KYRGYZ- TURKISH MANAS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LETTERS

DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

COURSE PAPER
THE HANOVERIANS

Prepared by: Elianur Gulamidinova

Supervisor: Cholpon Bekbalaeva

BISHKEK-2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ​………………….…………………………………………………….2

CHAPTER I. HANOVERIANS BEFORE THE VICTORIAN AGE

1.1 The origins of the house ………………………………………………………………3

1.2 George I’s reign ……………………………………………………………..3-5

1.3 George II’s reign ……………………………………………………........................5-7

1.4 George III’s reign ……………………………………………………………………..7

1.5 George IV’s reign ……………………………………………………………………..8

1.6 William IV’s reign ………………………………………………………....9-10

CHAPTER II. VICTORIAN ERA

2.1 Foreign policy …………………………………………………………………....11-14

2.2 Religion …………………………………………………………………………..14-15

2.3 Freethinkers ………………………………………………………………………….16

2.4 Gender roles and a family structure ……………………………………………...16-17

2.5 The working-class …………………………………………………………………...18

2.6 Sea power ………………………………………………………………………...18-19

2.7 Technology, science, and engineering ……………………………....19-20

2.8 Population ………………………………………………………………………..20-21

2.9 Queen Victoria …………………………………………………………………...21-23

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….24

References …………………………………………………………………………………..25

1
 Introduction

In September, 1714, after the death of the English queen Anne Stuart, the king George
I ascended the throne by giving rise to a new royal House of the Hanoverians. ​The House of
Hanover whose members are known as Hanoverians is a ​German royal house that ruled
Hanover​ , Great Britain, and Ireland at different periods from 1714 to 1901. The ruling time of
this House coincided with the Age of Enlightenment; defeat of piracy; rescue from plaque;
industrialisation; prosperity of the Holy Roman, French, Dutch, and Spanish empires in
Europe; the development of mass-market in Britain; the separation of the parliament into the
Whigs and the Tories; popularization of gin; birth of Canada; publication of Samuel
Johnson’s ​ A Dictionary of The English Language; W ​ ellington’s victory on Waterloo; the
formation of the Metropolitan Police Force by Sir Robert Peel; trade unions’ grow;
establishment of the general registrar of births, marriages, and deaths; the blossom of
Chartism; Britain’s becoming the biggest empire in the world, and with many other major
events.
The last reigning members of the House lost the ​Duchy of Brunswick in 1918 when
Germany became a republic.
This paper represents a detailed examination of the history of the formation of the
royal family, the state of the British Empire during the reign of representatives of this family,
and the main events that played a significant role in the history of the country.

This course paper’s general structure:

● Introduction
● Main part
● Conclusion

2
CHAPTER I. HANOVERIANS BEFORE THE VICTORIAN AGE

This chapter will include a brief description of the ruling periods of the Hanoverian

monarchs.

1.1 The origins of the House

In 1635, The Duchy of Brunswick-​Lüneburg​, which existed from the Middle Ages1
within the Holy Roman Empire2, was divided. The part of this Duchy, the Principality of
Calenberg, was inherited by Duke George who ended up by moving to Hanover, which now
is ​
the capital and largest city of Lower Saxony, Germany. Thus, George is thought to be
progenitor of the House of Hanoverians. After his death, his sons shared Calenberg and
Lüneburg​
. Nevertheless, in 1705, his grandson George Lewis united 2 parts and took them
under his control.
In 1714, 7 weeks after Queen Anne3 died, Sophia of Hanover was named by the Act
of Settlement4 (1701) as successor to Anne. However, Sophia of Hanover had died 4 months
before this event, which could become the main achievement of her life; so, this right was
passed to her son George Lewis, the Duke of Hanover, who later got a royal name of George
I. Almost 60 people were considered before the coronation. In comparing to other candidates,
George I was was connected with the country and the old royal line only because his
grandmother Elizabeth was a daughter of James I.

