The invention of photography in the first half of the 19th century gave people a completely different way of recording what was happening around them and soon professional and amateur photographers were turning their lenses onto every subject imaginable - monarchs and politicians, soldiers at war, industry and transport, farming and rural life, national celebrations, ordinary people at home and at work, entertainers and actors, fashion, sport, school and much else. Their work has given us a unique view of our nation's heritage. This volume looks at the major events, people and stories of the 1860s through photographs that reveal the essence of those times. Oozing self-confidence, Britain went from strength to strength as it exported its people, goods and games around the world. This was a decade of self-help, as the members of an upwardly mobile society strove to better themselves. But in one respect mid-Victorians were as vulnerable as ever. Despite progress in medical care and hygiene, they were all - from paupers to royalty - susceptible to fatal diseases. When Prince Albert died of typhoid fever, Queen Victoria plunged into implacable grief.
Relive these times in the dramatic and moving pictures presented in this book.