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1		When Queen Victoria died Britain was one of the most important nations in the world. The Edwardian period began on January 22nd 1901, after the death of Queen Victoria. At this time the British Empire was a leading world power and London was the economic capital of the world. More During the reign of Edward VII, and for several years beyond, some of the world's richest people lived in Britain. Many of these were part of a new wealthy elite that were not afraid to show their wealth or to spend it.
2		Rich Edwardians liked to show off their wealth. Edward VII was very fond of large cigars, large meals and rich French cuisine. His tastes were copied by the fashionable rich. The Victorian belief in strict religion, duty and the need for self-improvement, that had controlled their behaviour, was now eased. More Whereas Victoria was well known for her piety, restraint and hate of excess, Edward VII enjoyed a good time. Hence, during the Edwardian period, things became more light-hearted and a taste for the exotic arose. The level of prosperity that had risen during the Victorian Age found an outlet in gluttony and opulence in Edwardian England.
3		The Edwardian era was an age of elegance. A French style, known as Art Nouveau, was popular. It used simple but decorated fixtures and fittings. The rich Edwardian home was lighter and airier than the Victorian home, and did not have the same clutter. More Pastel, floral wallpapers in leaf green, lilac and grey, replaced the dark greens and heavy purples. The garden and the outdoors became popular. People would open doors and windows to let the air in and enjoy being outside. In Britain, Art Nouveau developed out of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Glasgow became the most important centre for this, with the creations of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his circle.
4		The rich house was still grand. The men of trade and industry loved to show off their wealth and enjoyed all the pleasures their money could buy. Giving a house party lasting for several days was popular. More Guests would picnic, hunt, shoot and fish in the daytime. In the evenings, they would be entertained with music, parlour games and enormous banquets.
5		The period up to 1914 is remembered as "The Beautiful Epoch". Gentlemen dressed very smartly and a rich Edwardian lady could change her clothes as much as six times a day. More Women modelled their behaviour and appearance upon the 'Gibson Girl' drawings, by illustrator Charles Gibson. These represented the feminine ideal of the early 1900s. Another role model was Queen Alexandra, with her beautiful clothes, high-piled hair and distinctive multi-stranded pearl chokers. A new design of corset gave a more "natural" S-shaped figure, by forcing the bust forward. Ladies also favoured huge hats and ornate hair curled around pads.
6		Women's fashions became more comfortable, with lighter materials and a softer style. From 1910, suffragettes influenced fashion and clothes became more practical, with designs copied from men's clothing. More Fashions became straighter to suit the needs of the new 'working woman'. It became important to create fashions appropriate for women entering professions which were formerly occupied by men, such as clerks and secretaries.
7		Life was not so much fun for the servants. Servants had to be seen and not heard. They were expected to go about their work efficiently and quietly and never question their 'betters'. Servants worked long days with little time off. More A maid would have two or three sets of working clothes, which she would be expected to pay for herself. Some servants were ladies' maids and helped the woman of the house dress and arrange her hair in elaborate styles. Others helped with the cooking, scrubbed the floors and made the beds. They would be up early to light the fires.
8		The sick and unemployed were even worse off. Even the hardworking servants of the rich were better off than the labourers who worked in poorly paid industries, or the sick and the unemployed. These people could barely afford to feed themselves and their families. More Many women took in washing or sewing, which they could do at home. Such women could only dream of wearing the sumptuous clothes which sometimes passed through their hands. Most of their clothes were fifth-hand and they were often trapped at home because their boots had been pawned for food.
9		It was a time of great political change. Abroad in Russia, revolution was brewing. At home, despite the British class system, society was becoming more democratic. The Liberals, who came to power in 1906, introduced a number of reforms to help the unemployed and sick, and the Labour Party (which represented the workers) was rising as a political force. More The 1906 general election saw a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, bringing to an end 20 years of rule by the Conservative Party. Magic lanterns projected the results onto massive screens in London's Trafalgar Square and on the Embankment. The newly emerging Labour Party also increased its number of MPs (Members of Parliament) from two to thirty. Meanwhile, in Russia in 1905, the Tsar used Russia's army to turn on protestors outside the Winter Palace, in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday'. A little over ten years later, in 1917, a full-scale revolution would take place in Russia.
10		A 'people's budget' raised money for old age pensions through taxation. In Britain in 1909, King Edward VII came into conflict with the Liberal government when the House of Lords rejected the 'People's Budget' (which had been passed by the House of Commons). The bill eventually became law. More While the argument was still going on, the king fell ill and died on 6th May, 1910. He was succeeded by King George V. The crisis was finally resolved in 1911.
11		The year 1911 saw the beginning of a time of industrial unrest in Great Britain. The mood of the country began to change. The growing trade union movement fought for improved working conditions and better pay. In 1912, the ocean liner "Titanic" sank after hitting an iceberg. Some believe that this event saw the beginning of the end of Edwardian glamour and excess. More At the height of Edwardian opulence, the British political landscape was changing. Political papers, such as the Clarion, published articles written from a socialist perspective. It also championed the right to leisure for the working classes and spawned a network of social clubs for working men and women.