1.2 George I’s reign

Having never permitted to come to England by Anne, George Lewis could hardly speak
English. By 1714, he had ruled Hanover for 16 years with absolute power. The new king was
not acknowledged in ruling England since he did not have any experience related to the
English institutions of government. That is why he was strictly controlled by the parliament
becoming a “constitutional monarch.” George I was not loved by his subjects. He could talk

1
Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century
2
a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle
Ages
3
t​he last of the Stuart monarchs
4
a​n ​Act​of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English and
Irish crowns on Protestants only.

3
to few ministers in his own language. The greatest of his ministers was Walpole5. As for
George's family, his wife remained in Germany as a prisoner, and by taking part of the
mother, his son got into the disagreement with George I. But anyway, George’s reign was at
the time of the decrease of political monarchy; at his era, people’s beliefs in technology and
science started to decrease; great thinkers as Denis Diderot6 and John Locke7 worked at this
time; the high influence of the church and religion was wanning. The pillaging and
plundering of pirates started to slow down. European empires began improving their
technology allowing navies to protect themselves from criminals.

George I

5
a British politician who is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain​.
​
6
a​ French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and
contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert​.
7
a British philosopher, Oxford academic and medical researcher.
​

4
In 1718, the legendary pirate Blackbeard was killed. 1720 was the last plague outbreak in
Europe. But smallpox replaced it; despite of it, the population of London reached 1 million.
The folks began moving from urban areas to cities by raising a middle-class professionals.
Jethro Tull8 and Thomas Newcomen9 invented the seed drill by giving a start for the
industrialization. The major conflicts of the era of George I were Great Northern War10
(1700-1721) and Quadruple Alliance11 (1718-1720) when The Spanish, French, and Dutch
empires keep prospering as well.

The seed drill of Jethro Tull and Thomas Newcomen

1.3 George II’s reign

George II—king from 1727 to 1760—like George I, was a foreigner for England too, and felt
himself much more at home in Hanover, yet he knew the language and institutions of
England. According to folks, though he was short, his features were good and his expression
lively. He was exact and punctual. On the other hand, he was spiteful and abusive with rough
and harsh manners. Moreover, his carefulness of money was so extreme that the only present

8
English agronomist, agriculturist, writer, and inventor whose ideas helped form the basis of modern British
​
agriculture
9
an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712
​
10
a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the
​
Swedish Empire in ​Northern​, Central and Eastern Europe.
11
a treaty signed in Paris on November 20th, 1815, by the great powers of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and the
​
United Kingdom.

5
he ever presented to his minister was—a cracked diamond! Yet, like his father, he was brave,
honest, loyal to his friends, and moderate.
There is a tale about how he being a young heir tried to swim the moat of the Ahlden House
to reach to his mother, Sophia Dorothea who was accused of adultery and put into prison in
the Ahlden House. George II ascend to throne when he was 31; by that time he had been
known as a war hero since he took part in the battle of Oudenarde12. When he arrived in
London, he was given a title of the prince of Wales. Unlike his father, George II loved his
wife, Caroline of Ansbach, and used every opportunity to present himself and her as “Prince
and Princess of Hearts.” The reign of George II gave an opportunity to the supporters of
Stuarts, known as Jacobites, to make attempts to rebell. However, the representative of the
Hanoverians stayed at the throne. This way, George II became the last king of Britain who
was born outside of the empire and the last one who led the army to the battle. Despite his
favour on foreign intervention, he managed to unite the country and keep the state of the
constitutional monarchy13.

George II

Between 1690 and 1740, consumption of sugar doubled, and tobacco, cotton, and rum began
being imported to England. The luxuries and expensive goods became affordable for the
middle-class, and it led to the establishment of mass-market. Unfortunately, the growth of
market and trade was a sequence of the slave labour. In 1713, Parliament separated into 2:
Whigs (Pro-Parliament) and Tories (Pro-monarch). George II succeeded in locking the Tories

12
t​he battle of Hanoverian troops against French
13
a form of government in which a non-elected monarch functions as the head of state within the limits of a
​
constitution.

