Victorians were right weirdos

[tobee]

A somewhat click baity title.

I’m just reading Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge, historical fiction largely written set at the beginning of the Crimean War. Much mention of cholera etc.

I know very little about this period which is why I was interested. I took a bit of time out reading the book to have a very quick google of the war and cholera. I had forgotten that I’d previously known that tourists and society people went to view the battles. Hiring boats and watching, taking picnics and drinking champagne on hillsides as they watched the fun.🤨

Just so unfathomable to imagine today. Or the recent past. I can’t think of anything equivalent really. I don’t know, maybe it was some assumption that this was The British Empire and therefore it was a foregone conclusion to people that we (and our allies) would win? That’s probably way too simplistic. I know death and disease was much closer and public hangings still happened and were great sport (?). But travelling in the heat and devastating conditions with cholera and other awful conditions rife…

You could trot out the oft used quote “the past is a different country, they do things differently there.”

Using another cliche , the mind boggles.

If public executions were reintroduced, people would go. Basic human nature hasn't hanged. Technology has, but human nature hasn't.

@BlueDillieDillie I was going to comment exactly that as I attended a fascinating tour at Manassas National Park in 2019 and I still regularly wear the fleece I bought in the souvenir shop!

Human nature hasn’t changed and as has been pointed out the internet has now made it even easier for people to witness atrocities.

A more minor similarity is when people slow down as they pass a car accident for a look. I cannot understand any of it.

Is there a deeper argument than I can make about learning and curiosity. The Victorians were curious about the exceptional and it extended to what they termed freaks. The two headed calf in a fairground - trivial, to the sometimes serious attention they gave Joseph Merrick (The elephant man).
We have the benefit of photography and previous scholarship. They were 'pioneering'.
If we are not curious, even about a battle or a road accident we will not be acting as a human.

This is very true, and no different. Human nature is very basic and what we consider acceptable and not acceptable changes between eras; only our primal desires and innate selfishness does not.

It's good to read about how things were in the past. We can only improve on our humanity by realising how wrongly things were done and how we can improve on that.

Incidentally, education has a part to play too - I didn't realise that everyone doesn't know what a 'dog fight' was.

The pedant in me wants to point out that public hangings were abolished in 1868, during the Victorian period.

I’ll also point out that Roman gladiators rarely fought to the death. They were considered highly trained athletes and celebrities. Referees would stop matches if a fighter was seriously injured or surrendered. It’s estimated that only about 10% of professional bouts ended with a death.

How true. The way we communicate those primal desires has changed with the internet but the basic tenets remain the same. In fact arguably worse than ever before, as all manner of suffering can be shared with a worldwide audience at the click of a button.

Because antisemitism is fashionable but not acceptable.

not 'recent past' (indeed, far older than the victorians), but wasn't the reason Boudicca's rebellion ultimately failed was because the Britons bought along so many spectators, including carts, animals, whole families, that they blocked her "army"'s retreat, leading to a mass slaughter by the romans?

("army" in quotations because compared to the roman's disciplined military they were more of a collection of disorganised, disparate tribes, which also didn't help).

You are right in that it does seem batshit crazy though.

Yes, that is the correct term.👍
Fighter aeroplanes of opposing forces fighting each other at close range. Involved lots of twisting, turning, diving, climbing etc.
Many inexperienced pilots were shot down without even seeing their attacker.

Different to watching bombers or transport aeroplanes flying overhead.

It was quite late in the 19th century when the British Army banned camp followers. I think the Crimea was the last time it was permitted on campaign. I think it went on longer in India.

Camp followers were the wives and children of soldiers, unofficial wives, and other hangers on who provided services for the soldiers. It's part of the background in Georgette Heyer's The Spanish Bride, about the Peninsular campaign.

But many do think we are superior today - the ‘be kind’ and of course we are so inclusive and don’t see colour -ha bluddy ha

I really don’t think we can say the Victorians were any odder than we are now, in many ways.
Yes, many of their ideas and beliefs sound strange to us now, but spend five minutes on X and you come away reeling at what some people say and think. Well, I certainly do (and I’ve immersed myself in a lot of Victorian history, art and literature for many years).

I’ve just been catching up on this thread.

And yes people do seem to think we in 2026 are absolutely civilised; especially when it comes to people saying they are “on the right side of history” and “it’s not the 1950s/1970s/19990s” - delete as applicable @EmeraldRoulette

Yes you could certainly say that. I did say the title was clickbait ! 😊