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Documentary, The Victorians Part: 2
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00:00The Victorians saw the world change before their very eyes and Victorian
00:16artists captured that change in paintings that were the cinema of their day.
00:30They were pictures that revealed their greatest dreams and their worst nightmares.
00:41One dream in particular fueled the Victorian imagination.
00:46A dream of escape.
00:49Escape from the monster that was the sprawling, dirty Victorian city, with its lure of vice.
00:58Drink.
01:01And crime.
01:10Escape to a haven that offered refuge from all that.
01:17The family home.
01:18Once inside, you could close the door on all that noise and nasty reality out there, and
01:29be secure in your own home sweet home.
01:31A respectable household showed you've worked hard and provided for your family.
01:43Victorian artists loved cosy domestic scenes.
01:47A sort of comfort food for the soul.
01:50Their paintings showed life in the Victorian home as it should be.
01:59Father pays for it.
02:02Children play in it.
02:07But the one who holds it all together is the wife and mother.
02:12She became known as the angel in the house.
02:16But artists also liked to dispense moral medicine in paintings which warned what could happen when
02:24things went wrong.
02:29The fear of poverty and disease.
02:35The evils of drink.
02:37The shame of illicit sex.
02:45All waiting in the shadows to destroy the Victorian dream of home sweet home.
02:51And if it was just one of the birch.
03:17No.
03:17On the Isle of Wight, well away from the noise and filth of the city,
03:33lay a royal model for the perfect family household.
03:40Queen Victoria's holiday home, Osborne House,
03:43was created as a haven of peace and family life.
03:47For Victoria, it was a retreat from the business of being queen.
04:04Here she escaped from London, from politics, from the court,
04:09to live out a dream of a very different kind of life.
04:12Here at Osborne, Victoria and Albert could indulge themselves in their favourite fantasy,
04:22which was that they were just like any other British middle-class family.
04:26So the dining room here is full of pictures of the family,
04:30not so much royal pictures as family pictures.
04:33And the one which dominates the room here is this one,
04:37Victoria's favourite, by Franz Winterhalter.
04:39It was painted here at Osborne in 1846
04:47and shows Victoria and Albert with five of their children
04:51just after they'd moved in.
04:54OK, who wears a crown at home?
04:57But this is the queen and consort as mother and father.
05:00The princelings are children first, royals second.
05:08Even the older girls gaze dotingly on the latest arrival
05:12as though in preparation for motherhood themselves.
05:15Victoria and Albert's was a genuinely loving marriage.
05:27And though we like to think of Victoria as a bit of a prude,
05:31she and Albert enjoyed married life to the full.
05:34And this room, their bedroom, is full of clues
05:48as to how much they loved each other as well as loving the place.
05:51The door, for example, one keyhole on the outside
05:54and two keyholes on the inside
05:57so the servants wouldn't disturb them
05:59when they didn't want to be disturbed.
06:00The bed, a little plaque on it commemorating the occasion
06:03on which they first slept in it together
06:05and the last occasion.
06:08And even the fabric on the seat at the bottom of the bed,
06:13a little profile of Victoria
06:15and another one of Albert
06:18looking at each other for all time.
06:21Over a period of 17 years,
06:29Victoria was almost constantly pregnant.
06:37Osborne is a shrine to motherhood.
06:41Images of Madonnas
06:43jostle with portraits of Victoria
06:45as a doting new mother
06:48and a dutiful wife.
06:59But the royals lived an enchanted life.
07:03Victorian artists knew that for ordinary people,
07:06the course of true love didn't always run smooth.
07:09They showed courtship as a risky business
07:17with temptations of the flesh everywhere.
07:24Forbidden pleasures only a whisker away.
07:30Betrayal lying just behind the garden fence.
07:34And broken vows spelling disaster.
07:44Pictures like this carried a clear moral message.
07:49The sooner young lovers got married,
07:51set up home and had a family,
07:54the better.
07:54The better.
08:04The newly fashionable London suburb of Kensington
08:13was where one middle-class couple chose to settle down.
08:1918 Stafford Terrace
08:21was home to the newlywed
08:22Linley and Marion Sanborn.
08:27From the outside, at least,
08:29it looked like the perfect respectable household.
08:34Linley was a cartoonist for Punch magazine.
08:52Marion was a full-time housewife
08:54and soon a mother too.
08:59Together, this exemplary, hard-working pair
09:03put their hearts and souls
09:04into their cherished family home.
09:20What is amazing about this house
09:22is that it is virtually unchanged
09:25since the time when the Sanborns moved in
09:27in the 1870s.
