Victorian
Scotland - An Introduction
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 Queen
Victoria came to the throne in 1837 when she was just 18, lending
her name to the rest of the century. The Victorian era was a confident,
dynamic time, with Scotland becoming richer by the day and Glasgow
becoming known as "the second city of the Empire". With
the British Empire covering a quarter of the world, vast riches
reached Scottish shores from India, Africa, the West Indies, Australia
and Canada. As the wealth of the Empire permeated through the country,
few areas were left untouched by its influence.
The Victorian
era brought huge changes to everyday life in Scotland. The advent
of the railway shortened journey times and opened up areas of the
country previously out of reach to most people, as taking holidays
in the Highlands and the Trossachs became popular with those who
could afford it. Leisure time was more freely available than it
had ever been and many new pastimes evolved. Tea rooms were opened
by the likes of Thomas Lipton in the 1870s and people found time
to enjoy themselves in the newly opened music halls and pubs. The
diet of the average citizen changed as refrigeration and faster
delivery times made the transportation of food easier, and many
of the staples which we now associate with a basic standard of living
were introduced by the Victorian push to improve and reform.
Victorian
Glasgow
No other era of Scottish history has left such an indelible mark
on our cities as the Victorian era. Glasgow, for example, was designed
as a centre of commerce along the lines of the great American cities,
like New York. Its Victorian city centre was built to a grid plan
and this democratic street layout means that it is still difficult
to confidently name Glasgow's main street - is it Argyll Street,
Buchanan Street or Sauchiehall Street?
Victorian society
was very conscious of class hierarchy and this was apparent in the
architecture of places like Partick, in the west of Glasgow. Here,
individual villas at the top of the hill were the reserve of wealthy
industrialists, bankers and merchants. Below that, the housing reflected
the social pecking order - terraces for the professional classes,
fine tenements for the skilled workers who thought of themselves
as lower middle class, and no-frills housing blocks for the labourers.
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