6
out of government for the period of his reign. One more major event happened that time was
that gin production flourished. Thanks to George II’s pro-Hanover wars against France
British Empire took all possessions of France in the North America. It happened in 1763. In
1755, Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English language that served as a
foundation for the development of the language with its comprehensive volume for over 150
years.

1.4 George III’s reign

In 1760, the new king came to the throne. He was George III.Famous in history as a “Mad
King George,” he suffered from a disease known as porphyria14. Despite of it, he was loved
by his people because of his British birth and an ability to speak about the right things on
right time. His time coincided with Britain’s loss of the North America; Britain got engaged
in 3 great wars: the seven-years-war, American Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars.
Unlikely to his predecessors, George III tried to make more influence on the Parliament by
interfering in the process of elections. During the wars George III insisted not to stop but
keep fighting for their former lands. His decision ultimately brought Britain to the finansial
hole and bankruptcy. Throughout the 1770s, the national debt rose to a level when it required
a yearly revenue which was equal to 4 million pounds. George III became known for
covering those debts. He himself lived till the age of 81, and almost 60 years he was a head of
the country. At the last years of his reign, he became deaf and started losing his conscious, so
the Parliament brought to the throne his son, George VI.

14
a group of disorders that result from a buildup of natural chemicals that produce porphyrin in your body.
​

7
1.5 George IV’s reign
Born in 1762, George IV, was the eldest of 15 children of George III. As a child, he had an
incredible talent in learning languages and music. But before reaching teen age, he was sent
out from the castle. He became impulsive, easily distracted. His father was disappointed in
George IV. At his young age, he had a soft spot on women: he had different kinds of
relationships with different females by building a reputation for himself. He was close to the
party of Whigs getting enough enemies as well as friends. He was bad on money
management. George secretly got married to a girl named Maria by letting to even more
judging questions of his parents and Parliament. When it became clear that George III could
not rule on his own as he did it before, George IV started regenting. The head part of the
Parliament consisted of Tories. George became a regent after betraying his friends from the
party of Whigs and getting married to his cousin Carolina. Carolina gave a birth to Charlotte,
but George IV had never had any love to Carolina. When a regent tried to interact with Whigs
one more time, he lost the support of the Tories. When Carolina was out of England, he let
Charlotte die after forcing her to get married to the person whom he wanted to see as his
follower. In 1820, George III died. Carolina came back to England and started demanding for
her rights to the throne. At the beginning folks were on her side. But after George IV tried to
blame Carolina in adultery in public, she was humiliated by the folks. Soon she died. At the
age of 57, George IV ascended to the throne. Over time he became even more unpredictably
worse. At the last days of his government he gained too much weight because of over-feeding
himself and drinking. He died in 1830.
During the time of his reign, there were the events, such as Wellington’s15 victory on
Napoleon on Waterloo16, and the establishment of the Metropolitan Police Force by Home
Secretary Sir Robert Peel17.

15
an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and ​political​figures of
​
19th-century Britain, serving twice as Prime Minister
16
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in Belgium, part of the United
​
Kingdom of the Netherlands at the time.
17
a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–35 and
​
1841–46) and twice as Home Secretary (1822–27 and 1828–30)

8
1.6 William IV’s reign
Born as the third son of George III, William IV took to the throne when he was 64 in 1830.
As he was not expected to become an heir and the king, at the age of 13 he entered the Royal
Navy. He participated in the Battles against the Spanish troops and in the American war for
independence. After he returned to England, he rebelled his father becoming close to the
Whigs not Tories, so he lost father’s interest. In 1790s, he retired from the Royal Navy and
started living in the Bushy House with Anglo-Irish actress and courtesan Dorothy Jordan
with whom he had 10 children. But they divorced in 1811, and Dorothy died in poverty in
1816. In 1818, William got married to Princess Adelaide.
In 1830, when William became the king, the Whigs under control of Earl Grey18 won the
Tories in elections and took the main ruling role in Parliament.

