Looking Back at Britain: Expansion of Empire 1880s

More about the book

The invention of photography in the first half of the 19th century gave people a completely different way of recording what was happening around them and soon professional and amateur photographers were turning their lenses onto every subject imaginable - monarchs and politicians, soldiers at war, industry and transport, farming and rural life, national celebrations, ordinary people at home and at work, entertainers and actors, fashion, sport, school and much else. Their work has given us a unique view of our nation's heritage. This volume looks at the major events, people and stories of the 1870s through photographs that reveal the essence of those times. The decade of Victoria's Golden Jubilee saw Britain suffering recession at home, but forging ahead with expansion abroad. Record numbers left the British Isles to seek a living, spreading the English language around the world, but Ireland remained a thorn in Britain's side as Parliament rejected Gladstone's Home Rule Bill. Meanwhile, working people began to realise their strength in trade unions, as the first major strikes were fought and won for better pay and conditions. Relive these times in the dramatic and moving pictures presented in this book.