Famous and Infamous People

Queen Vitoria: Alexandrina Victoria was born on 1819 in Kensington Palace in London. She was 18 years old when she became queen after the death of her uncle King William. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1838. She resigned from the thrown 61 years later wich became the longest monarchy in britsh history.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917)

The first woman to qualify as a doctor in Britain. She founded a hospital for poor women and children in London.

Mrs. Isabella Beeton 1836-1865

An english writer  whose "Book of Household Management" was a bestseller  for many years. 

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

Inventor of the telephone.

William Booth (1829-1912)

A Methodist minister who founded The Salvation Army in 1878 to preach and give help, shelter and food to poor people.

Lewis Carroll(1832-1898)

Real name Charles L. Dodgson, he was the author of Alice in Wonderland (1865).

Charles Dickens 1812-1870

Great novelist of the victorian age. His novels were outstandingly popular in his time and are still popular now. His books include stories about thieves, convicts and schoolboys. He wrote about ordinary people and how they lived, about terrible prisons, bad schools and the workhouse. His famous characters include Oliver Twist, Scrooge and David Copperfield.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

He created the character Sherlock Holmes. 

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Edison was the inventor of over a thousand ideas which transformed life in the late 19 th century. He invented his own phonograph, and developed with Swan the electirc carbon filament lamp, which eventually became the modern light bulb.

Victorian Prostitution

One of the most infamous eras of prostitution was that of Victorian Age.  As in all times the street children of the Victorian age survived by thievery and prostitution.  Of nearly 2,600 prostitutes arrested in Paris 1,500 were minors.  American traders on the West Coast purchased small Chinese girls and young American girls to resell by the evening. Rush wrote about the fate of many young English girls:

     A 17th-Century Neapolitan woman named Toffana invented an arsenic-based face paint called Acqua Toffana, supposedly a miraculous substance oozing from the tomb of St Nicholas di Bari. While the potion was marketed as a cosmetic, female customers were advised to pay Toffana a visit to learn the proper uses of the makeup. Many women became considerably rich widows after wearing the cosmetic on their cheeks when their spouses were around. Because of her dread of being found out, Toffana had taken to continually changing her name and residence and seeking ecclesiastical protection, which enabled her to continue her ways for years.

Unfortunately for Toffana, the authorities eventually discovered her after about 600 dead husbands, and adroitly smeared her reputation by spreading rumours of her poisoning the city's wells and fountains, causing the populace to turn against her. She was arrested, tortured and strangled in prison in 1709.

Jack the Ripper: Also known as the "Whitechapel Murderer" because of the area in which he struck in England in 1888. The Victorian killer was never caught but there are no end to the suspects. From vagabonds to doctors to members of the royal court to impressionist painter Walter Richard Sickert and even Lewis Carroll. No matter his real identity, "Jack" was the first true serial killer. In 1888 the police didn't gather evidence like they do in modern times to catch someone. Blood, Fingerprints and other such evidence was not used to catch people back then. Jack had left evidence of who he was at the crime scene but fingerprints, know as finger marks back then were disregarded. There are five accepted victims but other cases of murder happened, so either there was a copycat killer or these could also be more Jack's victims. Jack targeted prostitutes which were known as "unfortunates" in the old-fashioned Victorian era. Jack's modus operandi was to cut the throat of his victims, he mutilated all but one of them. It was believed that Louis Diemschutz interrupted "Jack" with his cart and pony, just after he slit Elizabeth Stride's throat. The mans arrival would have surprised "Jack" causing him to flee before he performed the mutilations. "Jack's" most mutilated victim was Mary Kelly and remains one of the most gruesome murders of all time. Unlike his other victims "Jack" killed Mary Kelly indoors and on her bed where she was found the next morning. "Jack" hacked at her face until it was beyond recognition of any of the features, he butchered her body in the most ghastly fashion. He had removed viscera from her and the floor underneath was so saturated with her blood, it covered about two square feet. The photos taken of Mary Kelly, shows the room was a bloodbath and he had taken her heart. "Jack" had a sexual motive for his murders yet did not sexually assault his victims but with his knife. "Jack" fiendishly taunted the police with letters and that's where the name Jack the Ripper came from but some of the JTR letters were obvious hoaxes. The "From Hell" letter was sent in a package along with half a kidney inside and Jack said that he had eaten the other half. "Jack" had carefully taken out Catherine Eddowes left kidney when he killed her, perhaps he was a cannibal but may have only said he ate body parts for the shock value. Jack the Ripper is dead but the memory his crime spree never will be.

http://psu-sk.tripod.com/frames/other-sk.html 

http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vpeople.html

http://home.pacbell.net/tonyprey/burning/vicera.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4197585