George IV was not loved by the folks and he often was a main hero of different caricatures

William IV believed in the Whigs, he hoped on their reforms at the electoral system.
But there was a political crisis. The king dismissed the whole government and gave the power

18
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from November 1830 to July 1834.
​

9
to Robert Peel, from whom the turn to be prime-minister passed to Melbourne. In 1833,
Slavery Abolition Act was enacted. During his era, the official registrar of births, marriages,
and deaths started to be conducted. People got rights for civil marriages in nonconformist
churches.
In 1837, because of heart failure, at the age of 71, William IV died, and he was
succeeded by his niece Victoria.

10
CHAPTER II. VICTORIAN ERA
This chapter includes an information about the Victorian Era: the main changes that took
place during the government of Queen Victoria.

2.1 Foreign policy

The Victorian era lasted during Victoria's reign as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, from June 20, 1837 until January 22, 1901, after which the throne was
taken by her eldest son, Edward VII. Her reign lasted for 63 years and seven months, a longer
period than any other monarchs before Elizabeth II came to the throne.
The era is also depicted as a period that sometimes dated to begin before Victoria's
accession— from the passage of agitation for the Reform Act 1832, which introduced a
drastic change to the electoral system of England and Wales.
According to the British novelist and publisher Michael Sadleir, "in truth, the Victorian
period is three periods, and not one". He distinguished early Victorianism, the socially and

11
politically unsettled time from 1837 to 1850 , mid-Victorianism (1851 to 1879), and late
Victorianism (from 1880 onwards), with its new waves of aestheticism19 and imperialism20.
By G. M. Trevelyan21 that period was called the "mid-Victorian decades of quiet politics and
roaring prosperity".

The Reform Act of 1832 replaced many borough seats with the new ones by having expanded
the franchise in England and Wales. Minor reforms were enacted in 1835 and 1836.
On 20 June 1837, Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom after the death of her uncle,
William IV. The government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne, but in 2
years after he resigned, Sir Robert Peel from the Tories formed a new ministry. The same
year, the first opium war between England and Afghan. The start of the war became one of
the first confrontations between Britain and Russia.
In 1840, Queen Victoria married to her German cousin Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. It was a very happy marriage, letting children to spread across the
whole Europe.

19
an intellectual and art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political
​
themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.
20
a policy or ideology of extending a country's rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining
​
political and economic control of other areas.
21
a British historian and academic
​

12
In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi22 established British sovereignty over New Zealand. The
Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ended the First Opium War; moreover, it gave Britain an
opportunity to control over Hong Kong. Nevertheless, a disastrous retreat from Kabul in 1842
led to the annihilation of a British army column in Afghanistan. In 1845, the Great Famine
led to mass starvation, disease and death in Ireland, sparking large-scale emigration. Peel was
replaced by the Whig ministry of Lord John Russell.
In 1853, Britain fought alongside France in the Crimean War against Russia. The conflict
marked a rare breach in the ​Pax Britannica23.
In 1856 with the Treaty of Paris, Russia was prohibited from hosting a military presence in
Crimea; the Second Opium War saw Britain overpower the Qing dynasty in China.
In 1857–1858, an uprising by sepoys against the East India Company was suppressed, an
event that led to the end of Company rule in India.
In 1867, the second Reform Act was passed, and the British North America Act consolidated
the country's possessions in that region into a Canadian Confederation.
In 1878, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro got their independence.
Politics in this era is the search for reform and improvement of the individual
personality and society. Three powerful forces were at work: the rapid rise of the middle class
(Respectability was their code—a businessman had to be trusted and must avoid reckless
gambling and heavy drinking), the spiritual reform closely linked to evangelical Christianity
(the Nonconformist sects or Low Church element in the Church of England.

Opium war

22
a​
​ treaty​first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs (rangatira)
23
t​he period of relative peace between the Great Powers during which the British Empire became the global
hegemonic power and adopted the role of a "global policeman".