12		As the Edwardian era drew to a close, women were demanding the vote. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), better known as 'the suffragettes', took part in acts of protest such as public demonstrations and window breaking. Many were jailed for these offences. More In prison, they continued their protests through hunger strikes. Faced with growing public disquiet over the tactic of force feeding the women, the government rushed an Act through Parliament in 1913 that permitted the release of sick prisoners to recuperate; however, the police were free to re-imprison offenders once they were better. This law proved both unworkable and unpopular. One effect was to increase support for the Labour Party, many of whose early founders supported votes for women.
13		A variety of sports were becoming popular and cinema was just starting. In 1910, the Olympic Games were held in London. New plays were written for the theatre by playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw and Harley Granville Barker. The music hall remained popular and people were becoming interested in the new moving pictures (cinema). More The first international rugby match was held, between England and France, in 1903. Popularity of sports tended to follow class divisions, with tennis and yachting popular amongst the very wealthy and association football (soccer) favoured by the poorest. The rich also still favoured hunting. It was one of the few country sports in which women could participate. Following the example of King Edward VII, the newly wealthy landowners liked nothing more than shooting game on their country estates. Reading was still popular but a distinction was arising between highbrow and popular fiction. Authors of the time included H.G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster and P.G. Wodehouse.
14		In the Edwardian era, shopping became a leisure pastime. A huge number of retail shops opened and the ‘high street’ was born. New fashions, brands and home accessories were appearing all the time. More Women would shop for clothes in Paris or London at fashionable stores such as Harrods and, in 1909, in the newly-opened Selfridges store on Oxford Street. There were new things to buy such as food mixers, typewriters, the latest designs in bicycles, picnic tables and hampers. Even in smaller towns more and more consumer goods were becoming available.
15		There were many scientific advances. Scientific discoveries, which were such a feature of the Victorian era, continued. In 1910, Scott and his team left for their ill-fated scientific expedition to the South Pole. Between 1907–1915 Einstein was at work developing his Theory of Relativity. The era also saw the discovery of quantum theory, genetic heredity, atomic structure, superconductivity and sonar. More Electric light and the telephone became more common and, in 1908, WH Hoover produced the first electrically powered upright vacuum cleaner. There were mass produced typrewriters, the first elevator rides, electric food mixers and air conditioners. The first motion pictures were shown in cinemas.
16		Many new inventions were to do with travel. The Wright brothers made their first flight in 1903. Then, in 1909, Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel. The first model T Ford car was sold in 1908. More In 1903, the first electric trams began running in London and motorbikes were becoming more common and more like the designs we would recognise today.
17		1914 saw the start of WW1. In June 1914, a Serbian terrorist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, in Sarajevo. This event led very quickly to the outbreak of the First World War. In the first 18 months of war, 2.4 million men signed up voluntarily. Fighting continued on the Western Front until 11 a.m. on November 11th, 1918. More Austria blamed Serbia for the assassination, and threatened to attack Serbia if she did not agree to very strict conditions. Russia then mobilized for war in support of its ally, Serbia. Germany then declared war on Russia and France. When Germany tried to march through neutral Belgium to get to France, Britain declared war on Germany. A quarter of the men of fighting age volunteered in England and Wales. Most people thought the war would be 'over by Christmas' that year. When it became clear that it would last longer, Lord Kitchener's 'Your Country Needs You', poster campaign was launched to encourage men to enlist. However, the voluntary system proved insufficient and conscription was introduced in 1916.
18		WWI was one of the most destructive wars ever fought. The technology that the Victorians had thought would help to unite the world in peace was instead used to cause the most horrible deaths and injuries. WW1 saw machine guns, flamethrowers, grenades, tanks and gas used widely for the first time. More By the end of 1914, the war entered a stalemate. Two main fronts had developed, the Western Front, in north-eastern France, and the Eastern Front, in Russia. Troops fought each other from lines of interconnected trenches. 772,000 British soldiers were killed and 1,676,037 were wounded. Of the 65 million men who were called to fight worldwide, more than 10 million were killed and more than 20 million wounded.
19		Life in Britain itself was hugely changed by the war. For the first time in a war, civilians were targeted, when German bombs fell on parts of Britain. The whole nation was under the rule of DORA (Defence of the Realm Act), which also saw rationing introduced at the very end of the war. More The war had left many men shell shocked or with disabling injuries. Many women had lost husbands or fiancées.
20		One effect of the war was to speed up social and political change Women took on many new roles, in place of the men who were away fighting, and were reluctant to give up this freedom. After such a destructive war, fewer people still were prepared to toil away their lives just for a minority of people to enjoy a rich living. More Social and political changes had already been taking place during the Edwardian period. The war brought this change into focus. During World War I, a serious shortage of able-bodied men led to women taking on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what a woman was capable of doing. For those men who survived the battles of WW1, life would never be the same. There was a new determination for change and to build 'a world fit for heroes'.

Mincemeat

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