Category Archives: Victorian History

Death of Prince Albert

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The light is subdued in the Blue Room. He lies in his bed, plumped up with pillows. His breath is slow and laboured, his skin terribly white, his hair stuck down by sweat. Kneeling on the floor, trembling, his wife – the queen. Holding his limp hand, she knows he is dying. Beside her, five of her children, their faces pinched with fear. Standing awkwardly, near by, ladies in waiting, equerries, doctors, a minister or two. But she has eyes only for her darling prince. The time is almost eleven in the evening. As he slips away, she mutters, ‘Oh, this is death, I know it.’ On his death, the queen cries forth a scream that tears down the walls of Windsor.

150 years ago today, Albert, the Prince Consort, died. He was only 42. His unexpected death plunged Queen Victoria into grief so overwhelming that it endured for the rest of her life. Her pain was shared by the nation in an outpouring of grief that would not be seen again until the death, 136 years later, of Princess Diana. But after a while, public and politicians alike began to ask whether the Queen’s period of mourning would ever end?

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British diplomat hacked to death in Afghanistan – 170 years ago

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‘British diplomat hacked to death in Afghanistan’ – it would make a shocking headline. But 170 years ago today, 2 November, this is exactly what happened.

Britain was entrenched in Afghanistan, much as it is today, but the situation was seemingly stable. The British had just defeated the Afghans in the First Anglo-Afghan War, ousted a ruler they considered anti-British and replaced him with one more compliant to their needs. All was well. But on 2 November 1841, a mob of Afghans murdered the British political envoy living in Kabul, Sir Alexander Burnes. It was the start of an ignominious end to Britain’s foray in Afghanistan.

The Dandy Scot

Alexander Burnes, born in Montrose in 1805, was the epitome of a nineteenth century adventurer cum dandy – dashing, intelligent and courageous.

In 1831, the British government in Delhi ordered a survey of the Indus River, unchartered since the time of Alexander the Great. The man they entrusted this mission to was Alexander Burnes. A journey of over 1,000 miles, Burnes, a natural linguist, charmed the usually antagonistic tribal leaders he came upon, eventually reaching Lahore, his reputation greatly enhanced.

His next adventure took him to Afghanistan, dressed as a native having discarded, in his words, ‘the useless paraphernalia of civilization; we threw away all our European clothes, and adopted, without reserve, the costume of the Asiatic… groaning under ponderous turbans.’

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Netley: Queen Victoria’s Great Hospital

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It was in 1856 that construction began on a purpose-built hospital for injured British soldiers. Opened in 1863, the Royal Victoria Military Hospital at Netley, Southampton, was the largest of its kind in the world. Although the hospital was demolished in 1966, the chapel (pictured) - the only remaining build of the Netley site – stands as a reminder of Britain’s great military past and the enduring legacy of Queen Victoria.

Origins of Netley Hospital

The origins of Netley Hospital lay in the Crimean War (1854-1856), more specifically, the condition of the British military. When reports first hit the British press that nine in ten casualties were dying from disease, rather than wounds, a widespread feeling of outrage swept the nation. In a royal visit to Fort Pitt at Chatham, Queen Victoria witnessed first-hand the inadequate provisions made for her wounded soldiers. Furthermore, in a meeting with Florence Nightingale at Balmoral Castle in 1856, the Queen was deeply affected by stories of the hardships suffered by her soldiers in the Crimea. A brand new, purpose-built military hospital was, Queen Victoria stated, the only way to right this unacceptable wrong.

It was the Queen’s Surgeon, James Clark, who first suggested Netley as a possible site for the new hospital. Since the Middle Ages, Netley had been used as a mustering place, training ground and encampment for British troops so it already had a strong military association. A survey was then carried out by Captain Laffan of the War Department, and confirmed the site’s suitability. Five fields of the 109 acre site were purchased from Thomas Chamberlayne, the owner, for £15,000 in January, 1856, and, four months later, Victoria and Albert visited Netley to lay the foundation stone.

Although the foundations were now in place, a bitter conflict ensued over the design of the new hospital. When shown the plans for Netley by Lord Panmure, Secretary of State for War, Florence Nightingale (pictured) was outraged at what she saw. Small, cramped wards with few windows and quarter-mile-long corridors raised serious concerns about ventilation and the spread of infection. Nightingale immediately lobbied the Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, to halt building work until its design had been resolved. Successfully persuaded by Nightingale, Palmerston instructed Lord Panmure to down tools at Netley but his attempt was in vain and construction on the hospital continued unabated.

Netley Hospital Opens

By 1859 building at Netley was complete. This impressive site, costing £350,000, contained a reservoir, three wells, swimming pool, gasworks, stables, 138 wards and 1,000 beds. In addition, a chapel, school, married quarters, prison cells and a cemetery transformed Netley from a mere hospital to a community. In March 1859, the three existing general hospitals at Dublin, Cork and Woolwich were closed down while soldiers receiving treatment were transported to the new hospital.

Netley was more than just a treatment facility. Aside from numerous research labs for the study of tropical diseases, Netley was also home to the Army Medical School and the Army Nursing Service, and acted as a medical training centre for doctors. Queen Victoria’s visit to the hospital in 1863, her first public appearance since Albert’s death, emphasised both her attachment to Netley and its wider national importance. Victoria would make a further 22 visits to Netley throughout the remainder of her reign.