13
It imposed fresh moralistic values (Sabbath observance, responsibility, widespread charity,
discipline in the home, and self-examination for the smallest faults and needs of
improvement) on society. Asa Briggs, an English historian, points out, "There were as many
treatises on 'domestic economy' in mid-Victorian England as on political economy."),
scientific effect (often called "Philosophic Radicalism." In public affairs, their leading
exponent was Edwin Chadwick24).
Social reforms focused on ending slavery, removing the slavery-like burdens on women and
children, and reforming the police to prevent crime, rather than emphasizing the very harsh
punishment of criminals. Even more important were political reforms, especially the lifting of
disabilities on nonconformists and Roman Catholics, and the reform of Parliament and
elections to introduce democracy.

2.2 Religion
Religion was a battleground during this time: the Nonconformists fighted against the Church,
especially regarding education and access to universities and public office. Penalties on
Catholics were mostly removed. The Vatican restored the English Catholic bishoprics in
1850 and numbers grew through conversions and immigration from Ireland. Secularism and
doubts about the accuracy of the Old Testament grew as the scientific outlooked rapidly
gained ground among the better educated. Walter E. Houghton (an American historian of
Victorian literature) argues, "Perhaps the most important development in 19th-century
intellectual history was the extension of scientific assumptions and methods from the physical
world to the whole life of man.”
In 1851, census of church attendance, non-conformists having gone to chapel comprised half
the attendance of Sunday services. ​Nonconformists focused in the fast-growing urban middle
class. The Church of England included Nonconformists to the "Old Dissenters" with Baptists
25
, Congregationalists26, Quakers27, Unitarians28, and Presbyterians29 outside Scotland. "New

24
an English social reformer who is noted for his leadership in reforming the Poor Laws in England and
​
instituting major reforms in urban sanitation and public health.
25
branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing believers only
​
26
a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church congregation is independent, ecclesiastically
​
sovereign, or "autonomous".
27
members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s.
​
28
a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person, as opposed
​
to the Trinity which in most other branches of Christianity defines God as one being in three persons: the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.

14
Dissenters" appeared in the 18th century and they were mostly Methodists. The "Old
Dissenters" emphasized religious freedom and equality, justice, anti-discrimination,
compulsion, and coercion. The New Dissenters (and also the Anglican evangelicals) focused
on personal morality: sexuality, temperance, family values, and Sabbath-keeping30. Both
factions were politically active, but until the mid-19th century.
The Old group supported Whigs and Liberals; the New— Conservatives, later the Liberal
Party. The two groups joined together on issues of schools and temperance. By 1914 the
linkage was weakening and by the 1920s it was virtually dead.
Nonconformists outside Scotland could not hold most public offices, they had to pay local
taxes to the Anglican church, be married by Anglican ministers, and be denied attendance at
Oxford or degrees at Cambridge. They demanded the removal of the disabilities that applied
to them. The Anglican establishment strongly resisted until 1828. Dissenters organized into a
political pressure group and succeeded in 1828 in the repeal of some restrictions.

non-conformist ministers ejected from their parishes in 1662

29
a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism, which traces its origins to Great Britain, particularly
​
Scotland. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government, which is
governed by representative assemblies of elders.
30
an issue on which God's Word instructs us not to judge each other.
​

15
2.3 Freethinkers
The question about whether or not God existed, became a popular issue around 1869. It was
much discussed for decades, and even had its journal by William Stewart Ross the ​Agnostic
Journal and Eclectic Review.​ Ross championed agnosticism31 in opposition to atheism. The
term "atheism" never became popular: promoting atheism could be considered as a crime and
was vigorously prosecuted.
Disbelievers call themselves "freethinkers" or "secularists". They included John Stuart Mill32,
Thomas Carlyle33, George Eliot34 and Matthew Arnold35.
The writers concentrated on the argument that it was not needed to believe in God to behave
in moral fashion. The scientists paid less attention to theology and more attention to the
exciting issues raised by Charles Darwin in terms of evolution. He said that the God had to
exist to have a complicated world which was no longer satisfactory when biology showed
that complexity could arise through evolution.