09:28Like many Victorians,
09:30they love to show off their possessions.
09:33This single-terrace house
09:34has 144 chairs
09:36and there are 900 pictures on the walls.
09:45Minimalist it ain't.
09:46As in any middle-class home,
09:57it was Marion the matriarch
09:58who ordered the household.
10:06And this, the morning room,
10:08is where Marion ran her empire.
10:10Now, this wasn't a particularly large Victorian household,
10:13only two children,
10:14but it still had a staff of four,
10:16cook, parlour-maid,
10:18housemaid,
10:19and groom.
10:20She would sit at the desk here,
10:22writing letters,
10:23doing the accounts,
10:24and telling the staff
10:25what they ought to do during the day.
10:27But as well as an army of servants,
10:29you also needed this,
10:31Mrs. Beaton's book of household management,
10:34the Bible for running a household.
10:36With this,
10:37you could become the perfect domestic goddess
10:39and a rather formidable one at that
10:41by the sound of it.
10:43The functions of the mistress of a house
10:45resemble those of the general of an army
10:47or the manager of a great business concern.
10:56Mrs. Beaton's was just one voice,
10:58advising a young wife
10:59how to run the perfect household.
11:03There were plenty more.
11:05The pictures that hung in every home
11:11carried clear messages too.
11:17The man was the head of the family,
11:20the moral guardian of the home.
11:25The woman was a provider of love
11:27and comfort.
11:30A figure of purity and goodness.
11:33Marian Sanborn seems to have embraced her role.
11:40In the words of a popular poem of the day,
11:43she set out to be the perfect angel in the house.
11:49Her husband, on the other hand,
11:51was definitely lower than the angels.
11:57For Lindley had a little secret.
12:00It had all started innocently enough.
12:02He was a good enough draftsman,
12:04but he felt he had a problem drawing people.
12:07Photography seemed to be the answer.
12:14Lindley started off using himself as a model.
12:18Then he persuaded his wife,
12:21children and even servants to pose for him.
12:23But soon, Lindley would require another sort of model altogether.
12:38His private bathroom doubled as a dark room.
12:44Using the rather predictable excuse
12:46that an artist needed to be intimate with the naked body
12:49in order to be able to depict the human form,
12:53he began to hire in models.
12:55He used them to take photographs like this.
13:00Quite why Miss Cornwallis had to be naked
13:02in order for him to draw a cartoon
13:04of a vicar's daughter riding a bicycle
13:06is a question it would have been rather interesting
13:09to hear him try to answer.
13:20As his passion for nude photography grew,
13:24so Lindley grew bolder.
13:28Always carefully choosing times
13:30when Marion was safely out of the house,
13:33Lindley started to smuggle models
13:34into the family home
13:36and in Marion's morning room of all places.
13:40One particular session
13:41involved Marion's delicate tea table as a prop.
13:51Another time,
13:52look what he did to her favourite comfy armchair.
13:55Poor Marion Sanborn,
14:09she really hadn't much idea
14:10what was going on.
14:12Fortunately,
14:13nor did the neighbours.
14:19Keeping up appearances
14:21was what it was all about.
14:25This was a very good time
14:33to be a portrait painter.
14:37Rich families commissioned pictures
14:39to tell the world
14:41they were upright,
14:43content,
14:44and respectable,
14:45which is why they all look rather smug.
14:49Most people, of course,
14:50couldn't afford an oil painting
14:51of their family,
14:52but the local photographer
14:54could provide something
14:55that looked just like one.
15:11This photographic studio
15:13in the Sussex town of Lewis
15:15has been run by the same family
15:17since the 1850s.
15:18So this is the room
15:26where all the images are kept.
15:29Wow, it's like a treasure trove, isn't it?
15:30Yes.
15:32What have you,
15:32how much have you got down here?
15:33I think my father worked out
15:34there were about five tonnes,
15:36about 200,000 plates,
15:37or thereabouts.
15:38Wow.
15:38It's all the images
15:39perhaps at the beginning
15:39of the business in 1850-odd.
15:42Could we have a look at one or two?
15:43Absolutely.
15:46Let's take a box out.
15:48Now, yeah.
15:51There we go.
15:52There are two shots of three children.
15:56Oh, wow.
15:57And, of course,
15:57they look fairly sombre,
15:58but it was probably all taken
16:01terribly seriously at the time.
16:03Well, it also tells you something
16:05about the pride
16:06that the parents had,
16:07didn't it?
