Victorian Britain 687for a nation in the midst of a great transformation during the second half of
the century.
Victoria knew virtually nothing about the lives of her subjects and
instinctively disapproved of factory reforms and increased opportunity of
education for the lower classes (fearing that it would lead them to want to
raise their station in life). But the queen remained the personification of the
“respectability” that gave her name to the Victorian age. “Respectability”—
inculcated by education and contemporary literature—centered on the fam
ily and strict rules about public comportment. But it meant different things
to families of different strata: three servants for a comfortable middle-class
family, a parlor off the kitchen for breakfast for a lower-middle-class family,
and avoiding a pauper’s funeral for a lower-class family.
The Victorian Consensus
“Victorian,” a term first used in 1851, the year of the Great Exposition,
evokes a sense of the contentment and confidence that middle-class Britons
enjoyed. The Victorian consensus was formed around the capitalist entre
preneurial ethic, emphasizing self-reliance and faith in progress. In the Vic
torian entrepreneurial ideal, the individual demonstrated his moral worth
through hard work, in contrast to the evils of the old system of patronage.
Competition would determine those who were fit to rule, not aristocratic
monopoly or unearned privilege, and not working-class demands for a greater
share in the prosperity of the nation that middle-class Britons believed their
hard work had created.
In 1859, the belief in the virtues of rugged individualism received a boost
from the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1809
1882). Darwin, the son of a domineering father, overcame chronic anxiety,
self-doubt, and severe depression to undertake determined, systematic
research and analysis on the evolution of living organisms. His bold book
argued that some animal species survived and evolved by virtue of being bet
ter adapted to existing conditions, while others disappeared because they
were less “fit.” By implication, Darwins work seemed to suggest that the
state should stand back and ^t individuals alone to compete on the playing
field of life. This was more good news for many confident Victorians, but
not for churchmen, for Darwin’s book taught that mankind evolved from
other animal forms over millions of years, thus challenging the Bible’s
description of God having created the world in seven days. Darwin’s
research and analysis were a major event in the battle between science and
religion in nineteenth-century Europe.
Religious images and references permeated Victorian social and political
discourse. Entrepreneurs believed that they were doing God’s work by becom
ing successful and rich. Many Victorians insisted that the pervasive influ
ence of religion more than prosperity explained the apparent social harmony
of their age. Thus, many Britons were surprised and even shocked by the