Famous People - Queen Victoria 1819 - 1901



I chose 'Queen Victoria' by Franz Xaver Winterhalter because it shows her as a young woman rather than the melancholy dowager she became in her later years and the portraits of which are well known.

 “ Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India. ”

Alexandrina Victoria was born on the 24th of May, 1819, to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Her childhood was strictly regulated and rather melancholy. After the death of the Duke of Kent, the Duchess of Kent found much solace and help in her comptroller Sir John Conroy. He was also rumored to be her lover. In an effort to raise Victoria into a woman totally dependent on them and without any opinions differing from theirs, she grew up in virtual isolation. Living under the yoke and restrictions of an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by her mother and Conroy, the young girl was not even allowed to interact with other children. She could not move about the palace freely but was required to always have governess or her mother accompany her every step. Rather than break her spirit, this made the young girl even stronger and as soon as she was crowned queen she made her displeasure and anger known by banning Conroy from her household and banishing her mother to a far side of the palace.

Victoria was educated and raised by her governess Baroness Louise Lehzen of Hanover and tutored in a number of other subjects by various tutors. She grew up speaking German, English and eventually learned French as well.

Being the only legitimate child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (who died less than a year after her birth) young Victoria became heiress presumptive after the death of George IV in 1830. At that time there were no clear provisions made (legally speaking) for an underage monarch. And so it was decided by the Regency ACT of 1830, that her mother, the Duchess of Kent, would act as Regent should Victoria ascend the throne while still a minor. This of course was something greatly desired by the Duchess. However, King William , remained a burr in her side by stubbornly refusing to die. He disliked the Duchess to such an extent that he stated his desire to live until Victoria’s birthday to prevent a regency by the Duchess of Kent.

Upon King Williams’ death Victoria became the monarch on 20 June, 1837, the coronation itself took place a little more than a year later on 28 June 1838. Since the Queen was an unmarried woman she was still required to live with her mother even though the queen mother had been banished to the far corner of the palace.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Victoria first met Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her cousin) when she was only seventeen. In her diary she wrote: "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful." They continued to keep contact via letters and very infrequent visits by Prince Albert.

The Queen and Prince Albert were married on 10 February 1840. They had 9 children and 42 grandchildren. It was Prince Albert and Lord Melbourne that taught Victoria much about being a 'constitutional monarch'. In simpler words, a 'constitutional monarchy' gives little power but offers much influence.  A number of attempts on her life was made during her reign, but her strength in dealing with these situations only helped her popularity. It was typhoid fever that took Prince Albert from the side of his beloved Victoria on December 14, 1861. His death devastated the queen. Her mother had passed away in March of the same year, and despite their poor relationship over much of Victoria’s life, the loss was hard on her. Victoria entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She also began to live in seclusion and avoided public appearances which earned her the nickname ‘Widow of Windsor’. The political climate along with her seclusion reduced her popularity but she continued to reside mainly in Balmoral, Osborne house and Windsor Castle.

As time went by, Victoria became increasingly reliant on her Scottish manservant, John Brown. Although rumors of a romantic connection were refuted, when she was laid to rest in her coffin, she had a memento of John Brown with her, along with one of her beloved Albert. Rumors surfaced in 2008 that Victoria's body wore the wedding ring of John Brown's mother, placed on her hand after her death, however this has not been verified by credible sources.

Queen Victoria died January 22, 1901 of a cerebral hemorrhage at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where she had spent every Christmas after being widowed. She was buried beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park. Queen Victoria had reigned for a total of 63 years, seven months and two days and died at the age of 81.
 
Sources:
http://www.victorianstation.com/queen.html
http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/Victoria.aspx
http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor6.html
Wikipedia.com

The Nobel Prize Winner is....

Wait a minute, where did that name come from?