16:08That's true.
16:08In their family.
16:09Yeah.
16:10And, of course,
16:10it does,
16:10it follows on from previous art.
16:12So, you know,
16:13the great masters,
16:14they're not grinning out
16:14of the canvas.
16:15They've got dignity
16:16and gravitas
16:17and so did early portraiture.
16:19It's only,
16:20it's only more recently
16:21you expect to have a cheesy grin.
16:24A group of some sort.
16:25That's actually in a studio,
16:26is it?
16:27Well, yes, it is.
16:28I mean,
16:28that's a painted backdrop.
16:29But there are lots
16:30of different backgrounds
16:31you could have.
16:31Yeah, that's right.
16:33And I suppose
16:33it was a matter of fashion as well.
16:34People had different backgrounds
16:35according to what was
16:36in fashion at the time.
16:37Let's have a look at some others.
16:38Yeah, surely.
16:39And you could also,
16:40presumably,
16:41pass yourself off
16:42as something you weren't quite.
16:44Because people only knew
16:45you from the image.
16:46So if you dressed up
16:47and had a fancy backdrop,
16:48then you were more important.
16:50Yes.
16:50Yes.
16:51Why not?
16:52Was it an enormous performance
16:53having one of these done?
16:55It probably was in the old days.
16:57Do you want to have a go?
16:58I'll give it a go, yeah.
16:59Why not?
16:59Right.
16:59Right.
17:02Right, well,
17:03this is the studio
17:03where we still do
17:05all the photography,
17:06where great-granddad
17:06started off.
17:09What I thought was,
17:10this is a fairly standard
17:13Victorian set-up.
17:14A gentleman sitting
17:15at a desk in the chair
17:17with the painted backdrop.
17:19Okay.
17:20So we could build a set.
17:21This is the desk, is it?
17:22This is the desk,
17:23yep.
17:24If you'd like to pull
17:25the chair in.
17:27Am I going to regret this?
17:29Almost certainly.
17:32We've only got one survivor
17:33of reasonable antiquity.
17:36And it's in a bit of a state.
17:37What is my modest home?
17:39Absolutely.
17:39Absolutely.
17:40Made to order.
17:42This is a Victorian neck clamp.
17:44Neck clamp?
17:45Just to allow you to sit still
17:47for the requisite time,
17:48we just put the neck clamp
17:49in the back of your neck.
17:50There we go.
17:53Splendid.
17:55Excellent.
17:56You can see why they have
17:57that sort of rigor mortis
17:58look about it.
17:59Exactly.
17:59It looks perfectly natural.
18:01Doesn't feel the slightest
18:02bit natural.
18:03It's a mess,
18:05flash powder.
18:14And one, two, three.
18:16Oh, that's very good.
18:18Yeah.
18:20I think there's a rook
18:24nesting in it.
18:29Oh, thank goodness.
18:30It can burn itself out.
18:32Right.
18:42And here's the end product,
18:44the very picture
18:45of Victorian respectability.
18:47Almost as respectable,
18:53in fact,
18:53as this gentleman.
18:56This is the artist
18:57William Powell Frith.
19:02Frith painted
19:03one of the most popular
19:04pictures of the day,
19:05casting himself
19:06as the perfect father
19:08and his own family
19:09as a true picture
19:11of Victorian virtue
19:12and happiness.
19:13This is his little daughter,
19:25Alice.
19:26It's her sixth birthday.
19:30This is Isabel Frith,
19:32young mother
19:32to a fine brood.
19:34A happier scene
19:37of family life
19:38you could hardly imagine.
19:45When it went on show
19:46at the Royal Academy
19:47in 1856,
19:48the public loved it.
19:53Pictures like this
19:54proclaimed life
19:55was wonderful
19:56in the Victorian home.
19:57The critics applauded
20:02its moral
20:03and improving tone.
20:08Copies of Frith's painting
20:10hung in homes
20:11up and down the land
20:12reminding everyone
20:13of what to aspire to.
20:19The trouble is,
20:21at the heart
20:22of this picture
20:23was a lie.
20:24This,
20:37the nice,
20:38respectable,
20:39middle-class
20:39enclave of Bayswater,
20:41was where Frith
20:42lived with his nice,
20:43respectable,
20:44middle-class wife,
20:44Isabel,
20:45and their 12 children,
20:47his official family.
20:49And here,
20:51in the rather
20:51more shabby district
20:52of Paddington,
20:53is where he set up
20:54home with his mistress
20:55and his family
20:56of illegitimate children.
