Queen of Great Britian and Ireland, Empress of India (1837-1901), succeeded William IV.
The long reign of the popular queen who lent her name to an age which is the most important in Britain's history encompassing the flourishing of the industrial revolution, phenominal progress in science and technology and great political changes.
The only child of the Duke of Kent (the son of King George III) and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.She became direct heir to the throne on the accession of William IV in 1830 and was aged only 18 when she acceeded to the throne.
After the death of Albert, Prince Constort, in 1861, the Queen practically withdrew from public life almost until the celebration of her Jubilee in 1887. Her diamond jubille was celebrated with great public enthusiasm in 1896.
Queen Victoria had nine children and was succeeded to the throne by her second child, Edward VII.
THE FRANCHISE
The whole of Queen Victoria's reign was a series of Parliamentary conflicts which resulted in the male population as a whole being drawn into active participation in the government of the country.
It was only in 1832 that the Reform Act scrapped the "rotten boroughs", "owned" by a few patrons and widened the franchise which had previously been such that the roll of county electors for Scotland of October 1811 shows that eight counties each had less than thrty voters while only nine had more than a hundred.
Both the young Queen and the Government were criticised during the Chartist Riots of 1839, only two years after her accession, as her subjects pressed for changes and representation which could not be with-held.
The peace following the Crimean War (1853-6) shifted focus to internal affairs and a period of bitter controversey followed resulting in Disraeli's Franchise Reform Bill of 1867.
PRIME MINISTERS
An important factor in domestic politics was the Queen's own relationship with her Prime Ministers. While Disraeli, Lord Melbourne and Salisbury enjoyed the Queen's affection and trust, neither Gloadstone nor Peel attained the same position at court and the friction between the Queen and Gladstone was made much of by his opponents. .
CONFLICT WITH PREMIER, LORD PALMERSTON (1854)
Lord Palmerston attempted to maintain the rights of the constitution in relation to those of the sovereign and the resulting dispute led to public demonstrations in favour of the Prime Minister.
RAILWAYS
The 1840's saw the rapid construction of railways throughout the UK and huge amounts of capital were raised - it reached �100-millions in 1845 alone. The rapid expansion of the railways brought remoter cities and rural areas into close contact with the nation's capital for the first time.
Queen Victoria's marriage to her first cousin, Prince Albert (son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg) in 1840 threatened for a time to
produce more constitutional complications through suspicions the Prince-Consort was using his position for political ends.
The suspicions were allayed by the Albert's innate tact and, in time, he gradually achieved the growing popularity of the Queen herself.
After Albert's death on December 14th, 1861, the Queen practically withdrew from public life almost until the celebration of her Jubilee in 1887.
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