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Victorian Values

Jan 16, 2026

Guest

AN Wilson, a biographer and historian, teams up with Fern Riddell, a historian focused on Victorian sexuality, Sarah Williams, a research professor on Victorian social reform, and Matthew Stallard, an expert on Victorian imperialism. Together, they unpack misconceptions of 'Victorian values' and discuss the complexities of Victorian sexual culture, social reformations like the fight against child labor, and the legacy of figures such as Josephine Butler. They explore the intricate contradictions of the era, from civic pride to the darker aspects of power and morality.

56:34

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INSIGHT

Victorian Reputation Split Early

The Victorian age quickly became both celebrated and reviled, shaping a long cultural argument about hypocrisy and progress.
Lytton Strachey and Bloomsbury cemented a negative view that turned Victorian into a term of reproach.

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INSIGHT

Reform Amidst Real Squalor

The Victorians mixed acute social misery with sustained efforts at reform and improvement.
Campaigners such as Lord Shaftesbury shortened brutal child labour practices while industrial squalor remained widespread.

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INSIGHT

Civic Energy And Aesthetic Contradiction

Victorian culture combined confident civic energy with visible aesthetic excess and contradiction.
The era produced grand public works and bold municipal projects alongside divisive taste judgments.

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Public Reaction to Queen Victoria's Death

00:48 • 2min

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Common Victorian Stereotypes Challenged

02:45 • 50sec

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Vigilance Committees and Moral Policing

03:34 • 34sec

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Child Labour and Social Reform

04:09 • 52sec

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Victorians: Energy, Confidence, Contradiction

05:00 • 1min

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Industrialisation, Capitalism and Empire

06:05 • 30sec

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Victorian Prudery vs Sexual Culture

06:35 • 1min

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Anti‑Victorianism After World War I

07:36 • 3min

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How Long Did Victorian Values Persist?

10:24 • 3min

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Aesthetics, Ruskin and Arts Education

13:37 • 2min

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Parliamentary Buildings as Victorian Icons

15:15 • 53sec

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Victorian Values as Moral Certainty

16:09 • 9min

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Elite Culture, Matthew Arnold and Education

25:14 • 3min

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Politics of the 1830s and Reform Foundations

27:54 • 3min

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Industrial Manchester in Global Context

30:52 • 2min

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Rise of Organised Labour and Civic Audacity

32:24 • 37sec

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Cataloguing Victorian Values

33:01 • 4min

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Science, Darwin and Social Darwinism

37:21 • 12sec

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Samuel Smiles and Self‑Help Legacy

37:32 • 3min

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Victorian Afterlives: Heritage and Reaction

40:22 • 2min

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Cacophony of Victorian Experiences

42:22 • 1min

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Campaigners: Josephine Butler's Reforms

43:48 • 3min

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Victorian Feminism and the Music Hall

46:23 • 3min

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Mass Media, Publicity and Campaigning

49:50 • 1min

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Who Benefits? Power, Class and Justification

50:51 • 3min

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Are We Far Enough to Judge the Victorians?

53:26 • 43sec

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Nostalgia and a New Victorian Renaissance

54:09 • 1min

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Civic Audacity as a Recoverable Value

55:09 • 2min

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Final Reflections: Continuities of Power

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Victoria's Secret

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What does the phrase 'Victorian values' conjure today? Matthew Sweet and guests explore what we have inherited from that formative era in relation to political ideas, civic culture, aesthetics, and social and sexual mores. How does our view of the Victorian age match the historical reality? And can we move beyond stereotypes of repression and the stiff upper lip?

AN Wilson, writer, biographer and historian

Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston, crossbench peer in the House of Lords

Sarah Williams, Research Professor in the History of Christianity at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada and author of When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women

Fern Riddell, historian and writer. Her latest book is Victoria’s Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen (2025)

And Matthew Stallard, Research Associate from the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London.

Producer: Eliane Glaser

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