Dickensians! discussion

Here's a thread to share the humorous, the surprising or the distinctly odd aspects of Victorian life, as we see it now.

Maybe it's an article, a single fact, or an image - let us all in on what you know or have just discovered!

Here are some reasons for being admitted to a mental hospital:

Oh My! Uterine Derangement. How does one spot a woman whose uterine is deranged. Greediness? Heck you could put half of the people I know in there if greediness counts. And, Small Pox would seem to need a hospital not a mental asylum. Thanks for this, Jean. How amazing.

Just spotted "novel reading"...I suppose they would be coming for me.

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Domestic Trouble ...If your husband wants to get rid if you, into the asylum you go.

Sadly true, Debra. And that went on into the 1900s.

The 1900s!!! My gosh.

Did you ever see the movie Changeling with Angelina Jolie? Based on true events in 1928. Blood-chilling.

Me and my sisters are going to the asylum together as a family because our parents are cousins! Wow, everybody has to tick more than one on this list...

Sara wrote: "Did you ever see the movie Changeling with Angelina Jolie? Based on true events in 1928. Blood-chilling."

I have not seen it, but my local library carries it. When things get back to normal, I will check it out.

Just heard about the origin of hangover on one of my facebook group. Men just hung over a rope for a night! The origin of the homeless shelter! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_.... Very weird that you had to pay for that uncomfortable night, it’s late Victorian at the earliest so after Dickens, I wonder what he would have thought?

Okay, that is one of the strangest things I have ever read. Costs more if you want to sleep over a rope. Of course, the homeless were many and little cared for in those times.

France-Andrée wrote: "Just heard about the origin of hangover on one of my facebook group. Men just hung over a rope for a night! ..."

I read about that recently too France-Andrée! It seemed to be drunk sailors, and I wondered why they would bother. But then maybe it was because of the vermin, and the idea that rats might come and gnaw at their faces overnight. I learned from The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London by Judith Flanders, that in some London tenement buildings the sleeping bodies were stacked up five or more on top of one another. But a penny was a lot of money just to rent a rope for a night!

Every time I look at the list of given reasons for being admitted to an asylum, I see something new ... "Political excitement", "Rumour of husband murder", "Over action of the mind", "Snuff eating for 2 years". Clearly quite a lot of these were just "excuses" to get rid of someone.

And how could "Ill treatment by husband" be a reason? Er .. shouldn't the husband be locked up then?!

I don't know! Is this event occurring before or after the Married Women's Property Act of 1870?

I haven't a date I'm afraid Elizabeth.

The range looks like it crosses both sides of that year, so I'd guess circumstances of the charge would change over time.

Possibly ... the descriptions are so specific, that I can't help but feel these reasons are tailored to individuals, rather than general ones, which could have committed anybody.

Happy World Beard Day everyone! Charles Dickens was famous for his flyaway hair and wild whiskers but very few of his friends supported his decision to grow a moustache in 1852 and "…lamented still more his further delinquency when he added his chin beard".



Yet I always associate Victorian gentlemen with beards! How about you?

LOL! That's funny.
He does have a scruffy look due to his hair, beard and moustache......but that's Charles Dickens.

I wonder if he thought he looked scruffy. I would think not. I tend to think of the Victorians as fastidious about their looks.

Hmmm....I don't think I associate Victorian men with beards; not anymore than today. So many Victorian movies have both shaven and bearded men.
Good question. I've never thought about it.

Have to say I always imagine characters clean shaven unless stated otherwise.

They may not be as common as I had thought, in Western authors at least. I suppose it's that those Victorian authors who had beards, usually had full ones - not the neatly clipped or short stubble ones we see now. Charles Darwin, Tennyson and so on. LOL and now I find the GR page for Charles Darwin, they have posted a rare picture of a clean-shaven young man! And also Alfred Tennyson!

Perhaps it's a GR policy to avoid beards!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson



Charles Darwin

These are the images I have in my mind when I think of those authors. I realise it's only two though!

Goodreads policy to avoid beards. Haha!!!

:) Well for a long time GR would not use the title "Lord" eg., in Lord Byron - and the superlibrarians kept changing it back to "George Gordon Byron"! Whoever knows him as that? And even Alfred Tennyson is not correct. He was "Alfred, Lord Tennyson".

So I wouldn't be that surprised ... maybe beards are not politically correct?

Wow! So interesting! I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a thing they do, it’s just funny to think about! Imagine being in that meeting or email or whatever. Beards? Nah! Haha.

I know LOL! :D

Leo Tolstoy does have a beard here on Goodreads, they didn't opt out of a picture... :P.

https://www.goodreads.com/photo/autho...

I like this one, but I found it on an article that says "5 Russian overrated writers" and I disagree, I love Tolstoy.

https://www.rbth.com/arts/329645-5-ov...

Ooooh France-Andrée - he's magnificently hirsute!

Louisa May Alcott's family lived on a commune called Fruitlands in 1843. It was a failure because no one really knew how to farm and there were some real oddballs there. One was a man who had a very long beard, which was not the fashion at the time in America, so he had been criticized and made fun of outside the commune. One generation later and beards became the default for successful men!

That's fascinating Robin! Thanks :)

America had them too. I always thought Longfellow looked like the iconic grandfather.



BTW, my husband has worn a beard since the late 80s. He was told by one of his bosses he was not allowed to grow one, so of course, he did. lol. He liked it so much, he never went clean shaven again.

Oh yes, I agree! I never knew what he looked like!

Chris has too - and for around the same length of time. So did my brother, although he shaved it off briefly, when it started to go grey ... then decided to throw caution to the winds :D

My mum hated his beard, but came round when he explained he had to wear one, teaching in Arab countries, as it is expected of adult males. Sort of the opposite to your husband's experience, Sara!