Topic summary

Activity 1 – Queen Victoria

By studying a photograph of Queen Victoria, a print of a painting of Victoria and Albert with 5 of their children, and an advertisement for soap, children will learn how to interpret portraits. They will discover how the artist or photographer used the pose, clothes, and props in order to put across a particular image of the subject. They will also appreciate how Victoria wanted herself and her family to be portrayed in photographs and paintings.

Activity 2 – Victorian people

By comparing photographs of individuals, children, and family groups, children will gain an insight into the class structure of Victorian society. Differences in working class, middle class and upper class lifestyles will also be discovered by analysis of the photographs, particularly how and why they were taken.

Note
At some stage during the teaching of these Activities, it would be useful to have a class discussion about sources. How could we find out about transport in our local area in Victorian times? What sources of information could we use?

Possibilities will include: libraries, museums and the internet, especially websites with local content, such as West Sussex Past Pictures.