— Writing Research - Victorian Era

ghostflowerdreams:

In historical fiction it is important to be accurate and the only way to do so is to research the era. What is highly recommended by many writers is to write your story first. While writing your story, mark the parts that you’re not sure are correct and then do the research after you are done. This is to prevent you from doing unnecessary research that may not be relevant to your work. You want to spend your time wisely! Or you can just research as you go, it’s really whatever works for you since there isn’t a “wrong” way to research.

To begin, the Victorian era of the British history (and that of the British Empire) formally begins in 1837, which was the year Victoria became Queen and ends in 1901 – the year of her death. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and political concerns to the passage of the Reform Act 1832. [1]

Names

• 1000 Most Popular Victorian Names
• Victorian Era Names, A Writer’s Guide
• Victorian Darlings - British Baby Names

Society & Life

• Victorian Society
• The Victorians: Life and Death
• The Victorian Working Life
• A Woman’s Place in 19th Century Victorian History
• Victorian Occupations: Life and Labor in the Victorian Period
• Flirting and Courting Rituals of The Victorian Era
• Victorian Working Women
• Victorian Life
• Glimpses of Victorian Life
• Victorian Rituals & Traditions
• Victorian Etiquette
• Etiquette, Manners and Morals
• Almanac - Etiquette and Manners Victorian Era
• Victorian Britain - Children at Work
• Children in the Victorian Age
• Collège Sainte-Barbe - Children in the Victorian Age
• University of Victoria - Victorian Childhood
• Museum of London - What Was Life Like for Children?
• Victoria and Albert Museum - Victorian Children (PDF)
• University of Strathclyde - Victorian Children
• Daily Life in the Victorian Era
• How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate and Died
• How did the Victorians mourn?
• The House of Mourning - Victorian Mourning & Funeral Customs in the 1890s
• Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain
• Etiquette of a Victorian Lady
• Going to School in Victorian Times
• History of Working Class Mothers in Victorian England
• Life of the Victorian Woman
• The Working Class and The Poor
• Victorian Women’s Work
• Needlework, Knitting and Crohet
• Victorian Etiquette - Births and Christenings
• Victorian Ballroom Dancing Etiquette
• Ballroom Manners and Etiquette
• How Prudish were the Victorians really?
• Gresham College - The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality
• Victorian and Albert Museum - Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century
• Why were the Victorians so crazy about public spaces, like parks?
• Victorian Homes and Gardens
• The Shops and Shopkeepers
• Victorian Christmas
• The History of British Winters
• Top Ten Pet Peeves, or Horse-Related Mistakes to Avoid in your Story
• Marriage in the Victorian Era
• Victorian Wedding Guide
• Husbands and Wives in the Victorian Era
• Victorian Technology
• History - Victorian Technology
• Gresham College - The Victorians: Religion and Science
• Household Management and Servants of the Victorian Era
• BBC News - Servants: A Life below Stairs
• Life as a Servant in Victorian England
• What Servants would you find in a Victorian household?
• The Servant’s Quarters in 19th Century Houses Like Downton Abbey
• Victorian Domestic Servant  Hierarchy and Wages
• Australian National University - The Victorian Merchant-Elite and the Chinese Question (PDF)
• Project MUSE - The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, Identity
• Untold London - The Chinese In Limehouse 1900 - 1940
• JSTOR - The Journal of Negro History: Black Ideals of Womanhood in the Late Victorian Era
• H‑Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online - Black Victorians
• Wikipedia - Black British
• History Today - Black People in Britain: The Eighteenth Century
• University College London - Black Londoners 1800-1900
• The Guardian - The Black Victorians: Astonishing Portraits Unseen for 120 Years
• BBC News - Short History of Immigration: The 1800s

Commerce

• British Money
• Wages and Cost of Living in the Victorian Era
• Pricing and Money
• Victorian Money
• Cost of Living in Victorian England
• How Much Is That - Calculating Prices Throughout the Years

Entertainment & Food

• Victorian Menu - Cooking and Recipes
• A Time Traveler’s Guide to Victorian Era Tea Etiquette (PDF)
• The Victorian Pantry
• Victorian Era Food Recipes
• Victorians Food Facts - Cookbook
• Food, Recipes and Tea
• Victorian Tea Time Recipes - Sandwich and Cheese Straws
• Victorian Era Recipes
• Victorian Food, Party & Recipes
• Victorian Dinner Parties
• 19th Century Food and Drink
• Victorian Cooking: Upperclass Dinner
• eHow - Weekly Meals Eaten in the Victorian Era
• Victorian Dinner Parties
• What did the Victorians have for breakfast?
• Victorian Ladies Who Lunch, Or: Luncheon Places and Tea Rooms for Ladies
• History Magazine - What Time is Dinner?
• What the Poor Ate
• The Arts in Victorian Britain
• Victorian Art, Literature and Music 
• Music, Theater, and Popular Entertainment in Victorian Britain
• Victorian Entertainments - We Are Amused
• 19th Century Hobbies and Daily Activities
• Victorian Pastimes and Sports
• Victorian Fun and Games & Other Pastimes
• 19th Century British and Irish Authors
• Gresham College - The Victorians: Art and Culture
• What is up with the depictions of half naked Victorian era women fencing in artworks?