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, 21 October 1833. He was not a strong child and his doting mother lovingly nursed him to health. At the age of nine his parents moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. Alfred studied Chemistry with Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin and continued his studies in the same field even after moving to the United States at the age of eighteen. His studies in chemistry brought him to the study of explosives and eventually to the ‘safer’ manufacture and use of nitroglycerine. Unfortunately a powerful explosion at their factory in Heleneborg in Sweden on September 3 , 1864 took the lives of five people. Among them Alfred’s younger brother Emil.
It is interesting to note that Alfred Nobel became quite proficient in six languages despite lacking a formal middle and highschool education. He spoke Swedish, French, Russian, English, German and Italian. He also held held 355 different patents with dynamite being the most famous.

There were several women in Alfred Nobel’s life, but none of these relationships ever lead to marriage or children. His work was his true love in the end and when he wrote his last will in 1895 he left much of his wealth to the foundation which bestows the famous ‘Nobel’ prizes. The first prize was given in 1901 to Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, who shared it with Frédéric Passy. The Nobel prize honors outstanding achievements in chemistry, literature, medicine, physics for work in peace and now economics.
Alfred Nobel was only 63 years old when he passed away in 1896 in Sanremo, Italy.

Famous Birthdays - Beatrix Potter

Chances are, when you were little, someone read to you the Tales of Peter Rabbit amongst other Beatrix Potter books. But how much do you know about the author?


Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866 in South Kensington England. She was the only daughter of heirs to a cotton fortune and lived a quiet and solitary childhood. As was customary among monied society back then she was primarily cared for by a nurse or nanny. Little Beatrix would kiss her parents goodnight and see them perhaps in the morning. But the majority of the time was spent attended by the hired help. When Beatrix turned 6 her mother had another child. Beatrix's little brother was called Bertram. They were homeschooled and raised together by nannies and governesses. When Bertram was old enough he left for boarding school as was customary then while Beatrix remained behind to continue her education with a succession of various governesses. The children would go on long summer vacations, usually to Scotland where she discovered her deep love for nature. Beatrix and Bertram Potter loved to sketch and draw what they observed. Beatrix never lost her love for nature and loved making up stories about the animals she observed. When she was 27 she sent one such illustrated stories to the sick child of one of her former governesses. The story was about four little bunnies. Can you guess the names? They were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and of course the unforgettable Peter. That illustrated story was such a great success that she decided to have it privately published. It was published as The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1900. Two years later is was published commercially by the Frederick Warne & Company followed by 22 additional books over the next 20 years. The books were small, designed to be held by little hands and featured an easy to understand prose.

Beatrix became engaged to Norman Warne (the son of one of her publishers) in 1905 despite parental opposition. After his sudden death a few months later, Beatrix found herself spending much of her time alone at Hill Top, a small farm in an English Village. She married William Heelis in 1913 and spent the last 30 years of her life breeding Herdwick Sheep and illustrating and writing her books. Upon her death on December 22, 1943 she bequeathed the farm to the National Trust. The farm is still as it was when she lived in it.

Sources: Wikipedia and

http://www.peterrabbit.com/potters-world.asp (a lovely site)

Famous Birthdays - The 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' July 18, 1867

The Unsinkable Molly Brown was born as Margaret Tobin on July 18, 1867.  Born to Irish immigrants she came from humble and hardworking beginnings. Margaret had a sibling Daniel who worked in the mines of Leadville Colorado while she worked in a store. She married James J. Brown in 1886 and moved to a neighboring town where they began a soup kitchen for mining families. Mining companies often paid their workers with a special ‘money’ which was only good at the stores owned by the mining companies themselves. The money was of no value anywhere else. Since people has no where else to go the general stores owned by the mining companies were exorbitantly expensive. That meant that mining family were often very poor and living conditions were quite hard. It was around that time that Molly became involved with the women’s suffrage movement.

