Victorian kingdom: an age of industry and reforms

Queen Victoria came to the throne during a difficult political and economical period.

The Reform Bill of 1832 satisfied the middle-class but not the working class who endured very poor conditions.

The largest workers' movement was that of the Chartists, so called because they drew up a People's Charter asking for the extension of the right to vote to the working class.

So, in 1867 a Second Reform Bill guaranteed the right to vote to town workers, excluded miners and agricultural workers.

These were finally granted franchise (i.e., the right to vote in an election) with a third Reform Bill (1884) by which suffrage was extended to all male workers.

The change from the traditional policy of protectionism to the free trade was an important commercial reform.

In this period, the Great International Exhibition of London opened by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, displayed the wonders of industry and science in order to show England as a lively country, the world's leading political and economical power.

The second half 19th century was considered the age of industrybecause of development of the railways which covered much of the country, regular steambot services which linked Britain with America, scientifich research, the study of electricity which led Samuel Morse to invent telegraph. Then, gas lighting in city streets was first introduced to London in 1816.

Despite progress and social reforms, the poor endured terrible conditions: they were  amassed in workhouses which closely resembled jails and did unpleasant jobs in return for food and shelter.

In large cities, urban slums became synonymous with the Industrial Revolution. The filth, misery and moral degradation of the workers' dwellings are evidenced by different sources such as contemporary newspaper reports, essays, novels, paintings and engravings.

During Victrian Age more reforms were established:

• the Mines Act (1862), which forbade the employment of women and children in mines;
• the Emancipation of religious sects (1871), which allowed Catholics to hold government jobs and to enter the universities of Cambridge and Oxford;
• the Trade Union Act (1875) which legalized the activities of the unions of workers.

Britain's modern-day parties were born during Victorian age: the Conservatives evolved from the old Tories and the Liberals from the Wings.

Above of all, the working class was marked by the foundation of the Labour Party.