Hygiene, Health & Medicine

• Health and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century
• Victorian Diseases and Medicine
• Health & Medicine in the 19th Century
• 19th Century Diseases
• Victorian Health
• Five Horrible Diseases You Might Have Caught in Victorian England
• Alcohol and Alcoholism in Victorian England
• A Look Back at Old-Time Medicines
• Victorian London’s Drug Culture
• Victorian - Medical Breakthroughs
• Victorian Hospitals
• Victorian - Baths and Washhouses
• Medicine and Health in Victorian Times
• The Victorian Revolution in Surgery
• Victorian Science and Medicine
• Victorian Health and Medicine
• Women’s Health
• Questions about Victorian Women Menstruation
• Victorian View on Menstruation
• Reusable Menstrual Products
• Childbirth and Birth Control in the 19th Century
• British Maternal Mortality in the 19th and early 20th Centuries
• The Historical Horror of Childbirth
• Contraception: Past, Present and Future Factsheet
• History of Contraception in America, 19th Century Artifacts
• UCLA School of Public Health - Anesthesia and Queen Victoria
• Science Museum - John Snow (1813-58)
• Science Museum - Chloroform
• University of Liverpool - The Demography of Victorian England and Wales (PDF)
• Gresham College - The Victorians: Life and Death
• Colton History Society - Village History in Staffordshire, England (Victorian Health)
• fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment -  Do you have anything about an asthmatic in the Victorian era?
  
• Science Museum - Nerve Tonics
• The Pennington Edition - Victorian Remedies
  

Fashion

• Dressing the Victorian Woman
• Victorian Hats
• Victorian Jewelry
• Victorian Hairstyles & Headdresses
• Hair of the Nineteenth Century
• How to Dress for Travel in 1852
• Victorian Men’s Clothing
• How to Dress Like a Victorian Man from the 1860s
• How to Dress Victorian
• Victorian Era Fashion
• Royal Fashion
• Victorian Fashion
• Boy’s 1860s Fashions
• Dressing the Victorian Girl of the 1890s
• Victoria’s Real Secret – The Victorians Knew Underwear
• How to Undress a Victorian Lady in Your Next Historical Romance
• Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 1, luxurious silk hose, colorful stockings, & socks
• Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 2, Chemises and camisoles
• Early Victorian Undergarments; Part 3, Pantalettes, pantalets, drawers, and bloomers
• Victorian Ladies Shoes & Boots
• Victorian Swimwear
• Victorian Men and Woman Swim Wear

Dialogue

• Victorian Language
• The Language of Flowers
• Victorian London - Words and Expressions
• A Dictionary of Victorian Slang (1909)
• Victorian Slang
• 19th Century Swears
• Victorian Slang - Lower Class and Underworld
• Cliches and Saying of the Victorian Era
• The Dictionary of Victorian London

Justice & Crimes

• How Safe Was Victorian London?
• Crime and the Victorian Household
• Danger inside the Train: Crime on Victorian Railways
• Railway Mania
• How Widespread Were Concerns About Prostitution?
• Fallen Women
• The Great Social Evil: Victorian Prostitution
• University of Massachusetts at Boston - The Great Social Evil: Victorian Prostitution
• BBC History - Child Prostitutes: How the age of consent was raised to 16
• University of Minnesota - Victorian Era: There are Two Kinds of Women…
• University of London - The Real Rippers Street: Pathology, Policing, and Prostitution in Victorian London
• University of Brighton - The Fetishization and Objectification of the Female Body in Victorian Culture
• University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law - Homosexuality and the Law in England
• Sexual Violence in Nineteenth Century England
• Victorian Poisoners
• Crime and the Victorians
• Victorian Crime
• Victorian Crime & Punishment
• Victorian Women Criminals’ Records Show Harsh Justice of 19th Century
• Sentences and Punishments
• Types of Punishments - Hanging
• Types of Punishments - Imprisonment
• Victorian Children in Trouble with the Law
• Child Prisoners in Victorian Times
• Victorian Crime
• Victorian-era Serial Killers
• The Development of a Police Force
• The Metropolitan Police
• A Work-Life History of Policemen in Victorian and Edwardian England (PDF)
• How The Victorians Cracked Crime
• Tracking a 19th-Century Serial Killer
• Schaffer Library of Drug Policy - The Myth of the Opium Den in Late Victorian England