2.4 Gender roles and a family structure

In the middle class women avoided the public sphere – politics, paid work, commerce, and
public speaking. Instead, they were responsible for the domestic life by focusing on the care
of the family: the husband, the children, the household.
Religiosity was in the female sphere, and the Nonconformist churches offered new roles that
women eagerly entered. For example, they taught in Sunday schools, visited the poor and
sick, distributed tracts, engaged in fundraising, supported missionaries, led Methodist class
meetings, prayed with other females, and a few were allowed to preach to mixed audiences.
The poem ​
The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore exemplified the idealized Victorian
woman who is angelically pure and devoted to her family and home. The poem was about
legal economic social, cultural, religious and moral values of the Victorian middle-class.

The Wife's Tragedy

(​The excerpt from the poem)

31
t​he view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
32
​ British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant.
a
33
​ British historian, satirical writer, essayist, translator, philosopher, mathematician, and
a
teacher.
34
an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian
​
era.
35
an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
​

16
 Man must be pleased; but him to please
Is woman's pleasure; down the gulf
Of his condoled necessities
She casts her best, she flings herself.
How often flings for nought! and yokes
Her heart to an icicle or whim,
Whose each impatient word provokes
Another, not from her, but him;
While she, too gentle even to force
His penitence by kind replies,
Waits by, expecting his remorse,
With pardon in her pitying eyes;
— Part I, Book I, Canto IX: I.1–I.12

Women had limited rights to their bodies, to the property, and even to their children.

Literary critics of the time claimed that superior feminine qualities of delicacy, sensitivity,
sympathy, and sharp observation gave women novelists a superior insight into stories about
home family and love. This made their work highly attractive to the middle-class women. A
few early feminists called for aspirations beyond the home. By the end of the century, the
"New Woman" was riding a bicycle, wearing bloomers, signing petitions, supporting
worldwide mission activities, and talking about the vote.

The woman riding a cycle. Victorian period

17
2.5 The working class

The mid-Victorian era was Britain's "Golden Years". The national income per person grew by
half. Much of the prosperity was due to the increasing industrialisation, especially in textiles
and machinery, the worldwide network of trade and engineering that produced profits for
British merchants, and exports from across the globe.

The Chartist movement36 was a democratic movement among the working class. The working
class ignored foreign agitators like Karl Marx. Employers generally recognised the trade
unions. Companies provided their employees with housing, schools and churches, libraries,
baths, and gymnasia. Middle-class reformers did their best to assist the working classes'
aspirations to middle-class norms of "respectability".

Taxes were very low, and government restrictions were minimal. Society was still ruled by
the aristocracy and the gentry, who controlled high government offices, both houses of
Parliament, the church, and the military. Becoming a rich businessman was not as prestigious
as inheriting a title and owning a landed estate. The educational system was mediocre; the
main universities were likewise mediocre.

In December 1844, Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers founded the first cooperative in
the world. The founding members were a group of 28, who decided to band together to open
a store owned and managed democratically by the members. 10 years later, the British
co-operative movement had grown to nearly 1,000 co-operatives. The movement also spread
across the world.

2.6 Sea power

The British Empire grew extremely during the era. The more advanced colonies of Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa began their journey towards semi-independent
dominion status. India eventually became independent, followed by all the other colonies that
were established especially in Africa during the Era. In Australia, new provinces were
founded with Victoria in 1835 and South Australia in 1842. The focus shifted to voluntary
immigration. New Zealand became a British colony in 1839; in 1840 Maori chiefs seated
sovereignty to Britain. In Canada a constitutional crisis developed in 1837, involving the
unification of largely British Upper Canada and largely French Lower Canada. Rebellions

36
a working class movement, which emerged in 1836 and was most active between 1838 and 1848. The aim of
​
the Chartists was to gain political rights and influence for the working classes.

