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A WALK IN TOWER HAMLETS CEMETERY
Five minutes walk from Mile End Tube in Bow you will find Tower Hamlets Cemetery; a hidden gem of calm green space in the bustling heart of East London. Agreed, it is nowhere near as grand or as large...
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STATION JIM AND LONDON JACK...
This somewhat shabby canine gentleman is known as Station Jim. From 1894-1896 he collected funds that went towards charities for needy railway workers, or the orphans of those employees who were killed...
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THE VV WAS ONCE A MAID, AT THAT MR LINLEY SAMBOURNE'S HOUSE ...
The Virtual Victorian has been a little subdued of late during the long hot summer months. But, fizzing now with the efficacious cure of Dr Robert's Constitutional Powders, her spirits are rapidly...
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THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PASSIONS OF MR LINLEY SAMBOURNE...
Edward Linley Sambourne first began his working life as an apprentice draughtsman in a marine engineering works in Greenwich. His artistic career was to blossom when his cartoons came to the attention...
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THE VICTORIAN ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY...
This painting of Una and the Wood Nymphs by Caldesi and Montecchi, was photographed by W E Frost. He then submitted it to be displayed along with some 1009 other images created by fellow photographers...
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BEAUTY IN THORNS ~ BY KATE FORSYTH
The story of four women who shared the lives of the Pre-RaphaelitesKate Forsyth’s novel, Beauty in Thorns, is set in the Victorian era where, as its central theme, it explores The Sleeping Beauty...
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VICTORIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINES...
During the Victorian era there was a flourishing market for all manner of women's magazines. The public's imagination was caught by lavishly illustrated periodicals that offered a more or less constant...
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A SMALL COLLECTION OF STUFFED ANIMALS ...
I found this fine fellow one day when searching for the image of a monkey, wearing a monocle and cravat, and holding a copy of Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species'. I'm sure I saw something just like...
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ADA LOVELACE AND THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE...
Ada Lovelace 1815-1852Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke. However, Ada never knew the father who deserted...
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TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DEAD
As gruesome as it may seem today, during the Victorian era there was a widely accepted trend for taking photographs of the deceased. Some pictures even showed the dead as if they were still living,...
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BEYOND THE TEMPORAL ~ SPIRITS AND FAITH IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND
The following article is taken from the body of a talk given by Essie Fox while at the 2016 Historical Novel Conference in Oxford. (Also speaking on this panel were Karen Maitland, Mary Sharratt, and...
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THE ENDURING INFLUENCE OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON...
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894The VV loves these portraits by John Singer Sargent. They show the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. They seem so immediate and 'modern' and the one below is stunning. Who...
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THE MAN WHO WOULD BE JACK THE RIPPER
The VV is delighted to see that David Bullock's The Man Who Would Be Jack ~ an investigation into the identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper ~ has recently been updated in a brand new edition. David...
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THE WORST NOVELIST IN HISTORY...
Amanda McKittrick Ros 1860-1939The worst novelist in history is how some cruel-hearted souls once referred to an Irish writer by the name of Amanda McKittrick Ros. Of her Victorian contemporaries, Mark...
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MR BENTLEY'S MAGICAL ICE CRYSTALS
We've had a lot of snow and ice this week, which makes the VV think about the photographs of snow flakes made in the nineteenth century by Wilson Alwyn Bentley.Born in 1865, 'Snowflake Bentley' was...
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF EASTER EGGS...
The egg has long been a symbol of rebirth and fertility. Thousands of years ago, a simple bird's egg might have been a gift, often painted so as to celebrate the colours and the vibrancy that marked...
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HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN AND THE LITTLE MERMAID...
The Little Mermaid meets the Prince - by DulacHans Christian AndersEn was the Danish author of many classic fairy tales such as The Snow Queen,Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl, The Ugly Duckling and...
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CHANG AND ENG, THE SIAMESE TWINS...
The term Siamese Twins was popularised by Chang and Eng, the co-joined identical brothers who were born in Siam (now known as Thailand) on May 11, 1811. The twins were connected at the chest by a thick...
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THE REAL ALICE IN WONDERLAND ...
Alice Pleasance Liddell (1852-1934)In 1864, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - a young clergyman and mathematics don at Oxford university - presented a little girl he knew with the unique Christmas gift of a...
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DOCTOR WILLIAM PRICE ~ WELSH DRUID
Doctor William Price was a scholar and surgeon who gained fame at the age of 84 when cremating his dead baby son on the side of a Welsh mountain. A charismatic and charming young man, Price socialised...
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