Victorian Era Figures: Key Biographies and Contributions

Claude Monet

Painter and founder of Impressionism; focus on nature, landscapes, and visible brushstrokes.

William Gladstone

Politician, British Prime Minister (4x); social reforms and advocate for Irish Home Rule.

Richard Wagner

German composer; known for 'total art' (Gesamtkunstwerk), leitmotifs, and operas.

Giuseppe Verdi

Italian opera composer; known for his philanthropy and support for musicians and hospitals.

Charles Darwin

Naturalist who developed the theory of evolution via natural selection; influenced modern biology.

Joseph Lister

Surgeon who introduced antiseptics to surgery, significantly reducing mortality rates.

Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Scientist who proposed the inheritance of acquired characters (later proven wrong).

Marie Curie

Physicist and chemist; pioneered research on radioactivity and won two Nobel Prizes.

Wilhelm Röntgen

Physicist who discovered X-rays and won the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physics.

John Archer

Artist and engraver known for plate and wood engravings of historical buildings.

Cecil Rhodes

Imperialist and businessman; co-founded De Beers Diamond Company and established the colony of Rhodesia. PM of Cape Colony

Benjamin Disraeli

Conservative Prime Minister; reshaped the party to help the working class; passed public health and labor laws.

Lewis Carroll

wrote children literature books, author of 'Alice in Wonderland' and a mathematician known for logic games.

Oscar Wilde

Writer and leader of the Aesthetic Movement; focused on 'art for art's sake' and natural beauty. uses bible as inspiration

Victor Hugo

French author of theater musical - 'Les Misérables'; advocate for human rights and social justice, artist over 4000 drawings

William Talbot

incited cartography, Inventor who created the salted paper process and laid the foundation for photography.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

French artist and founder of Impressionism; focused on color and movement.

Queen Victoria

Longest reigning monarch (of her time); oversaw global trade dominance and the rise of the middle class.

Elizabeth Fry

Prison reformer who advocated for female guards and education; inspired Florence Nightingale.

Elizabeth Browning

Poet and novelist; advocate for women's rights and education; campaigned against child labor.

Emily Murphy

Canadian feminist and magistrate; fought for property rights (Dower Act) and women's legal status.

Louise May Alcott

Feminist writer of 'Little Women'; believed women should seek personal independence.

Sigmund Freud

Father of psychology; developed psychoanalysis and the interpretation of dreams.

Alexander Dumas

'The Three Musketeers'; wrote novels, aimed to make literature accessible to the poor.

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher who coined 'survival of the fittest' and developed Social Darwinism.

Emile Zola

French novelist focused on truth, justice, and the struggles of the working class and women.

William Lovett

Leader of the Chartist movement; fought for working-class political rights and education.

Millicent Fawcett

Suffragist leader (NUWSS); advocated for women's voting rights through legal, peaceful means.

Lord Shaftesbury

Social reformer who banned child labor and shortened working hours in factories.

Florence Nightingale

Founder of modern nursing; focused on sanitation and hygiene in hospitals and war zones.

Charles Lyell

Geologist whose 'Principles of Geology' influenced Darwin and challenged literal biblical timelines.

Alfred Russel Wallace

Scientist who independently co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Michael Faraday

Scientist who discovered the foundations of electromagnetism and invented the electric motor.

Louis Pasteur

Microbiologist who proved germ theory, invented pasteurization, and created the rabies vaccine.

Gottlieb Daimler

Engineer who invented the high-speed engine and the first motorcycle/automobile.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Militant suffragette leader (WSPU); used 'deeds not words' to fight for women's votes.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

First female physician in Britain; women's rights advocate and England's first female mayor. Co founder of the first hospital to be staffed by women

Charles Dickens

Novelist who exposed poverty and corruption; advocate for poor children and education.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Philosopher who proposed the 'Übermensch' (Superman) and the 'will to power.'

Charles Stewart Parnell

Leader of the Irish Home Rule movement; known as the 'Uncrowned King of Ireland.'