18
broke out. In South Africa the Dutch Boers made their "Great Trek to found Natal, the
Transvaal, and the Orange Free State, defeating the Zulus in the process, 1835-1838; London
annexed Natal in 1843 but recognized the independence of the Transvaal in 1852 in the
Orange Free State in 1854. Nevertheless, with the discovery of gold tensions escalated. As a
result, there was the First Boer War in 1880-1881, and the intensely bitter Second Boer War,
1899–1902. The British finally prevailed, but lost prestige at home and abroad. In India, the
East India Company lost its trade monopoly and became simply the government of those
parts of India controlled directly by Britain. The East India Company was transformed into a
new government agency.Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842. David Livingstone led his
expeditions in central Africa during the 1880s. There were numerous revolts in violent
conflicts in the British Empire, but there were no wars with other nations, apart from the
Crimean war of 1854 with Russia. The major new policies included in rapid succession, the
complete abolition of slavery in the West Indies and African possessions, the end of
transportation of convicts to Australia, loosening restrictions on colonial trade, and
introducing responsible government.

2.7 Technology, science, and engineering

Britain was the leading world centre for advanced engineering and technology. Its
engineering firms were in worldwide demand for designing and constructing railways.

A central development during the Victorian era was the improvement of communication. The
new railways all allowed goods, raw materials, and people to be moved about, rapidly
facilitating trade and industry. The financing of railways became an important specialty of
London's financiers. The railway system led to a reorganisation of society more generally,

19
with "railway time" being the standard by which clocks were set throughout Britain. The
railways employed tens of thousands of engineers, mechanics, repairmen and technicians, as
well as statisticians and financial planners. They developed new and more efficient and less
expensive techniques. Most important, they created a mindset of how technology could be
used in many different forms of business. They reduced costs for all industries moving
supplies and finished goods, and they increased demand for the production of all the inputs
needed for the railroad system itself. By 1880, there were 13,500 locomotives which each
carried 97,800 passengers a year, or 31,500 tons of freight.

One more important innovation in communications was the Penny Black, the first postage
stamp.

Even later communication methods such as electric power, telegraph, and telephones, had an
impact. Photography was released in 1839 by Louis Daguerre in France and William Fox
Talbot in Britain. By 1889, hand-held cameras were available.

In 1882, incandescent electric lights were introduced to London streets, although it took
many years before they were installed everywhere.

2.8 Population

The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented population growth in Britain. The population
rose from 13.9 million in 1831 to 32.5 million in 1901. Two major factors were fertility rates
and mortality rates.

Britain had the lead in rapid economic and population growth. At the time, Thomas Malthus
believed this lack of growth outside Britain was due to the 'Malthusian trap'. That is, the
tendency of a population to expand geometrically while resources grew more slowly,
reaching a crisis (such as famine, war, or epidemic) which would reduce the population to a
sustainable size. Britain escaped the 'Malthusian trap' because the Industrial Revolution had a
positive impact on living standards. ​People had more money and could improve their
standards; therefore, a population increase was sustainable.

Wage rates improved steadily; real wages were 65 percent higher in 1901, compared to 1871.
Much of the money was saved in savings banks rose from 430,000 in 1831, to 5.2 million in
1887, and their deposits from £14 million to over £90 million. People flooded into industrial

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areas and commercial cities faster than housing could be built, resulting in overcrowding and
lagging sanitation facilities such as fresh water and sewage.

These problems were magnified in London, where the population grew at record rates. Large
houses were turned into flats and tenements, and as landlords failed to maintain these
dwellings, ​
slum​housing developed.

Significant changes happened in the British Poor Law system. These included a large
expansion in workhouses37.

2.9 Queen Victoria

Born Alexandrina Victoria on May 24, 1819; her father died when she was 8 months old. Her
mother became a domineering influence in her life. As a child, she was said to be
warm-hearted and lively.

Educated at the Royal Palace by a governess, she had a gift for drawing and painting and
developed a passion for journal writing. Victoria was famously tiny in stature, measuring just
4 feet 11 inches tall. Later in life, her weight ballooned, with her waist reportedly measuring
50 inches. Queen Victoria was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, who was ​King
George III​'s fourth son. Her mother was Victoria Saxe-Saalfield-Coburg, sister of Leopold,
king of the Belgians. Queen Victoria also had a half-sister who was 12 years her senior,
Princess Fedora, from her mother’s first marriage to Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen.

