The Victorians and Edwardians c.1840-1914.
Course summary: A rich period historically so we will explore social and economic impacts in particular such as the impact of the development of the railway some astonishing country houses (including in Sussex Standen, Paddockhurst etc), major urban development (Brighton a great example), static to slow growing market towns (Lewes), the battles over education and public health, votes not only for women but also most men (gets forgotten), leisure and holidays (and legislation which helped them), controversies over wars, efforts to prevent and to shed empire, science and health, why places of worship multiplied and declined. For much of this there will be reading and actions such as look at parts of Lewes and Brighton as case studies. Sue has published on the period and is still doing so.
We meet in the Lecture Theatre, Lewes Town Hall, the entrance is through the
first double doors in Fisher Street. Stairs but there is a lift. The course starts on September 18th, and runs with fortnightly session. Sessions start promptly 10am end by 12 noon. The dates and topics of each session are below.
Victorian,
Edwardian and interwar country houses estates in context 1840-1940
Most
Victorian and Edwardian country houses were the centres of leisure
estates not of estates which provided a substantial income from
farming. The many reasons for this included substantial changes in
the role of land in politics. The day of the landowner interest was
ending with the reforms of electoral boundaries, the significant
increase in the role of the urban voter and the secret ballot. The
1851 census revealed that more people lived in urban areas than in
the countryside. By 1911, the rural electorate was a minority.
From
the 1840s, Parliament had to take an interest In the welfare and
governance of our rapidly growing towns, many of which grew
organically from villages or small towns with only a parish vestry or
a vestry and town commissioners trying to run them. As they grew
fuelled by the growth of service and manufacturing industries which
became the drivers of our economy the businesses generated the
capital in family companies which fuelled the development of new
country estates and the saving of old ones.
Reaction
to the towns became tinged by an unrealistic view of a settled rural
past where goods were hand made to a high quality. The Arts and
Crafts movement grew from this as seen locally at Standen near East
Grinstead designed by Philip Webb. This movement attracted members
of the rapidly growing middle class which included wealthy people
like William Morris. The backwards-looking view also influenced other
art movements, such as the Pre-Raphaelites. This group of English
painters, poets, and critics was formed in 1848, and rebelled
against what they saw as the academic and formulaic style of the
Royal Academy.
The
group sought inspiration from early Italian Renaissance art (before
Raphael), emphasizing vibrant colours, detailed realism, and symbolic
imagery. The group included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett
Millais, and William Holman Hunt. Wealthy clients included owners of
the new leisure estates such as the Huths, bankers of Paddockhurst in
Sussex.
Meanwhile
the state of the nation debate with an emphasis on the issues of the
urban and rural poor began. Disraeli, Dickens, George Eliot, Hardy
and Kingsley were some of the writers who wrote novels on this theme.
But did they have any influence? From the changes we also see John
Galsworthy’s The Forsyth Saga published between 1906 and
1922 then as a single volume, Anthony Trollope’s series of novels
about the Palliser family also called the Parliamentary novels, his
Barchester Towers (1857) plus critiques such as Trollope’s
satirical and political novel The Way We Live Now (1875), the
main character probably based on Baron Grant a crooked financier.
The Brontë novels and many other successful writers look at the
condition of England and social change. Many of the books, such as
the Forsyth Saga are TV series.
Although
England’s Midland and northern towns became major sources of wealth
as part of the impact of an Industrial Revolution founded on water
and coal power and access to ports for the movement of raw and
finished products. This trend shared something in common with
fashions - it would not last and there was a need to look ahead at
what might come next. Sadly, that realisation came too late - but was
that inevitable given the investment and the several generations of
success? What triggered that decline? That is still a subject of
debate.
Meanwhile
wealth was transferred to the countryside in the form of new country
house estates and updating of the older ones by those who benefited
from the wealth generated mainly by family businesses in the towns
and cities including the powerhouse of economic growth for centuries
in England as it is now - London. In a small country one city
usually acts as the leader - normally but not always, the capital.
Most of the investment in south-east England was from there or from
people who sold their business interests abroad such as the Loders
whose fortune came from investing in Russia and who retained trading
interests-based din London.