21:01For many years,
21:02he managed to run
21:03both households
21:04without his wife
21:05suspecting a thing.
21:09Then,
21:10one day,
21:11so the story goes,
21:12his wife saw him
21:13posting a letter
21:13in West London.
21:15Nothing unusual
21:15in that,
21:16of course,
21:16except that on that day
21:18he was supposed
21:18to be away.
21:20When she received
21:21the letter
21:21later that day,
21:22it told her
21:23what a lovely time
21:24he was having
21:25in Brighton.
21:34Keeping a mistress
21:35wasn't unusual.
21:37They were hidden away
21:38in rented rooms
21:40all over the place.
21:40everyone knew
21:46what was happening,
21:48but no one
21:48talked about it.
21:52Then,
21:52one artist
21:53dared to show
21:54what was really
21:55going on.
21:56in William Holman Hunt's
22:06scandalous picture,
22:08The Awakening Conscience,
22:10a married man
22:11canoodles with his mistress
22:12in their love nest.
22:13The look in her eye
22:22shows a glimmer
22:23of guilt.
22:24She's resolved
22:25to end their affair.
22:29But the man
22:30is flushed
22:31with desire.
22:33Look at that face.
22:34No pangs
22:35of conscience
22:36for him.
22:36All this
22:40suits him
22:41just fine.
22:45But the public
22:47were appalled
22:47and so too
22:49were critics.
22:52Mr Hunt's picture,
22:54fumed one,
22:55is drawn from
22:56a very dark
22:57and repulsive
22:58side of domestic life.
22:59This was a subject
23:04far too
23:05close to home.
23:13But adulterous
23:14liaisons
23:15were common.
23:17So too
23:17was prostitution.
23:21In London
23:22in 1857,
23:24it's estimated
23:24there was
23:25one prostitute
23:26for every 25 men
23:28and many
23:29of their clients
23:30were married.
23:52Sexually transmitted
23:53diseases were
23:54rife.
23:59thousands of
24:01unsuspecting
24:02Victorian wives
24:03and mothers
24:04were infected.
24:10Even Mrs Beaton,
24:12who had defined
24:13the perfect Victorian
24:14home,
24:15fell victim
24:16to syphilis,
24:17probably infected
24:18by her husband
24:19on their honeymoon.
24:20In many Victorian cities,
24:30anatomical museums
24:31provided the public
24:33with graphic
24:34and sensational
24:35warnings
24:35of the dangers
24:37of illicit sex.
24:38these places
24:55have long
24:56vanished.
24:59But hidden
25:00in the back room
25:01of a modern
25:02waxwork museum,
25:03one Victorian collection
25:05survives.
25:06too unpleasant
25:08to be on
25:08public display
25:09nowadays.
25:12Wow,
25:13what is this?
25:14This is
25:15what remains
25:17of the Liverpool
25:17Museum of Anatomy,
25:19a rare survival
25:20of a public
25:21Victorian anatomy
25:22museum.
25:23These are
25:24wax anatomical
25:26models
25:26of common
25:28Victorian diseases
25:29that people
25:30could have
25:31walked in,
25:31paid sixpence
25:32and seen
25:33at any time
25:34of the day.
25:36They are
25:37revolting.
25:40Let's go
25:41for a nice
25:41afternoon out
25:42and look
25:42at the symptoms
25:43of syphilis,
25:43dear.
25:45This was
25:45something that
25:45was a great
25:47concern to people
25:48at the time.
25:49Syphilis was?
25:50Yes.
25:50Smallpox was
25:51small because
25:52syphilis was
25:52the great pox
25:53and the fear
25:54of syphilis
25:55in Victorian
25:56England
25:56was very
25:58prevalent.
26:00No one
26:00would want
26:01to visit
26:01a prostitute
26:02whose skin
26:03looked like
26:03that.
26:04So there's
26:05a kind of,
26:06well there's
26:06obviously a moral
26:07warning here
26:07isn't there?
26:09Yes.
26:09When people
26:10came in
26:10to the museum
26:11they'd be
26:12given a
26:13catalogue
26:13such as
26:13this one,
26:14the descriptive
26:15catalogue
26:15urging man
26:17know thyself.
26:19Face of a man
26:19showing the evil
26:20effects of
26:21secondary symptoms
26:22of syphilis.
26:22That's this
26:23face here more
26:24or less isn't it?
26:25These are
26:25secondary symptoms
26:25of syphilis.
26:26Yes, that's probably
26:26referring to this
26:27actual specimen.
