Victorian Era Fan Guide

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

A traditional Halloween custom which was practised across Britain (particularly in rural areas) in the Victorian period was for groups of people (of all ages) to don strange costumes and go door-to-door in the hopes of receiving food or gifts, or of causing a bit of mischief. This custom had a huge number of regional variations. On the Shetland Islands the ‘skeklers’ wore tall pointy hats and voluminous costumes made of straw. In Montgomeryshire in Wales men dressed themselves as ‘gwrachod’ (an ancient Welsh hag-like monster) by putting on ragged clothes, sheepskins and masks. They went through their neighbourhood frightening children and being rude to adults. Young people in Glamorgan cross-dressed and went from house to house singing riddles, while ‘guisers’ in Scotland with masked, blackened, or painted faces chanted rhymes like:

Tramp, tramp, the boys are marching We are the guisers at the door, If you dinna let us in, we will bash yer windows in, And you’ll never see the guisers any more.

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‘Snapp-Apple Night’ or 'All-Hallow Eve, in Ireland’ painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833. The painting was inspired by a Halloween celebration Maclise attended at Blarney in County Cork in 1832. It depicts some of the traditional activities of Halloween gatherings, many of which remained popular and were practised across Britain throughout the Victorian period and into the 20th century.

The name of the painting is taken from the game of 'snap-apple’ being played in the centre of the image. For the game, apples and lit candles were placed on sticks suspended from the ceiling which were then made to spin around. Players had to snap at the apples with their teeth and attempt to catch one while avoiding the flames and hot wax dripping from the candles. In the foreground youngsters can be seen bobbing for apples and coins in a tub of water, while the children in the corner embody the mischievous nature of the night by playing pranks on the musicians, including trying to tickle the fiddle player with a piece of straw and puncture the piper’s bagpipes with a pin.

The people gathered around the fire are all performing different divination rituals, which were an integral part of 19th century Halloween celebrations. The standing couple has placed two nuts on a shovel ready to put them on the fire to see how they burn to predict the nature of their future life together. The old woman is using a deck of cards to read the fortunes of the boy and girl behind her. The girl next to her is performing molybdomancy - pouring molten lead through the loop of a key into a bucket of water to create metal shapes which could then be interpreted to find out the future profession of the person holding the key. The woman holding the shoe is trying to divine its wearer’s character and the girl next to her is reading the boy’s future from his hands.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

In her ‘Book of Household Management’ Mrs Beeton cautions that iced desserts or iced drinks should not be consumed by elderly people, children or those of a delicate constitution. Healthy people should only enjoy them in moderation, either immediately after a meal or well after a digestive pause. She held that iced foodstuffs upset the process of digestion and that eating them after taking exercise would certainly cause illness.

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The Tempest Prognosticator or Leech Barometer. Displayed at The Great Exhibition by Dr George Merryweather it was an instrument designed to predict storms. Inside each of the 12 glass jars at its base was an inch of water and a medicinal leech. Leeches are sensitive to changes in weather and when a storm approached they instinctively crawled upwards and activated a trigger inside their jar. This released a gold chain which then rang the bell at the top of the instrument and alerted an attendant to the danger. The closer the storm was the more agitated the leeches became and the more the bell would ring. Though ingenious, the device did not catch on.

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10,000 followers...

Oh, my goodness. I’m completely stunned. Thankyou!!!

Apologies for the lack of regular posting, life intervenes a lot these days. 

But I’m so happy people are still enjoying the blog! Thanks again!

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day

During the late 1840s the artist group known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed and took the phrase ‘truth to nature’ as its motto. In line with this central belief these artists had a complicated relationship with the rapidly emerging medium of photography, which they viewed as both a useful tool and a rival to their work. Because of the Pre-Raphaelite’s fixation on depicting the precise details of their subjects in their paintings, critics frequently accused them of directly copying from photographs.

The Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais used photographs to supplement his preparatory sketches and help in his compositions. When demand for his work grew in the 1870s, Millais became increasingly reliant on photographs of his sitters and landscapes provided by his friend Rupert Potter. Rupert’s daughter Beatrix, who went on to become a highly successful writer and illustrator, mentions this in her diary: ‘Mr Millais says all the artists use photographs now’.

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A Victorian ear trumpet for use during periods of mourning. Before the invention of modern hearing aids, ear trumpets were used by people who suffered from hearing loss. Normal ear trumpets were made of metal, but strict rules of mourning prohibited clothes or accessories which were deemed too gaudy. A metal ear-trumpet would be shiny and attract attention. This one has been specially made with black silk covering and lace details to suit the sombre occasion.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

When the railway network began to spread out into the British countryside in the 1830s the welfare of rural residents (both human and animal) was of great concern. Detractors of the railways said that the commotion caused by the trains would upset cows and cause a decline in milk production and that sheep would turn black from the smoke.

