AMA about 1890s England and the lore around it...

The Chatters
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hey peeps.

i’m writing a historical fantasy novel, and to help me with worldbuilding, i’d appreceate it if you could ask me anything about this world. this is set in 1800s Great Britain in England, with a heaven and hell (like in the Bible) attached to it. the story takes place mostly in the real world, with the villain being a demon from hell named Lupina and the protagonist bieng a sociopathic angel named Heliox. so far idk his position in the real world and the villai (Lupina’s) position. all I know is that Lupina wants power, and Heliox is using his supreme inilect to stop her.

so, ask me anything. you might learn something cool and new :)))

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Is Victoria the queen? Or is there some other monarch? Or none at all? And if so, does that impact the story in any way? Are any other famous people going to make an appearance? ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

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oooh, good questions.

no. this is the Edwardian period, where King Edward VII was in power :slight_smile: otherwise it would be called the Victorian era.

it impacts the fashion sense of the people, and maybe the way people see women, and def the way people see mental health. other than that I can’t think of anything much, which is problematic imo…, do u have any ideas?

originally not but I might, now that you give me the idea… hm :eyes: I might just have Lupina plan a coup on the King.

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Edward VII ascended to the throne in 1901, though. Anything 1890s is quite Victorian indeed :slight_smile: And the fashion differs significantly, even though the two “eras” are barely 10-15 years apart.

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oooh yeah thanks for correcting me.

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So are you settled on the 1890s, or some other period in the 19th century? Where in England is your story taking place? :blush:

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1890s England is well after the time of England that I use for inspiration for my magical realism story (1820s). Were telephones quite common by the 1890s? Even in normal households? Or were people still using telegrams?

Also, what was the most common middle-class job for ladies?

What about labor laws? Were children still working in factories or had that stopped by then?

I also want to know the meal schedule. So, breakfast…and then?

Did upper class or royal people have to change multiple times a day like afternoon clothes, and evening dresses and stuff?

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Is it not steampunk at all? Just an alternate history where magic exists during that time period…and other things?

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I recently read an extremely queer book set in the nineties! Defs seems like a very fluid time.

  1. What are gender politics like? Do women have the vote in advance of our world?
  2. How’s the British empire doing? IIRC at this time in our world they were fighting to colonize Africa.
  3. What’s the literary scene like? What sort of books are being published? IIRC Sherlock Holmes started in the 1890s in our world.
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i’m settled at around 1890-1900.

it’s in London.

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yeah. it’s got angels and demons and a god and a Satan.

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god and satan are both women btw.

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Candlestick phones were popularized throughout the 1890s to the 1930s. The candlestick phone was separated into two pieces: a mouthpiece that stood upright (“the candlestick”) and a receiver, which was placed in your ear when you were placing a phone call.

this was in normal households, though telegrams were probably also still used.
credit: History of the Telephone | From The 1880s To Current Time

typists and telephone operators :slight_smile:

i assume not. the industrial revlolution had long since stopped, and reforms had been made. so progress had happened.

lunch and dinner, maybe a snack. same as us.

yes, definitely, it was a way to show status and wealth. there were different dresses for morning, evening, and night, and for balls and opera and theatre.

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Good grief :sweat_smile: I bet they had large closets and I bet they rarely wore the same thing as last year.

Do you know what the upper class did with clothes they could no longer wear?

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yes :joy: they also had fashion trends, like we do. so they also had to accomodate that.

second hand was thriving in victorian England. you could easily buy and sell clothes or sell them secondhand for the fraction of a price of getting new ones. they could also give them to the poor.

I could ramble about Victorian and Edwardian fashion for ages :sweat_smile:

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Back with another question:

What did people do for fun?

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theatre and opera are really populr during this time. it’s like going to parties in modern days today.

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What about the poor? What did they do for fun?

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they were too busy working to do anything, from what I understand.

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Anarchy :joy:

Sorry, I know it’s an odd time to revive this thread lol, but I saw it floating around as I was checking out another one. I’ve written one novel set in 1893-1894 England, and am plotting a sequel set in 1895, so I’ve done a fair bit of research on the topic.

The first book centres around the danger of an anarchist attack, which was in full bloom during the 1880s and 1890s. Irish anarchists were probably the most common in England, but there were also French ones, and in 1892, a group of anarchists (French and English) were arrested on explosive charges (look up the Walsall plot or Walsall anachists).

The “fun” part about this all was that a pamphlet was found in their possession, called “The Anarchist Feast at The Opera”, which contained detailed description about how to compromise the gas supply at an opera house and make explosives from readily available domestic ingredients. The most expensive aspect of the whole thing would have been the opera ticket (which I think cost more than a worker’s yearly wages). The even better part, though, was how this pamphlet revelled in graphic, gory descriptions of opera-goers burning to death following such an attack.

Also, as an anarchy fun fact, Empress Sisi was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in Geneva (his name was Luigi…which is funny in 2025 :rofl:).

Jesting aside, though, there were also music-halls and pubs and public gardens and beaches. Railway travel was quite advanced at this point, perhaps even better than today, and even lower-middle-class and working-class people could potentially travel (in uncomfortable 3rd class carriages, but still lol).

Busy in an understatement :sweat_smile: There was definitely still a degree of exploitation going on. I don’t think they were quite done even with child labour, but it was most likely better than at the beginning of the century. By this point, though, I think that even the working-class had some free hours they could use for leisure, except the upper class people kinda looked down on all that, basically that entertainment for the working classes was immoral.

I’ve saved a lot of online resources on the topic, so if you’re ever interested, I would be happy to share them :slight_smile:

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