26:28Model of the
26:29head of a
26:30child.
26:31In this
26:31model the
26:31visitor sees
26:32the awful
26:32effects of men
26:33leading a
26:34depraved
26:34life.
26:35And that's
26:36this child
26:36here is it?
26:37Yes, you can
26:37see the
26:38inflammation
26:38around its
26:39eyes and
26:40its nose.
26:41Many men
26:42must have
26:42been extremely
26:43concerned if
26:44they'd had a
26:45wayward youth.
26:46The worst
26:46possible thing
26:47for them to
26:47do was to
26:48infect their
26:49loved ones
26:50with this
26:50dreadful disease
26:52which was not
26:53only something
26:54that would
26:54affect them
26:55but would be
26:56passed on to
26:56their children.
26:57So this is
26:57all a really
26:58dire warning
26:59isn't it?
27:00It's
27:00don't.
27:02Yes.
27:03For example
27:03this one here
27:04the face of
27:04an old
27:05bachelor
27:05a confirmed
27:07onanist.
27:08An onanist is
27:08a masturbator
27:09isn't it?
27:10That's right
27:10that's what
27:11they meant
27:11by an onanist
27:12he became
27:13idiotic
27:14and he rapidly
27:15sank into
27:15a second
27:16childhood.
27:17What a
27:18fearful account
27:18he will have
27:19to give of
27:19himself on
27:20the judgment
27:21day.
27:21To put it
27:22crudely
27:22simple
27:22masturbation
27:23is going
27:24to addle
27:24the brain.
27:25That was
27:25the worst
27:26thing for
27:27you because
27:28the sexual
27:29organs like
27:30the other
27:30organs of
27:31the body
27:31were regarded
27:33as being
27:33there placed
27:35there to
27:35perform a
27:36function.
27:36Purely
27:37procreation
27:38it wasn't
27:39pleasure or
27:40anything else
27:41it was purely
27:41Yes exactly
27:42but there
27:43were devices
27:44that could
27:44come to
27:45your aid
27:46and this
27:47is a
27:47spermatorrhea
27:48ring.
27:50Oh my
27:51godfather.
27:51It's
27:52designed
27:53to fit
27:54around the
27:55base of
27:55the penis
27:56to prevent
27:56inadvertent
27:58nocturnal
27:58emissions.
27:59Okay so
28:00the penis
28:02goes through
28:02the middle
28:02Yes.
28:03You get
28:04an erection
28:04oh my
28:07god
28:07then you
28:07come up
28:08against
28:08all these
28:08spikes
28:09and that
28:10would wake
28:10you up
28:10really
28:11wouldn't
28:11it?
28:11Exactly
28:11It would
28:12put an
28:12end to
28:13proceedings
28:13It was
28:13sold as
28:14the
28:14early
28:14wakener
28:15It's
28:16not really
28:16an awakening
28:17one would
28:18want
28:18The
28:26message
28:27was
28:27clear
28:27illicit
28:29sex
28:30was
28:30a
28:30huge
28:31threat
28:31to
28:32the
28:32Victorian
28:32home
28:33You just
28:52couldn't take
28:53too many
28:53precautions
28:54to keep
28:54loose
28:55behaviour
28:55at bay
28:56even in
28:59the way
28:59you built
29:00your house
29:00This
29:06is
29:06Lanhydrock
29:07in Cornwall
29:08It was
29:15the home
29:15of Thomas
29:16Charles
29:17Agar
29:17Robarts
29:18He was
29:23a stern
29:23minded
29:24Anglican
29:24who lived
29:25here with
29:25his wife
29:26Mary
29:26and their
29:27children
29:27And
29:39when he
29:39redesigned
29:40their home
29:40in the
29:4119th century
29:42he turned
29:42it into
29:43a bastion
29:43of morality
29:44and
29:45rectitude
29:46When
29:52they
29:52rebuilt
29:53the house
29:53they did
29:54it
29:54according
29:54to
29:54the
29:55guidelines
29:55laid out
29:56by the
29:56architect
29:57Robert Kerr
29:57in his book
29:58of 1864
29:59The Gentleman's House
30:01Now this is a
30:01highly prescriptive
30:03guide to how to run
30:04and build
30:04a successful
30:06and indeed
30:06morally upstanding
30:07household
30:08He says
30:09for example
30:10every servant
30:11every operation
30:12every utensil
30:13every fixture
30:14should have a right
30:15place
30:15and no right
30:16place but one
30:17the family
30:18constitute one
30:19community
30:20the staff
30:21another
30:22another
30:22this is the way
30:23to plan
30:24a gentleman's
30:25house
30:25of the better
30:26sort
30:26what this really
30:27is then
30:28is a guide
30:29to morality
30:29set in stone
30:31Now as well as rules
30:38about the separation
30:39of the classes
30:40with the servants
30:41in the practical areas
30:42and the family
30:43in the polite areas
30:44Robert Kerr also
30:45laid down very strict rules
30:46about the segregation
30:47of the sexes
30:48right across the household
30:50No ladies allowed in here
30:56The billiard room
30:57was for men only
30:59Instead women retired
31:02to Lady Robart's
31:03boudoir
31:04to drink tea
31:05Now above stairs
31:13the family were of course
31:15expected to act
31:16impeccably
31:16but below stairs
31:18nobody wanted to
31:18take any chances
31:19so the male
31:21and female
31:21living quarters