Netley and the World Wars

During World War One, Netley’s significance and importance grew. Aside from treating more than 50,000 sick and injured soldiers, the Red Cross built a series of hutted hospitals behind the main hospital, doubling its total capacity. (A dedicated train-line, built in 1900, enabled ambulance crews  to easily transport wounded soldiers from Southampton Docks to the doors of Netley hospital). In 1944, Netley was taken over by the United States and successfully treated 68,000 soldiers during the remainder of World War Two.

The End of Netley Hospital

In 1958 the government deemed Netley too expensive to maintain. When diggers and cranes moved in to demolish the site in 1966, workers retrieved a metal casket buried below the granite foundation block laid by Queen Victoria. This time capsule contained coins and a copy of The Times from Victoria’s reign, plans of the hospital and an early Victoria Cross. The items were then preserved and put on display at the Royal Army Medical Corps museum in Aldershot. Since 1980 the site has been opened up to public recreation by Hampshire County Council.

Sadly, the chapel is all that remains of Queen Victoria’s great military hospital but this beautiful building gives you an idea of what once was.

To find out more, visit the Royal Victoria Country Park website.

Kaye Jones
Kaye is author of 1066 In An Hour

The Cleverest General: the Life and Death of Sir George Pomeroy Colley

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When I was a child my parents had on their bookshelves an old red-bound nineteenth century tome called The Life of Sir George Pomeroy Colley by one W.F.Butler, published 1899.

Colley was a Victorian general who met his death on this day, 27th February, exactly 130 years ago – in 1881, whilst fighting the Boers in South Africa.

The title fascinated me because here was a book about a man within my family. I always assumed this because we were both Colleys – this important personage, and he had to be important to have had a book written about him, was related to me. And, to add to the excitement, he was a ‘Sir’. Perhaps some great-great-grandfather.

To this day I still don’t know. It might be just a coincidence of name but then why would my father have this book on his shelves rather than a more famous Victorian general?

Colley was an all-round clever man and well thought of. He passed through his military school with the highest ever recorded marks, was fluent in various languages and was a dab hand with the paint brush. But like many a British general he underestimated his enemy – and that proved his undoing.

The First Boer War

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A Necessary Evil? Attitudes towards prostitution in Victorian London

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In December 1857 the London Chambers of the Society for the Suppression of Vice met to discuss “the increasing evil” of prostitution in the city. The meeting was attended by clergymen, churchwardens and vestries from many of London’s parishes.

“Shamelessness”

The Society agreed that prostitution in London was carried out with a “shamelessness” and “publicity” unparalleled by any other capital city in Europe. At the heart of their meeting were several key ideas; firstly, that prostitution was a danger to public morality, secondly, that it negatively affected the character and reputation of a particular street or area, and, finally, that prostitution was a “great evil” in need of control and regulation.

It is no surprise that the church objected so strongly towards prostitution. Victorian clergymen fiercely condemned any type of extramarital or non-procreative sex. The dominant religious groups of the era, the Nonconformists and Evangelicals, were heavily involved in the debates surrounding prostitution. Their aim was reform society through the eradication of immoral vices. These did not just include prostitution but also lesser vices like gambling and drinking. Organisations like the Society for the Suppression of Vice (as mentioned above) and the Social Purity Alliance were at the forefront of the “holy war” against prostitution in the cities.

However, social purity and immoral vices were only half the problem; thanks to urbanisation, the visible presence of prostitutes on England’s streets had increased. In the 1830s there were approximately 900 brothels and 850 houses of ‘ill fame’ in London. Move forward to 1857 and the figure had dramatically increased to 6,000.

“The most arduous and wearisome of labour”

During this period, prostitution became associated with the poverty of the working classes. The social investigator, Henry Mayhew, believed that the greatest cause of prostitution was the “low rate of wages that the female classes receive, in return for the most arduous and wearisome of labour.” It certainly offered better wages and shorter hours than the alternative factory or domestic work. As Harriet Martineau wrote in 1870, “there is the strongest temptation to prefer luxury with infamy to hardship with unrecognised honour.”

Attitudes to prostitution in London and other big cities were not so one-sided. There were many who condemned and sought to eradicate the practice but there were also people who viewed prostitution as society’s ‘necessary evil.’ The reality was that the same Victorian notions of morality and sexuality which allowed commentators to condemn the practice had also created conditions which allowed prostitution to flourish. As an observer from 1859 commented “there are few men who, in some period of their lives, have not dealt in mercenary sex.” Why was this?

Victorian expectations

Victorian women were expected to behave in a very constricted and particular way. Women were defined by their domestic role and responsibilities. The Victorians placed a special emphasis on chastity.  For a single woman, her virginity was her most prized and important asset and vital to maintaining her respectability and social standing. For a woman already married, dabbling in extramarital sex came with the risks of disease, pregnancy and social ostracism. In contrast, men’s sexual desires and promiscuities were more acceptable. Prostitution, therefore, allowed men to satisfy their desires while maintaining the purity of women.

Other supporters of this ‘necessary evil’ were soldiers. The army made no proper provision for families and with prolonged periods of absence, marriages were not easy to maintain. Statistics show that only 6% of enlisted men were actually married. As a consequence, prostitutes flocked to barracks and garrison towns to ply their trade with great success.

Victorian attitudes to prostitution were complex and ambiguous. While it is true that prostitutes directly contravened Victorian notions and ideals of feminine behaviour resulting in condemnation, they also provided a useful service for many Victorian men. It was their own strict definitions of female sexuality and the low economic prospects of the working classes which contributed to the growth of visible prostitution in Victorian London. The Society for the Suppression of Vice may have believed that regulation and intervention were the keys to eradicating prostitution, but, in reality, the answers lay in the very foundations of Victorian society.

Kaye Jones