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The Moldacot pocket sewing machine made in the late 1880s. This sewing machine was developed for use during fitting sessions to made small adjustments to tailored clothing. Moldacot produced up to 60,000 of these machines, however their design was not fully developed and so their performance was poor and not many were sold. The company folded after only 2 years, with a loss of £50,000.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

After Prince Albert’s death in 1861 at the age of 42, Queen Victoria was overwhelmed with grief. One manifestation of this grief was an intense dislike of changes to the homes the couple had shared and which Albert had taken the lead in decorating. No painting or photograph was to be moved without the Queen’s permission. Only when wallpapers or carpets had became obviously worn were they replaced and their replacements had to be as close to the original as possible. Photographs were taken of the arrangement of all of the rooms to help ensure that they stayed the same.

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‘Your Majesty’ print after a painting by artist Mary Lightbody Gow, which appeared in “The Graphic” in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The painting depicts the moment on 20th June 1837 when Victoria received the news that her uncle, King William IV, had died and she had acceded to the throne. The Queen herself inspected the painting during its creation and suggested corrections to make it as accurate as possible.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was one of the most popular attractions at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Entrance fees varied at the Exhibition, with tickets on Monday to Thursday costing 1 shilling, and Friday and Saturday costing 5. On cheaper days the diamond was displayed in the main transept of the Crystal Palace in a giant birdcage-like case, with only the sun to light it. On Fridays and Saturdays a red cloth tent was set up around the case and the diamond had specially placed gaslamps directed at it to try to set it off to best effect.

However, at this point the diamond’s cut was less than perfect and contained several flaws so these efforts did not achieve the sparkling effect the organisers wanted. Visitors were said to be disappointed at the sight of the diamond, which they likened to an egg-shaped lump of glass. Despite this, millions of people still flocked to see it and on all days it was guarded by a policeman and positioned on a special machine which, if touched at all, would cause the diamond to drop into a iron box.

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‘Dinner in the Iguanodon’ lithograph from the London Illustrated News 1854. When the Great Exhibition of 1851 ended, it was decided that the Crystal Palace which had housed it should be moved to a new site. The structure was rebuilt in a park at Sydenham in south London. The park was renovated and filled with new attractions including the ‘Dinosaur Court’, a collection of over 30 concrete statues of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures, which are still present today.

These statues were the first in the world to depict dinosaurs as they may have looked when they were alive (subsequent discoveries have proven that many are wildly anatomically inaccurate). This momentous achievement was celebrated with a banquet which took place in the park on New Year’s Eve 1853. It was attended by 21 people including the sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, geologists, paleontologists, and journalists.

The 8 course meal was served at a table placed inside the mould of one of the iguanodons. A tent was set up around the creature (complete with chandelier) and, because of the statue’s height, a special stage was erected to allow the diners and waiters access. Discussion centred on the latest scientific discoveries, though by contemporary accounts the evening became more boisterous as time went on and the proceedings lasted well past midnight.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

In the early Victorian period traffic jams in London becoming increasingly bad, particularly during commuting hours. This was not helped by the fact that farmers would ‘drive’ their livestock through the streets to the markets without warning and at any time of day. It was not until 1867 that a statute was passed which forbade them from doing this between 10 in the morning and 7 in the evening.

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A 19th century photograph of Cornelia Sorabji, a woman of many firsts. Cornelia studied law at Somerville College, Oxford from 1889 to 1893 and was the first woman of any race to sit the English Civil Law exam. A Parsi Christian born in Bengal, she was refused a scholarship to study in England because she was a woman, despite graduating top of her class at Bombay University (where she was their first female graduate). As a result, her travel and education fees were paid for with help from her increasing number of supporters, including Florence Nightingale. After sitting the exam (but not graduating as this right was denied to women in England until the 1920s) she spent a year at a legal firm in London and became the first woman to read in the library at Lincoln’s Inn.

On her return to India she took up the cause of women in purdah, who were, in accordance with Hindu law, forbidden access to the male world outside of their family and thus also to legal representation. For the next 20 years Cornelia fought for their rights, those of orphan children, and her own right to not merely prepare cases but also to present them in court. In 1924, when women were officially able to practise law in India, Cornelia was recognised as the country’s first female barrister. Despite her now official standing, due to male prejudice, she never pleaded a case in an Indian courtroom and later retired to England.

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Bizarre Victorian fact of the day...

On her long sea voyage from Rome to her husband’s diplomatic posting in Peking (now Beijing) in 1900, Lady Susan Townley noted the popularity of parlour games onboard ship. Musical chairs was a particular favourite, as sudden movements of the vessel could be blamed for young ladies falling into the laps of the ship’s gallant officers. Lady Susan remarked that, coincidentally, there were a surprising number of engagements before the end of the journey.

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Two late 19th century ‘Thermicon’ glazed stoneware hairdryers with wooden handles. Like a hot water bottle, the dryer was filled with hot water and stoppered. Unlike a hot water bottle it was then repeatedly brushed through wet hair. According to its label this action dried the hair in minutes. Stoneware hairdryers were in use until the 1920s when they were gradually replaced by new electric models.