31:22were quite separate
31:23and to avoid
31:24any temptation
31:25they were accessed
31:26separately
31:27So while the women
31:30used this wooden staircase
31:31to reach their bedrooms
31:33in the attic
31:34the men used
31:35this sturdy stone staircase
31:37and if all went well
31:38never the twain should meet
31:40They needn't have worried so much
31:50Victorian servants
31:52were probably too busy
31:54working to have a lot of time
31:55for hanky-panky
31:56Most Victorian paintings
32:02of them show a rather
32:03cheery view of life
32:05below stairs
32:06This finely dressed skivvy
32:16looks the picture of contentment
32:18happy to serve her master
32:20and look fetching
32:21at the same time
32:22You can understand
32:30what rich employer
32:32would want a picture
32:33of some sour-faced
32:34drudge on his walls
32:35Everyone had their place
32:53in the Victorian home
32:54Yet there would be some
32:56whose place
32:57would never be comfortable
32:58The person who occupied
33:10this room
33:11belonged neither
33:12above stairs
33:13nor below stairs
33:14The nanny
33:15or the governess
33:16lived in some
33:17in-between world
33:19She lived basically
33:20with the children
33:21and because she was
33:23responsible for the
33:23children's education
33:24she was better paid
33:26than the servants
33:26Indeed, when a new nanny
33:29moved into a house
33:29she was often advised
33:30if she had one
33:31to put down a silver-backed
33:32hairbrush
33:33so the servants could see
33:35they weren't one of them
33:36But equally, of course
33:37they weren't part of the family
33:38They were in some sort of
33:40social no-man's land
33:42It was a very, very
33:44uncomfortable place to be
33:45This painting by Richard
33:54Redgrave spells it out
33:56The governess
34:00the young woman
34:01in mourning dress
34:02holds a black-edged letter
34:04telling her
34:05of a death
34:06in the family
34:06The music sheet
34:10on the piano
34:11from the popular song
34:12Home Sweet Home
34:13ratchets up her unhappiness
34:16by recalling the family
34:18she's been forced to leave
34:20in search of work
34:21She sheds
34:24a single tear
34:25Next to her
34:31lie the remnants
34:32of her lonely supper
34:33a dry husk of bread
34:35Although evenings drawing in
34:40her work isn't over
34:41The table is piled
34:43with exercise books
34:44to be corrected
34:45Behind her
34:51her pupils play happily
34:53oblivious to her sorrow
34:55For the artist
35:00this was an especially
35:01painful painting
35:03His much-loved
35:04younger sister
35:05Jane
35:06was working
35:06as a governess
35:07when she died
35:08She was 19
35:10Richard Redgrave
35:14put her death
35:15down to her unhappy
35:16working life
35:17and he never forgot
35:18the plight of
35:19genteel young women
35:20who'd fallen on hard times
35:22It'd have to be said
35:24though
35:24that for the rich children
35:25who were the charges
35:26of governesses
35:27life was about to become
35:29better than it had ever been
35:30For middle and upper class children
35:41like the family
35:41who lived here
35:42the 19th century
35:44was a golden age
35:45never had privileged children
35:54been so indulged and doted upon
35:57Victorian artists created a picture of childhood as a time of innocence and purity
36:11a time to be cherished
36:15a time to be cherished
36:17If only it could last forever
36:34In reality children had never been more vulnerable
36:47This was the great age of epidemic
36:53Tuberculosis, scarlet fever and typhoid
36:58killed thousands of children every year
37:01No amount of money or prayer
37:09could keep death from the door
37:11No one was safe from epidemic
37:27The Reverend A.C. Tate and his wife Catherine
37:31had seven children
37:32and then in the spring of 1856
37:35scarlet fever struck the parish
37:38They could only watch as one after another
37:41their children succumbed
37:49The first to die was Charlotte on the 6th of March
37:53Susan Elizabeth died on the 11th of March
37:57Francis Alice on the 20th of March
38:00Catherine Anna on the 25th of March
38:03Catherine Anna on the 25th of March
38:06and Mary Susan on April the 8th
38:10That is five daughters dead in five weeks
38:14Infant death became a compelling subject for painters
38:27On the walls of countless Victorian homes hung pictures of parents grieving for their dead or dying children
38:40On the walls of countless Victorian homes hung pictures of parents grieving for their dead or dying children
38:48In Frank Holl's painting, Hush, a woman begs her daughter not to wake the sick baby in the cradle
39:06In its companion piece, Hushed, the mother is inconsolable with grief
