On October 2nd, Edgar Holroyd-Doveton gave an excellent talk about ‘Pastimes and Pleasures in Victorian England’.

The Victorian period from the Coronation in 1837, to the Queen’s death in 1901, was a time of great change in leisure opportunities. By the end of this period, 70% of the UK population lived in towns, rather than 70% in villages, and the population had also grown considerably.

The aristocracy and gentlefolk experienced the London Season (when country houses would be abandoned for the summer for a series of social events that included meeting future partners and even the Queen herself); attending ‘Pleasure Gardens’ with music and dance; exhibitions and the theatre; gaming and hunting, and the new fashion of bicycling (a male preserve until the 1890s).

Working class people enjoyed social visits to Public Houses (far more numerous than today); playing football (expanded as a spectator sport from 1870 when Saturday half day working was introduced); visiting music halls, and travelling to the seaside and spas with the development of the railway network from the 1840s.