At birth, Victoria was fifth in line to the throne. However, upon her father’s death in 1820,
Victoria became the heir apparent, since her three surviving uncles — who were ahead of her
in ​
succession — had no legitimate heirs who survived childhood. When King William IV
died in June 1837, Victoria became queen at the age of 18.

In 1840, Victoria married her cousin, ​Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the son of her
mother’s brother. The couple met when Victoria was just 16; their uncle Leopold suggested
they marry.

Since Victoria was queen, Albert couldn’t propose to her. So she proposed to him on October
15, 1839.

37
a government-run (usually by a ​county​or ​municipality​) facility to support and provide housing for the
​
dependent or needy.

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At first, the British public didn’t warm up to the German prince and he was excluded from
holding any official political position. At times, their marriage was tempestuous, a clash of
wills between two extremely strong personalities.

However, the couple was intensely devoted to each other. Prince Albert became Victoria’s
strongest ally, helping her navigate difficult political waters.

After several years of suffering from stomach ailments, Victoria's beloved Albert died of
typhoid fever in 1861 at the age of 42. Victoria was devastated, sleeping with a plaster cast of
his hand by her side, and went into a 25-year seclusion. For the rest of her reign, she wore
black.

Lord Melbourne was Victoria’s first prime minister, who served in 1834 and again from 1835
to 1841. When she first took the crown at the young age of 18 in 1837, Melbourne helped
teach Victoria the intricacies of being a constitutional monarch. He acted as the queen’s
political advisor and confidant during the early years of her reign. In 1840, when Great
Britain was fighting wars with Afghanistan and China and facing a working-class movement,
Melbourne helped the queen work with an uncooperative Conservative government and
suggested she let her husband, Albert, take the reigns of state responsibilities. Victoria
ascended to the throne at age 18 on June 20, 1837, and she served until her death at the age of
81 on January 22, 1901. At various points in her reign, Victoria exercised some influence
over foreign affairs, expressing her preference, but not pressing beyond the bounds of
constitutional propriety. One of the major factors that helped Britain avoid European
entanglements was the marriage of Victoria's children: either directly or by marriage, she was
related to the royal houses of nearly every major European power. Though the English
constitutional arrangement denied her powers in foreign affairs, she ruled her family with an
iron hand that helped keep Great Britain away from the intrigues of European politics. During
Victoria’s reign, the political climate in ​British Parliament went through a major transition.
The Tory Party split, forming the Liberal and Conservative parties, and started a succession
of opposing administrations. Victoria played a crucial role as a mediator between arriving and
departing prime ministers.

Though she detested Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, she found ways to work with
him, even during her mourning period. She was particularly fond of Conservative Prime
Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who linked the monarchy to the expansion of the empire, which

22
helped restore public opinion following Victoria’s long seclusion after the death of her
beloved husband Albert.

Victoria continued in her duties up to her death. In keeping with tradition, she spent the
Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where her health quickly declined
to the point that she was unable to return to London.

Queen Victoria

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Conclusion

In this paper, I tried to disclosure the history of one of the most famous and legendary
Royal Houses of the British Empire, the Hanoverian House, the representatives of which
made a huge contribution to the formation of the most powerful country that ever existed in
the world.

The symbol of the Hanoverians

The head of the House today is ​Ernst August, Prince of Hanover. ​Talking about the current
state of the House of Hanoverians, I can tell that they are still noticeable figures in the United
Kingdom’s royal family. However, they lead a way of life hidden from the folks.

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REFERENCES

BOOKS:

1) Hoskins, Alex. ​All about History Book of British Royals. R

​ ichmond: Richmond
House, 2016.
2) Gaskoin, S.J.B. ​The Hanoverians. L​ ondon: Heritage History, 2009.
3) John Ramsden (ed.), ​The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics
(2005), p. 474.
4) K. Theodore Hoppen, ​The mid-Victorian generation, 1846–1886​(2000), pp 316.
5) Lawrence James, ​The rise and fall of the British Empire​(1994) pp 169–318.
6) Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt, ​ Victorian engineering(​Penguin, 1974).

WEB-SITE:

1) https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-victoria

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