surface and including here Canada, Australia, India, and the South Pacific. It was even said that "the sun never sets in the British Empire".

In the Victorian period that can be called as the era of transition or radical reforms, Victorian society bore witness to major penetrating changes at an unprecedented pace, which affects the social, economic, political and educational structure profoundly. The most remarkable feature of the age was the feeling of challenge against the traditional institutions, structures, slaving values, customs and viewpoints. Industrial Revolution was one of the greatest developments that dominates the age with pessimistic or optimistic speculations it created on its way to make itself accept to the conservative nature of the society at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was inevitable that economic progress and industrialization led to population growth in urban life, with the urbanization of rural areas, the intensification of the growth of towns, the coming of railways, better sanitation, higher living standards, while Industrial Revolution, however, creates a gap between employers and workmen during this mechanisation process. These grounding-breaking changes naturally traversed the stereotypical gender roles, by making women pursue for more social rights and independence in both education and work sphere and by attacking the patriarchal structure of the society that condemns women to domestic imprisonment. Appearing at the end of the nineteenth century, the 'new woman' was certainly more active, social, self-confident, and economically independent than the old conventional woman was.

In the nineteenth century, British social and political life also bore witness to some leading movements such as conservatism, liberalism, feminism and socialism. With the rise of industrial revolution and democratization (together with capitalism and rise of the British Empire) these movements found the possibility to appear and develop more freely and easily. They were inseparable from each other like the rings of a chain because of cause-and-effect relationship in which the presence of one stipulated the presence of the other. Industrial Revolution was one of the most influential and significant events in English political and social thought which shaped many different ideologies and on the way through democratization. English society and government took a more liberalistic and socialistic stand which required equality and freedom both for men and women. Through the late-Victorian period independent new-type women different from traditional ones occurred up, and triggered feminism, and challenged patriarchy and restrictions imposed upon them. Interrelated with each other, these movements were the basis that radically affected the role of the individual in the society and the role of government in Victorian era.

Industrial Revolution urged British Empire to search for raw material and markets to sell the products it produced in other countries. Especially railways played a great role in the settlement of colonies and in the extension of colonialism. Victorian Age in British history can be regarded as the Golden Age, since Britain was at its peak in every field (economy, commerce, technology) and even crowning Victoria the Indian empress. The woman was active in the private sphere of the home, while the man was active in the public sphere of business, politics and sociability. Automatically this case affected their choices and experiences at home, at work and in the streets. However, through the end of the nineteenth century a new-type of woman appeared. This woman was different from traditional ones, since she wanted to work and act independently from men in life. This kind of women paid attention to education and developing themselves opposing marriage. This situation caused feminist movements to appear in the era.

In Victorian Age, with industrialization, the condition of the working class in England (1844) became worse and worse. The factories became filled with lots of people working under very hard, miserable and unhealthy conditions, among whom even incest was spread. Many people lived in one room uncomfortably. They had various diseases caused by malnutrition, exhaustion and vice. These unhealthy conditions increased the death rate. Life became cheap both at home and at work. In time, this case led to socialist movements that protected the rights of working people and then liberalism arose, which defends individual rights in terms of law, religion, freedom and equality. The spirit of democratization and the dream of a better society and order triggered all these movements.

Stepping through the twentieth century welfare state as a result of the events, such as the New Poor Law, the repeal of the Corn Laws, the Chartist movement, Victorian society, especially working class, experienced very hard, challenging trials undoubtedly before and after the Industrial Revolution. Although many oppositions or rebellions cropped up during the advent of Industrial Revolution which discharged lots of hand-workers, it was seen that Industrial Revolution provided the working class with better opportunities than before, when evaluated in the long run. The victims of this welfare state and economic progress cannot be denied, but it is a reality that technological advances and industrialization brought drastic changes in the quality of people's lives, most of the time, for the better, compared with the old primitive lifestyle. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate the changes in the quality of life in Victorian Empire, mainly depending upon social, industrial, economic, generic and demographic issues and question whether these changes served better or worse living conditions during the years between 1837 and 1901.

Population explosion was one of the remarkable features of the Victorian period, which made its mark as a result of medical, scientific, technological advances and demographic problems. As J. F. Harrison emphasized, "the most important thing about the population of early Victorian Britain was that it was larger than ever before, and moreover was increasing rapidly still further" (1: 15), so the Victorian period can also be called as the women's industrial revolution as there was great increase in fertility. Medical and sanitary developments enabled more children to survive and people to live longer. Rising wages and living standards, along with economic growth triggered the birth rate to increase, while they decreased the death rate. High incomes made it possible to reach sufficient means for subsistence and to pay the necessary medication to struggle with lethal and infectious diseases.

On the other hand, it was inevitable that population growth in great scale brought about many social, economic and political problems. The fear was that available food supply could not cover the needs of rapidly increasing population in the long process. This condition posed a risk for the welfare of society in the opinion of pessimistic economists. "On June 6th/7th 1841 (the nearest census year to 1837, the census is decennially taken) there were (in thousands) 15, 914 people living in England and Wales, along with 2, Scotland and 8,175 in Ireland", which denotes the total population as 26,709". Especially the great famine of potato in Ireland in 1901 led to substantial decrease in the large population of Ireland although Ireland had three times larger population than Scotland in 1841. However, except for Ireland, the population of England, Wales and Scotland increased in a regular base until 1901 and the population of British Isles reached 41, total. One of the pessimist economists, Thomas Malthus defended "population must always be kept down to the level of the means of subsistence" (Malthus 1976: 15), though his idea was refuted afterwards. He claimed that "population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio" ( 2: 19). Therefore, rapid population growth was believed to pose a great risk for the future of society, as the food supply would not be sufficient. Hartwell points out "as the 19th century progressed, however, it became obvious that the immiseration of the working classes, the nightmare of Malthus and the hope of Marx, was not taking place. Instead, there was a slow but gradual improvement in the condition of the masses" (3: 17). There was a great decline in birth rate in the second half of the nineteenth-century. The surplus of money or wealth did not necessarily mean that there would be an absolute increase in the birth rate. Finally, "control of family size opened the way to the relative prosperity of the British working class since the 1880s" (4: 87) and this proved that Malthusian fears were unfounded.

As the living standards of Victorian people improved, their view of life changed accordingly. They wanted to enjoy life much more than their predecessor by having less children, but far more comfortable way of life. Pope indicates that "improvements in child survival and changing patterns of work … a desire for better standards of accommodation and general welfare, led to the association of family size with the quality of life, encouraging many to restrict fertility within marriage to ensure a more secure future" (5: 135). Especially the fact that "from 1875 on women in the developed world began to have notably fewer children" (6: 193) was the confirmation of refined and improved life standards of Victorian people by confuting the Malthusian theory that contends economic progress will unconditionally lead to population boom and this population growth will exceed subsistence level by inviting a disaster in the end. Nonetheless, as K. Theodore Hoppen demonstrates in his book entitled The Mid-Victorian Generation 1846-1886, "with rising living standards there was every reason to suppose that death rates would fall, which indeed they did and to an unprecedented degree" (6: 87). These demographic changes very clearly show that there were indeed great improvements in the quality of life in Victorian empire, considering the opposite proportion between living standards and birth and death rates in this period.