Social class and the Victorian novel

Abstract

At 6 a.m. on June 20, 1837, less than one month after her eighteenth birthday, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of the House of Hanover was called upon by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Francis Conyngham, Lord Chamberlain of the Household. They informed her that her uncle William IV had died, thus making her the new monarch, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Although this moment conveniently marks the beginning of what has come to be known as the “Victorian period,” most cultural and literary historians look to two earlier political events as indicative of the social changes that distinguish the era. In 1832 Parliament passed what is now often referred to as “The Great Reform Act.” Along with restructuring the electoral boroughs of England and Wales and increasing the representation of many of the large towns that had experienced unbridled growth during the industrial revolution, this act extended voting rights to men who occupied land worth at least ₤10 per year. The size of the electorate in England and Wales accordingly increased by more than 50 percent, giving about one in six adult men eligibility to vote. Two years later, in 1834, Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act, commonly referred to as the “New Poor Law.” Widely supported by the Philosophic Radicals and heavily informed by the political economy of Thomas Malthus, Jeremy Bentham, and David Ricardo, this law effectively wrested responsibility for the poor from the Church and its parishes, creating a state-run system of “poor law unions,” or districts, to oversee their welfare. Relying on the assumption that assistance provided by the Church (known as outdoor relief) actually promoted pauperism by discouraging the poor to seek work, the New Poor Law abolished outdoor relief, substituting in its stead the option of the workhouse. Building upon the “principle of least eligibility,” which assumes that when faced with a choice people will always decline the more onerous alternative, the New Poor Law offered those seeking aid the option of either entering the workhouse, where they would be fed and sheltered, but where conditions would be harsh and demanding; or remaining “out of doors” and supporting themselves to the best of their abilities without any assistance.