The Edwardian Era is synonymous with prosperity, rich art and fashion. King Edward VII, in his reign between 1901 and 1910, brought about some noteworthy changes in the field of art and fashion. Life for the rich revolved around social parties and banquets. Those who attended these parties were elaborately dressed men and women with high society manners and a polished outlook towards life.
The Edwardian Era is said to have set landmarks in the field of art and fashion. Both men and women entertained themselves with various sports.
Hunting was one of the most popular of men's sports. Special hunting trips were organized for the elites where they took the joy of hunting prey. Goose hunting shooting contests were also organized.
Although banned today, fox hunting was a part of this "sport" for the rich.
Fresh colours were in and the dark shades of the Victorian Era were no more. Complex designs also gave way to simpler designs which became very trendy. Women of this Era started getting an equal say in the socio-economic scenario of the United Kingdom, for the first time in history.
The demise of child labour was another feather in the cap of the Edwardian Era. The judiciary and the executive both started treating child labour as a severe offence.
Much has been said about the developments of the upper and the middle classes, however the same does not apply to the working class. The grinding poverty of the working class met with negligible development as their situation appears to have worsened during the Edwardian Era.
(Info from Edwardian-era-facts html).
The years 1901 - 1910 are generally thought of as the Edwardian Era, named after King Edward VII, but the spirit of the time transcends certainly to his successor, King George V. Despite the last 6 years or so of Queen Victoria's reign being technically "Victorian", these last 6+ years have a distinctly "Edwardian" feel. Perhaps because Queen Victoria was less and less in the public eye, and her son and heir began to have an impact on society. It is also notable that The Great War (World War One) is generally thought to fit into the Edwardian Era.
The Edwardian Era was different in its morals, having a more lax standard in its code of conduct. During this Era we start to see more and more implementation of the standard inventions used in our Era today.
By the late 1890's, it became more common for homes of the middle classes to have electricity, telephones, indoor plumbing and even a car.
The Edwardian Era is one of the finest examples in modern history of an Era truly in the crux of two very different worlds --- the Victorian Era and the Edwardian Era. The Edwardian Era was filled with technological advancements and social change. It was also the end of an age, a farewell to life as everyone knew it.
(Info from Two Worlds)
During this Era, not only were people physically more mobile and able to engage with the wider world, the world was becoming more accessible inside their own homes. The turn of the Century saw the establishment of newspapers that we are still reading today.
Harmsworth's Daily Mail was followed by Pearson's Daily Express, quickly followed in 1903 by a new sort of newspaper, the Daily Mirror. This was a newspaper reaching out to those in the population for whom literacy was a challenge and though it was painful to acknowledge, it was meant, in terms of its style, to appeal to female readers. The name "Daily Mirror" was in itself attractive to female readers.
In many ways Harmsworth was simply building on a style of journalism that already existed. He used the ideas from the weekly "Tit-bits" publication, small snippets of gossipy news, easily digested and wove the idea into a daily newspaper reporting on news from home and abroad. It had an instant appeal and although some may have been scandalized, the effect was the delivery of easily digested news into ordinary working class households.
(Info from Intriguing History)
Edwardian women were finding fresh fields to conquer, not just in work, but in sports as well. To scandalized reports of women rowing clubs, bicycling and gymnastic clubs, women's football clubs and even British women playing and winning at Wimbledon, women were pushing the boundaries of society.
But life was going to change beyond all recognition at the end of the Edwardian Era and the lives of women with it. Women's suffrage and the First World War would mean that women took new roles in society, undreamed of in Queen Victoria's Britain.
An increasing awareness among women that there was a different way of doing things really arose among women of the lower middle classes who needed to work. Thousands of women were employed as teachers and this number continued to grow. The invention of the sewing machine gave women the opportunity to work from home, the invention of the bicycle gave then freedom.
Women could move about unchaperoned and get to work. The inventions of the telephone and typewriter opened up completely new work opportunities in offices and shops.
By 1901, 25% of all office workers were women. With money in their pockets and a new freedom on their bicycles, women changed the way they thought and dressed. The cumbersome skirts and crinolines that restricted movement were cast aside in favour of more unrestricted garments and even cycling trousers.
Women faced an uphill battle for any sort of recognition in the workplace. Their role was a subservient one, to serve the needs of the men who employed them. Few had managerial roles outside of their own businesses. Those that ran their own businesses were often very successful and had to be robust to operate in a "male driven workplace."
Legislation was created to keep certain jobs closed to women. There was no equal pay, women were often segregated from men at work and there was little chance for women to advance in the workplace.
Some women wanted to work on causes they felt very close to, involving the rights and issues of women. In the mid 19th Century, new acts of Parliament concerning divorce and women's property laws, gave women the opportunity to create lives separate from their husbands. But it was the individual women, who, in the mid 19th Century, started the ball rolling.
Emily Davis worked on women's education and she founded Girton College Cambridge in 1869.
Francis Cobbe demanded that women could study for a university degree in 1862.
Josephine Butler and the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, so humiliating in its treatment of women.
The campaigning that led to Elizabeth Anderson becoming the first British licensed female doctor and the setting up of the London School of Medicine for women.
(Information from Intriguing History)
Couples were now having fewer children, for the middle classes it became increasingly expensive to buy things that made them 'middle class' and so having fewer children meant money could be stretched further.
The need to buy things was fueled during the later Industrial Revolution. The Great Exhibition of 1851 brought goods to the attention of over 6 million visitors. Goods that most people never thought they needed, now became must have items for the growing middle classes. By 1900, suburbia had grown.
Husbands commuted and wives stayed at home separated from their husbands lives. It became obvious that some sort of occupation was needed to fill the long days and volunteering served that purpose.
VOLUNTEERING
Churches supplied the social services in the early 20th Century society. The churches and related charities were, by and large, headed by men who oversaw an immense army of female volunteers. With the responsibility of volunteering, women found a new confidence. They began to mix with a wider spectrum of people and they began to take an interest in political work. Women's political work was kept separate from the politics of men, largely involving organizing money raising events and campaigning but for some women this was never going to be enough.
