Victorian Diaries: The Daily Lives of Victorian Men and Women

by Heather Creaton (Editor)

A fascinating collection of diary entries and photographs, offering us a unique insight into the lives and times of ordinary Victorians. We witness life inside a hospital through the diary entires of a patient; the difficult decisions faced by a clergyman acting as charitable provider; a couple's grief at being parted by the war in India; a young woman's fears for her errant brother; and much more. Victorian Diaries presents the intricacies of ordinary daily lives with clarity and humor, and allows us to share their triumphs, sadnesses, and romances.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Victorian, 19th Century, Diary

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2001

Reviews

[Starfish · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This morning was rendered eventful by the birth of a son."

This book is fantastic. Creaton has taken extracts from 11 diaries, all but one previously unpublished, all from people from different walks of life although there is sometimes overlap -- various diarists mention the same events or famous speakers doing the rounds. Creaton introduces her diarists with a brief biographical note, accompanies them with brief explanations and illustrations where necessary, and ends with a brief history -- I think she's got the exact right mix between providing context and letting the writers speak for themselves. My only complaint is that it is too short.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Or perhaps rather a rating of 3,5 stars - the book is rather unclear on what is left out of the text (that entire days are skipped is clear from just reading, but I realized that the entries themselves have at least sometimes been cropped. It became obvious in the last diary presented, when you could see pictures of the entries and that they ran longer than what was printed), and it always annoys me when that is done without being clear on what (and why).

[saturn daughter ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two people mentioned reading Bleak House by Dickens lol.
One guy loved cats.
The diary of the Stoneman was my far favorite of all. He was often sick and worked a lot and worked also in a library :-).

Very interesting book, highly recommend, but some diary notes were very boring. I hated the one of Parents.

[Clare Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into the everyday lives of ordinary Victorians. The book features extracts from the diaries of people such as a headmaster, a stonemason, a young single woman, an actor, a newly wed etc.

It is full of illustrations and is a great book to dip into to discover how people lived then - what were their daily preoccupations and how did they express themselves in their own words.

I particularly enjoyed the 15 year old schoolboy whose diary entries cover his last days at school, his first days at work as a junior clerk and his moving house with his family from New Cross (at the time of the anarchists blowing up the post office there) to the newly urbanising Ilford - along with his coin and stamp collection.

[Susinok · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading first hand accounts. This is a collection of diary excepts from the Victorian age. They allow you go get a feel of how people went about their daily lives and what they thought abuot things.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for research for a Victorian gothic horror novel I'm writing. It really answered some of my questions and the diaries were interesting each in their own ways.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The diaries vary a lot in interest. The first 7 are all quite boring, especially the Stonemason one. However the final four are interesting and compensate for the rest.