This British Civilisation course aims to provide students with a broad understanding of the historical events and cultural context of the 19th century in Britain and Ireland, especially from the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. This course will cover the major milestones of the century – in particular industrialisation and its social consequences, the gradual process of democratisation, the rise of the British Empire as well as Victorian social attitudes, such as gender relations.
Bibliography
(the books are available at the BU)
Laurent Bury, Civilisation britannique au XIXe siècle, Hachette, 2001.
Bernard Cottret, Histoire de l’Angleterre, Tallandier, 2007.
Theodore K. Hoppen, The Mid-Victorian Generation 1846-1886, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Brenda Williams, Victorian Britain, Jarrold publishing, 2005.
Judith R. Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society : Women, Class, and the State, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Patrick Joyce, Work, Society and Politics : The Culture of the Factory in Later Victorian England, Methuen, 1982.
Anthony Miller, Poverty Deserved ? : Relieving the Poor in Victorian Liverpool, Birkenhead Press, 1988.
F.M.L. Thompson, The Rise of Respectable Society : A Social History of Victorian Britain : 1830-1900, Fontana press, 1988.
Brochure
The brochure with the texts we shall study in the course of the semester can be downloaded here. You must register for the course to get the password.
Reading about Victorian Britain – secondary and primary sources
Click here to read about education, religion, philanthropy, clubs and societies in Victorian Britain.
The Victorian Web has some good resources about Victorian Britain (but relatively few primary sources other than literary texts).
The BU has a very interesting primary source database which can be useful for the study of certain political and social issues: 19th-Century Parliamentary Papers
The Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens is an open-access scholarly journal in which you may find secondary sources of interest.
Fordham University had a Modern History Sourcebook with all kinds of primary sources on 19th-century Britain.
A step-by-step guide to using Hypothes.is
Please follow the instructions on this page.
Exam dates
Each of the two exams will consist in the commentary of a historical document about a topic that we will have discussed in class.
Mid-term paper: 7th November
End-of-term paper: 19th December
Lastest Posts
To access older posts for this course, please click on “All posts for Victorian Britain” in the sidebar menu.