Suffrage In Victorian England

Joan Wallach Scott aptly said, “Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.” This is exemplified by the history of Victorian England as they were going through one of the most important eras of time: the Industrial Revolution. This revolution proved beneficial to some but detrimental to others. Discontent induced reforms and writers were engaged to reform the country of England. The constitutional monarchy of England during the years 1837 to 1901 shaped its culture while the literature of Elizabeth Barrett Browning evinces its cultural connection.

England, during the period of the Victorian Era, was a constitutional monarchy. Under Queen Victoria’s rule, “The Victorian Government

In terms of suffrage, men were not all previously treated the same. The people’s opposition to this inequality led to reforms such that “The 1867 Reform Act extended the right to vote still further down the class ladder, adding just short of a million voters — including many workingmen — and doubling the electorate, to almost two million in England and Wales” (Everett par. 4). This Act enabled the male working class to vote for the first time, allowing twice as many people as before to vote. Their vote directly impacted their future and took away the bribery and favoritism that previously occurred. This not only impacted politics but other aspects of their lives as well. More people became satisfied with their lives because the majority were able to express their voice and concerns. The more content the citizens were, the more they became connected to the community, and thus resulted to a greater contribution to their shared society. To further enhance voting equality, “The 1884 bill and the 1885 Redistribution Act tripled the electorate again, giving the vote to most agricultural laborers. By this time, voting was becoming a right rather than the property of the privileged” (Everett par. 7). This increased and diverse electorate was beneficial to England as a nation. The otherwise less powerful citizens no longer had to rely entirely on those who controlled power to decide their lives. They

For example, Elizabeth Browning was a writer of the nineteenth century who was born during the time when child labor was most rampant. She had no fear writing her concerns of oppression by England. It was observed that “It was, therefore, courageous for Elizabeth to write and publish ‘The Cry of the Children’ in an effort to assist the passage of an act which would regulate the hours and conditions under which children could be put to work” (Bradley 63). Browning wrote, “Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers, Ere the sorrow comes with years ? They are leaning their young heads against their mothers, — And that cannot stop their tears” (1-4). In the above verses of “The Cry of the Children”, Browning depicts the emotional toll inflicted on children by the Victorian Era factories. Uneducated parents sent their children for child labor, unaware of the abhorrent experiences they would face, and authors such as Browning exposed such conditions. According to Browning, children were overworked and deprived of their childhood as she wrote, “And we cannot run or leap; If we car’d for any meadows, it were merely to drop down in them and sleep” (65-68). Because of the industrial revolution, “Most distressing to her, as to humanitarians everywhere, were the conditions under which children spun out their lives in factories and in mines under grueling and inhumane