Meanwhile,
industrialisation and the development of related service industries
resulted in the increase in the number of wealthy middle-class people
who spent a lot of money on a wide range of investments such as
leisure estates, art, museums,
The
development of the railway gave greater access to the countryside as
a place for enjoyment, to the seaside and spa. Existing resorts grew,
especially Brighton and changed to accommodate a wider range of
visitors and a growing number of retirees, especially women. And
wilder, cheaper areas of countryside near to large towns lured buyers
wanting small estates. The Sussex Weald is a great example.
In
the countryside leisure estates and country villas appeared as second
homes. This continued into the interwar period, aided by the car.
During
the interwar period, the interest in country houses continued, but
most of the new builds were smaller. A considerable amount of the
funding came from financial and legal services in the bigger towns.
But they were built with facilities which reduced the need for staff
to the minimum.
There
are some readable books and TV series to enjoy.
Week
– please diary the dates, we do not remind you. Each session is
free standing
1. September 18th 10-12noon
The
ever-changing wider world - key issues of the period which affect
country house estates such as the cheaper imported foods due to
railway, canning and refrigeration. The change in balance politically
between town and country and the secret ballot. Modern sources of
wealth channelled into country living wealth including for example the
Drewe family of Home and Colonial Stores who owned a house in Sussex
for a while and then built Castle Drogo (Devon Nat Trust) to Lutyen’s
design. Money from America saved old houses such as Hever Castle and
Blenheim and rebuilt West Dean in West Sussex. Banking in Europe paid
for Waddesdon and other Rothchild Houses and for the three houses of
the Huth brothers in Sussex and Kent.
2. October 2nd
The
new Victorian country houses and their settings - Highclere from
Downton Abbey is a good example. The design is different from
older houses due partly to technology, so is Bayham Abbey in Kent
designed by an expert in the design of country houses. And our own
Horsted Place.
Many
new builds were Gothic in style but Waddeson Manor is an example of
the designs influenced by European movements.
3.
October 16th
Small
new builds like Robins Nest in the Forsyth Saga and the Arts and
Crafts movement, more modest but still costly …Standen and others.
The arrival of Lutyens and others as designers of these houses and
the debates about their styles.
4.
October 30th
Life
just before, during and after the First World War when many houses
such as Slindon in West Sussex became hospitals. The war also
required a lot of timber and other supplies which changed some of the
landscapes of the houses . Revising the old -Eltham Palace and the
Courtaulds (open to the public) and other examples. Innovations -
saving the house and estates- Glyndebourne and opera, Goodwood and
the development of the long-established race course and the motor
race track.
5. November 13th
Plant
hunters gardens such as the Loder family gardens in Sussex and the
Stern’s chalk garden at Highdown. Other influences on garden
design - Jekyll Robinson etc.
Reading
– try Amazon etc.
Mordaunt
Crook Rise of the nouveau riches. A Tinniswood The Power
and the Glory - the country House before the Great War. Jane
Ridley Edwin Lutyens.
Summers
Our uninvited guests (one of several on the Americans who come over).
Aslet
The last country houses. Tinniswood The Long Weekend - life in
country houses between the wars Pamela Horn’s books about
servants
See
– Chartwell, Standen, Eltham Palace, The Red House, Waddeson Manor,
Tynesfield (near Bristol).
NOTE
- this is the last course in the series. Another possible course
In
2026 I am thinking of a 4-week course on Georgian culture including
the Augustan and the Romantic movements - Goldsmith was a bridge
between the two as a writer. Art movements and architecture and the
importance of the client. The rise of Civility and its influence on
town life on, for example resorts like Brighton and provincial
centres like Lewes. The development of consumerism and its influence
on the development of industries such as the cotton and wool textile
industries.
And
the essential on which better lifestyles, money to spend on books
etc. depends - the development of the Georgian economy and trade
networks -complex and very interesting and as ever with the UK
dependent on peace in…Europe.
If
you are interested in getting in touch, please be prepared to do some
reading and critical TV watching and to try out podcasts if you have
not.
Sue
11
June 2025
georgianbrighton@gmail.com
or let Marion Tyler (marionannetyler@hotmail.co.uk) know if you are coming on the course above,