Natural History in the Periodical Literature of Victorian Working Class Boys

Abstract

Despite recent scholarly interest in the relationship between science and the Victorian periodical, historians have tended to ignore journals aimed at working class boys. Their editors, it is argued, believed that science was effectively beyond the comprehension of their impoverished and uneducated readers, and therefore included li le in the way of scientific content. However, Victorian working class boys could be passionate about what li le science was available to them. Consequently, in the field of natural history – an 'aesthetic' science demanding little in the way of financial outlay or formal education – youngsters were often very much active. Their efforts ranged in seriousness, from the leisurely to the systematic. Accordingly, working class boys' periodicals endeavoured to cater for their readers' interest in the natural world by carrying a range of scientific material specifically designed to appeal to their tastes and needs. This article provides a survey of several periodicals of particular significance: Edwin J. Bre's Boys of England; William Watkins' Lads of the Village and Seth Lister Mosley's The Young Naturalist and The Natural History Teacher. Staunchly interdisciplinary, the article sheds new light upon the connections between science, the periodical press and Victorian childhood.