39:19The cradle is still
39:20The headboard now resembles nothing so much as a gravestone
39:22The headboard now resembles nothing so much as a gravestone
39:26The headboard now resembles nothing so much as a gravestone
39:29The headboard now resembles nothing so much as a gravestone
39:31In the poorest homes, almost one child in five died before their fifth birthday
39:52In the poorest homes, almost one child in five died before their fifth birthday
39:59The terrible living conditions of the poor led desperate mothers to pay to have their babies adopted
40:07Sometimes with horrifying consequences
40:11Most of the children in five days
40:13A habit of a certain child of the child
40:14The child of young children was a happy mother
40:15A habit of a child истории
40:17Before his mother of young children
40:18The child of young children was a very lost
40:19The child of young children
40:20It was a very innocent
40:22The child of young children
40:23From young children
40:25Even the children of young children
40:26While children were the children who were the ones
40:38In the poorest poorest schools
40:39the 30th 1896 a bargeman here on the river at reading looked into the water and saw a package
40:46he fished it out he opened it and found that it contained the body of a baby girl she'd been
40:52strangled there was a white tape tied tight around her neck and knotted just below her left ear
40:58the discovery led to one of the most gruesome murder cases in british history
41:15all the police had to go on was some writing on the paper the body was wrapped in
41:20the address they deciphered led them here to number 45 kensington road it was the home of
41:34amelia dyer she was what the victorians called a baby farmer
41:39for a price baby farmers adopted children from desperate parents with the promise of a better
41:53life but in the case of amelia dyer it was a promise never kept over the space of 30 years
42:04she took in more than 50 babies and she killed them all
42:17the records of her case are kept here in the thames valley police museum
42:27how would a baby farmer like amelia dyer have got access to children
42:32well what she did was um she put these adverts into the paper highly respectable married couple
42:40wish to adopt child premium required very small and this is amelia dyer herself isn't it
42:47that's amelia dyer shortly after she was arrested and i would imagine that that was taken at
42:52reading police station um these two first these are dead children these are dead babies which were
42:59recovered from the river near caversham she strangled them all yeah terrible isn't it what she was doing
43:08was actually disposing of them sometimes in brown paper packages and sometimes in carpet bags and here
43:15we've got the carpet bag together with the bricks which had been used to weigh the carpet back down
43:23so there would have been a dead child inside yeah which is absolutely awful for the mothers isn't it
43:32i mean you have a child presumably out of wedlock or something you make the heart-wrenching decision
43:37to give it up you pay for the privilege you do and then you discover you've given up your own child to
43:43be murdered absolutely
43:55more often both illegitimate baby and unmarried mother ended up in the river
44:00it was a fate they richly deserved in the eyes of many
44:17but then the painting appeared that confronted that prejudice head-on
44:21found drowned by gf watts is an almost religious vision of the fallen woman
44:38in despair she's thrown herself in the river
44:42she lies washed up on the shores of the thames stretched out like a martyr to victorian morality
44:51she drowned clutching a locket does it hold a picture of her child
45:01her body is bathed in a warm light set against a cold uncaring world
45:07a single star shines down on her
45:24this picture couldn't fail to strike a chord in victorian britain
45:29its title was taken from a regular column in the times newspaper which listed the number of women who'd
45:35thrown themselves into the thames
45:38in just two days in august 1847 the bodies of five women were recovered
45:53in the artist's eyes the fallen woman has become a fallen angel no longer a moral degenerate
45:59but someone to be pitied a victim of an unjust system which sees a man go unpunished while she is cast out from society
46:15other artists took inspiration from watts insisting the public take notice of women in desperate straits
46:21of women in desperate straits
46:33banished from the home
46:40pining for the children they'd had to give up
46:42forced to live on the streets
46:53and they were forced to live on the streets
46:58.
