Need Info on Victorian England 1880s

rhdnor · Oct 29, 2017

So I've written an intro to a whodunnit that I plan to expand on, based in Victorian England, London specifically. The period I'm interested in is the 1880's (CORRECT THAT TO 1890s), going by the bustles and whalebone corsets (that's how I picture my characters). My main characters are decently fleshed out, the problem is my knowledge of the place is based on colonial era romance novels so I know more about dresses than I know about anything relevant to the story I'm writing, like
-political events at the time
-how it was to travel to different countries (transport), details of ships n trains, flying machines.
-physical descriptions of architecture
- some stuff on military, army, navy etc.
-class divisions
-opium dens and drug addiction, the kinds of people it affected
-multicultural stuff at the time, immigrants etc.,
-important institutions
-the state of medical science
-engineering (invention) at the time
-and also British relationships with the countries they'd colonised.
Also, I need it as a quick reference, so links will be good, however if those aren't available please post any info that will help. I need enough info to be able to flesh out the backdrop to a novella (15k-30k) length story. If someone's got a comprehensive, reliable info, quick reference like an alphabetical thing, someone who has already done the hard work of putting the info together, please let me know. I know it's asking a bit much

Thanks.

Siri Kirpal · Oct 29, 2017

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

For the architecture: remember that buildings from earlier decades/centuries will still be there, but probably nothing before the great fire of London (I'd have to look up the date). Most of the buildings they had will still be there, so you can google for images of whatever part of London you need.

And that's a point: different parts of London will be different. What types of people do you need? Wealthy will be in Mayfair or Kensington, etc. Poor will probably be in East End. Accents will be different based on area and class.

Opium dens were not socially acceptable places to be. So if your upper crust character is in one, there should be social consequences (unless they're there to pull someone else out, in which case, there may STILL be social consequences). However, laudanum contained opium IIRC and was widely used for all sorts of complaints. As is true today, addiction often created poverty.

Medical: They had the means to perform many surgeries; the anesthetic was ether.

You can get a lot of stuff by just surfing the net and reading books from the era.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

snafu1056 · Oct 29, 2017

Were bustles still around by the 1890s? I think they were out of fashion by then. The signature fashion that I think of with the 1890's is puffy sleeves, but I'm no expert.

If you Google "Daily life in Victorian England" you should find plenty of books and websites that will contain the info you need. Its a very popular and well-documented era, so you wont have to dig that deep.

blacbird · Oct 29, 2017

A couple of notes on your questions:

-how it was to travel to different countries (transport), details of ships n trains, flying machines.

Of the latter (bolded), there weren't any. The Wright Brothers famous first powered flight was in 1903. There was a bit of experimental hot air ballooning going on by flight pioneers (some of whom died doing it), but nothing in the way of flight transport.

-physical descriptions of architecture

A lot of the architecture still exists, especially in London.

-engineering (invention) at the time

It was the big expansion of the Industrial Revolution, and a time of rapid scientific discovery. People like Kelvin and Rutherford and Faraday were busily discovering all manner of new things.

Also, I need it as a quick reference, so links will be good,

That's a hell of a lot of stuff to try to get out of a "quick reference". But none of it represents information difficult to find, just that it is such a broad swath of things. Wikipedia will help with individual questions, and reading period literature will also be valuable.

caw

Marissa D · Oct 29, 2017

Someone else asked a very similar question just a couple of days ago...

benbenberi · Oct 29, 2017

Magazines & newspapers of the day are a great source for information about daily life -- ads can tell you a lot about what's current (or aspirational) at a particular time. A lot of them are readily available online.

Google Books is also a great resource for all sorts of printed material from the 1890s, e.g. medical books, architecture & design books, & travel books. Just... go to Google Books & start searching, you're bound to hit a few things quickly that have the kind of info you want.

rhdnor · Oct 29, 2017

I don't know if it'll silly if I thank each one separately, so thank you all who commented on this thread! I know I might come across as escapist, but the feedback was incredibly helpful, as I needed some pointers in the right direction (I'm glad I didn't get hell for sounding lazy!)

rhdnor · Oct 29, 2017

snafu1056 said:
Were bustles still around by the 1890s? I think they were out of fashion by then. The signature fashion that I think of with the 1890's is puffy sleeves, but I'm no expert.

If you Google "Daily life in Victorian England" you should find plenty of books and websites that will contain the info you need. Its a very popular and well-documented era, so you wont have to dig that deep.

Yes they disappeared in the 1890s. My initial story was set in the 1980s because I wanted to keep the bustle, but then I realised the real life characters that my MC would meet were old enough to be on the social scene only by the late 1890s, that's why I had to edit my post.

Need Info on Victorian England 1880s

rhdnor

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

snafu1056

blacbird

Marissa D

Scribe of the girls in the basement

benbenberi

practical experience, FTW

rhdnor

rhdnor