Printable Handout
Wet-plate photography introduced in 1851 used coated glass plates that were developed whilst still wet. A complicated process but the resultant glass negative produced excellent quality prints. Victorians were great amateur scientists and loved dabbling with chemicals. In many ways the more involved the procedure, the more delighted they were.
There were once many coaching inns in British cities. In London most had been built after the Great Fire, replacing inns that had been built as far back as the mediaeval period. Before railway travel became commonplace coaches often took a number of days to complete long distance journeys, requiring changes of horses and places of rest for the passengers. Inns consisted of courtyards behind a conventional façade surrounded by galleries leading to guests’ rooms.
Bottom left. Sunday bird fair, Bethnal Green, 1900. Caged birds, sourced from Indonesia, India, Australia and Britain were very popular with Victorians.
Right. Covent Garden Porter.
“God has appointed from the very first, that there should be different grades of human society, high and low, rich and poor, and it is not for the rich to boast or the poor to complain.” Vicar of a Kentish village, 1871.