The Edwardians

In January 1901, Edward VII, then the longest-waiting monarch to ascend to the British throne, succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria, who had reigned over a growing empire for 63 years. Edward’s reign would be much shorter – only nine years – but it was a period of British history that saw life change rapidly for those who now lived in the Edwardian Era. It began when Britain was at war in South Africa, and it lasted longer than the monarch whose name it took. It would be brought to its end by the advent of a much greater and more terrible conflictThe Edwardians: Life and Times of the Golden Age takes us on a journey through those first few years of the 20th century, when it can be said that modern Britain began to take shape. New technology – new modes of transport, new labour-saving devices – affected everyday life. There were new attitudes to social welfare, and reforms were introduced in a bid to improve the lot of even the poorest in society – albeit the picture often painted of Edwardian tea parties on the lawn on lazy summer days was still reserved for relatively few people in a Britain, which many now regard as the last great hurrah of the aristocracy in their so-called Golden Age. The Edwardians: Life and Times of the Golden Age tells the story of life in Britain – at the beginning of Edward’s reign over the most powerful nation on Earth – through the events, great and small, of what has also been known as the ‘Age of Optimism’.

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