Time in the Victorian Era
Time, as we understand it today, was only really invented in the Victorian era.
We take it for granted today that our phones and watches and other devices are accurate to the second.
That time zones are clear and fixed – when it’s 3pm in Dublin, it’s also 3pm in London, and 4pm in Paris or 10am in New York.
We don’t think twice about the fact that a train can be scheduled to leave at precisely 11.04 and, when it arrives, passengers will be clear as what time it is at their destination
We know that time travel is a trope of science fiction, but not a scientific reality. We are aware that the sun is a star that’s burning through a finite store of hydrogen and will, eventually, burn out and die.
But all of these ideas about time – things we just don’t think very much about today – were not fixed at all in the nineteenth century.
Changing Conceptions of Time
It was in the Victorian era, particularly from the middle of the 19th century onward, that time moved to the forefront of public consciousness.
The concept of time was pondered over, debated, and discussed by everyone, from factory workers to scientists, tradespeople to academics.
Time found its way into novels by the authors of the age – from the renowned and to the long-forgotten
It was investigated and interrogated across scientific disciplines: by geographers, geologists, naturalists, and many others
And it caused fierce debate among those charged with regulating and organising trade, transport, and communications.
All across the world, time was a hugely important facet of life in the Victorian era.
Guest
Dr Trish Ferguson is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool Hope University. The primary focus of her research is on Victorian literature and culture. She has published a monograph entitled Thomas Hardy’s Legal Fictions (Edinburgh University Press, 2013) and an edited collection of essays entitled Victorian Time: Technologies, Standardizations, Catastrophes (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
She is currently editing a companion volume to Victorian Time, entitled Literature and Modern Time: Technological Modernity, Glimpses of Eternity, Experiments with Time (forthcoming with Palgrave Macmillan in 2018).
Music
Music this week was by Paddy Mulcahy, whose work can be found at paddymulcahy.com
There was also music from Saso, whose music can be found here
Track Listings
Paddy Mulcahy: Tape Sketches
Spider Doesn’t Sleep
Waltz Sketch
endtape
Tarantella
Prosecco
Saso: Exitudes
Cardboard Cutout
Works Mentioned
William Heath: The March of Intellect [print]
Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend
Charles Dicken: A Christmas Carol
H.G. Wells: The Time Machine
Samuel Smiles: Self-Help
Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species
Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam
An Anachronism, or Missing One’s Coach
Looking for more Victoriana?
This episode is on the Victorian spiritualism and Sherlock Holmes
This one is on Baroness Orczy and Victorian crime fiction
And this one is on nervous diseases in Victorian times
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