Late Victorian Social History and Biographical Studies

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key figures, legislative acts, and social movements of the late Victorian and early 20th-century British history based on the provided lecture notes.

Currer Bell

The masculine pen name adopted by Charlotte Brontë to publish her literary works, including the novel Jane Eyre.

Elizabeth Rigby

A reviewer for the Quarterly Review who criticized Jane Eyre, stating that if it was written by a woman, she must be an 'immoral' one due to the character's strong-minded nature.

The Six Points of the People's Charter (1838)

The specific demands of the Chartist movement: universal male suffrage, secret ballot, abolition of property qualifications for MPs, payment of MPs, equal electoral districts, and annual general elections.

The Sacred Month

A term used by the Chartist movement referring to a proposed month-long general strike as a form of non-violent political pressure.

William Cuffay

A prominent Black Chartist leader and tailor, born to a formerly enslaved man, who became a delegate to the Chartist London council and was eventually transported to Tasmania for life.

Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866, 1868)

Legislation enforcing compulsory medical inspections of 'suspected' prostitutes in port and garrison towns, which Josephine Butler campaigned to repeal.

Ladies’ National Association

An organization founded to campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts, led by figures like Josephine Butler, focusing on the double standard of sexual morality.

Charles Knowlton

The author of the controversial birth control pamphlet 'Fruits of Philosophy', which Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh republished in 1877.

Malthusian League

An organization founded in 1877 by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh to promote birth control and contraception, characterized as 'neo-Malthusian'.

National Secular Society (NSS)

An organization founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866 advocating for freethought and the separation of church and state.

Affirmation vs. Oath

The legal conflict faced by Charles Bradlaugh, who sought to 'affirm' his allegiance to the Queen in Parliament on his honor rather than swearing a religious oath on the Bible.

The dockers' tanner

The central wage demand of the 1889 London Dock Strike, requesting a rate of $6d.$ per hour.

Ben Tillett

A socialist trade union leader who, along with Tom Mann, led the successful 1889 strike of London dockers.

Arts and Crafts Movement

An aesthetic movement launched by William Morris in 1861, promoting hand-made objects in reaction to machine-made industrial production.

Social Democratic Federation (SDF)

A socialist organization founded by H.M. Hyndman in 1881 that promoted revolutionary socialism; members included William Morris and Tom Mann.

News from Nowhere (1890)

A utopian novel written by William Morris depicting a future England with small rural communities and the abolition of private property.

Uranian

A term used by Edward Carpenter in his writings to refer to a specific class of people of an 'emotional nature', particularly related to his study of homosexuality.

The Intermediate Sex (1908)

An influential pamphlet published by Edward Carpenter advocating for the understanding of homosexuality as a natural phenomenon.

Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)

A militant suffrage organization founded in 1903 by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, whose members were known as 'suffragettes'.

Cat and Mouse Act (1913)

Legislation that allowed for the temporary release of suffragettes on hunger strike to recover their health before rearresting them to finish their sentence.

Women’s Dreadnought

A weekly newspaper launched by Sylvia Pankhurst to support the East End Federation of the Suffragettes and voice the concerns of working-class women.

Representation of the People Act 1918

An act that gave the vote to women over the age of $30$ who met specific property qualifications, as well as granting universal male suffrage.