Fear, Faith, and Respectability: The Moral World of Victorian Britain

Fear, Faith, and Respectability: The Moral World of Victorian Britain

We have been learning about some of the scandals that happened in the Victorian era. This got me thinking about the emphasis on morality in Victorian Britain. I want to explore this topic a little further.  We usually imagine the Victorians to be rigid and upright but morality in the nineteenth century was down to fear, faith and a socially changing world.

In 1837, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, Britain was changing. The Industrial Revolution was having a massive impact on everyday life. Cities were expanding fast.

Factories began to dominate, and thousands of families moved from rural villages, where they had worked the land into crowded urban streets. With this sudden change came the inevitable anxiety. Familiar village life, where everyone knew each other’s business, was disappearing. Moral behaviour became a way of restoring some order. Respectability, self-discipline and hard work were held up as safeguards.

Religion also played a really prominent role in shaping these values. Church attendance was strongly encouraged, and personal responsibility, modesty, and restraint were all highly expected. Many people genuinely believed that moral behaviour was not only pleasing to God but that it was essential for the national. Parents must have felt huge responsibility to raise children who were obedient and industrious. The idea that conduct reflected worth became ingrained into society.

During the 1840s and 1850s, the emphasis on morality became more closely tied to social class. The middle class, which was growing larger, embraced the idea of respectability. For them, morality was a belief and a mark of status. For them a clean home, manners, restraint, and self-control is what distinguished them from what they saw as the chaos of the poor. 

The moral expectation was placed even more on women. The ideal of the “angel in the house” placed women on a pedestal. A woman’s virtue was tied to her family’s honour. This must have created enormous anxiety. A simple rumour whether true or not could ruin someone. Many women did find purpose in their charity work and their religion, believing that they were improving themselves and society. But there was a clear double standard. Men’s failings were often overlooked while women were judged harshly.

By the 1860s and 1870s, their was even further concerns about public morality which influenced the law and reform. Campaigns against working street women, drinking, and obscenity became even more popular. The Contagious Diseases Acts, for example, revealed how morality and control were inter linked, particularly over women’s bodies. Reformers truly believed that they were protecting society, but to those who were subjected to the laws must have felt humiliated. The tone changed from compassion to blame.

However, Victorian morality was also compassionate. Philanthropy began to flourish in the Victorian age. Campaigns started to improve working conditions, to expand education, and to abolish slavery all came out of this moral conviction. 

In the 1880s and 1890s, cracks were starting to show. Scandals that involved  public figures started to reveal that the moral façade was sometimes just that, a façade. The trials of people like Oscar Wilde shocked society.

Do you think Victorian morality was primarily about belief and social improvement, or was it more about control and keeping up appearances?

Image info:

A Christmas Carol, “Stave One: Marley’s Ghost.”

Author: Fred Barnard