47:06Sympathy for unfortunate working-class women was one thing,
47:10but if a so-called respectable woman became involved in sexual scandal,
47:15it spelt disaster, not just for her, but for the whole of polite society.
47:24One artist dared to tackle this taboo head-on.
47:28.
47:37In past and present, Augustus Leopold Egg shows a wife prostrated
47:43before her husband, begging for forgiveness.
47:46.
47:51His face is stiff with despair and disbelief.
47:55.
47:57.
47:58In his hand, he holds a letter he's intercepted from his wife's lover.
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52:25and corseted. Of course, you couldn't, almost literally, you couldn't be a loose woman,
52:29could you? No, no, indeed. You were a tight-laced woman. Yeah, and if you've got,
52:37if you've got a corset pulling your insides in and your ribcage in, it must, it must do something
52:45to your insides, mustn't it? It certainly did. I mean, there were articles in the Lancet and
52:51medical journals at the time, which warned of the dangers of misplacing, the ribs were crushed,
52:58particularly for women of childbearing age, the organs were displaced or indeed would malfunction
53:06after that. They suffered from dreadful dyspepsia. They could hardly eat. So, I mean, when a woman
53:12was wearing corsets, could she get into them by herself? I mean, how do they put them on?
53:17Give me a couple of seconds and I'll show you. What? You're not going to take all your
53:22clothes off, are you? See you in a bit.
53:26Generally, please, could you just help me out here? The laces need tightening and then tying.
53:34Paxson could give your manly strength to this. Which way? Is it like doing a shoelace up?
53:38Oh, oh, oh, tighter, Mr. Paxson, tighter. Stop hamming it up. You're a vicar's wife for
53:46him and say. Enough, enough. There we are. Good. That's it. I thought you had to put your
53:52knee into the small of the back of the person. Well, I'm not asking you to do that. I'm not
53:56asking you to do that. No, because you're so slim, actually, you just fits perfectly. Yes.
54:01And then I would have slipped into my my gown of choice. And it's incredibly uncomfortable.
54:06Well, because I'm not used to wearing something like this, it does feel a bit, a little odd.
54:11It's so engineered, so structured. I mean, it could be done by Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
54:16himself.
54:17I mean, it could be done by Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunel. But women wouldn't be trussed up
54:28forever.
54:29I mean, it could be done by Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
54:38Something had to give.
54:40I mean, it could be done by Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
54:46Victorian women started to fight back.
54:50It began with the dress reform movement of the 1880s, a national campaign against the
54:56kind of clothing that scarcely allowed women to breathe.
55:02They fought, too, against divorce laws that saw them lose their house, children, and money.
55:09They fought conventions that kept them locked in the house.
55:17And they fought the prejudice that education was only for men.
55:26Universities began to open their doors to women.
55:30They studied maths and science.
55:34They took up sport.
55:37And they found there was a life beyond the family home.
55:47The fact that a few middle-class women could now get a university education did not, of
55:52course, mean the end of the old order for Victorian women.
55:56But it did mean that the door which had hitherto been firmly locking them in the house was at
56:02least ajar.
56:04It would never be closed again.
56:19The Victorian dream of home sweet home, a dream fed for so long by so many Victorian painters,
56:26was now well and truly over.
56:33But it had never been much more than a dream.
56:39Even the young Queen Victoria had written in her private diary,
56:43All marriage is such a lottery.
56:46The poor woman is bodily and morally a husband's slave.
56:51That always sticks in my throat.
56:55Now such thoughts were out in the open.
57:00Some were not always the apple of their parents' eye.
57:08Nor the husband, the faithful provider.
57:14Nor the wife, the contented homemaker.
57:22We would never look at the home in the same way again.
57:28Next time, how the Victorians came to believe they were born to rule the world and thought
57:54their reign would last forever.
58:01Tomorrow afternoon, the new series of the Victorian crime drama, McLeavy, continues on BBC Radio 4
58:14with a new case of a caffeine-addicted detective.
58:17And that's at 2.15.
58:19Next tonight, here on BBC 4, we examine the early days of the First World War.
58:24Here on BBC 4, we've beenILLYP.
58:25We've beenILLYP, but we've beenILLYP.
58:26Here on BBC 4 and we've beenILLYP.
58:27The last one.
58:282.15.
58:28We've beenILLYP.
58:29Next time, what I'll beILLYP.
58:31Amen.
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