The Browns were in Egypt in 1912 when they learned that their grandson had taken ill. Margaret booked her voyage on the ill-fated Titanic to return to America. The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. Molly was able to aid fellow passengers and the French Legion of Honour recognized her later for her efforts to save her fellow passengers. She wasn’t only working to save them from the freezing waters but also after they were rescued and safely onboard of the Carpathia. She spoke several languages and thus was able to assist in recording the names and identities of those saved, the ones lost at sea and offer comforting words to those in despair.

Molly Brown was head of the Titanic Survivors' Committee which supported immigrants who had lost everything in the disaster, and helped to get a memorial erected to the Titanic survivors in Washington, DC. She was not allowed to testify in Congressional hearings about the sinking of the Titanic, because she was a woman; in response to this slight she published her account in newspapers.

You can read a lot more in detail about this remarkable lady on the links provided below and other sites on the Internet. Please make sure to have your parents’ permission before you do so.

http://www.mollybrown.org/

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/westernamerica/p/molly_brown.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Brown

Famous Birthday - July 6 - Nancy Davis Reagan

Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921) is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan. Nancy Reagan served as First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989.

Anne Frances Robbins was born on July 6, 1921 in New York. Her parents divorced not long after her birth and she was raised by an aunt and uncle in Maryland while her mother was busy pursuing an acting career. Her mother married a neurosurgeon (Loyal Davis) in 1929 who legally adopted Anne Frances Robbins in 1935 and her name was legally changed to Nancy Davis. Nancy Davis got along quite well with her stepfather and spoke highly of him. After going through school, Nancy attended Smith College in Massachusetts where she majored in English Drama and graduated in 1943. She later quoted ‘I must say acting was good training for the political life which lay ahead for us.’

Nancy pursued an acting career in Hollywood in 1940's and 50's and in 1952 she married Ronald Reagan, then the president of the Screen Actors Guild. They had two children together. Her husband was Governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States of America in 1981. Shortly after arriving at their new residence Nancy Reagan went about repairing and updating the somewhat threadbare White House and brought back a sense of glamour and formality to her new residence. While she was criticized for some of her methods (replacing the china for instance apparently ruffled a lot of feathers), it also attracted a great deal of attention.

Nancy Reagan wasn’t content to only bring back high end fashion to the White House. One of her most notable contributions as the First Lady was the founding of the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign.

Nancy and Ronald Reagan retired to their home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California in 1989 where Nancy devoted most of her time to caring for her ailing husband who in 1994 was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He passed away in 2004 but Nancy Reagan remained active within the Reagan Library and in politics, particularly in support of stem-cell research.

You can read a lot more in detail about Nancy Reagan on Wikipedia and other sites on the Internet. Please make sure to have your parents’ permission before you do so.

Famous Birthday - July 5 - P.T. Barnum

If you have been to see a circus performance, chances are you saw a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Do you know who started that show? It was a man known as Phineas Taylor Barnum, born on July 5, 1810. It was a time before the Civil War. There were no cars, television, radio or any of the other modern forms of entertainment we enjoy today. Sideshows, carnival shows etc were very popular back then. These consisted of the usual suspects such as  the ubiquitous bearded ladies, contortionists, snake wranglers etc. Little people were quite popular next to individuals of very large stature. Also people with birth defects such as microcephalics and macrocephalics. Unfortunately in those days people with such defects had very little say in how their relatives farmed them out. Life was hard and people who ran these sideshows weren’t exactly known for their scruples. The other much loved spectacle one could enjoy at these shows were exhibits of curiosities.  Some were real but many were fake. The Fiji Mermaid is a famous example. P.T. Barnum was quite unapologetic about that. He claimed that he did so not because he wanted to deceive the public but because he felt that this was great advertising and brought people to the show. Of course there also were singers, and performers of small plays, there were acrobats, clowns, dancing bears etc. Barnum was the man who did this better and grander than anyone else. He wasn’t above using elaborate hoaxes to bring attention to his show. But he didn’t start of that way. He started his career as a small business owner in his early twenties and then in the mid 1830's moved to New York City where he went into the entertainment business. In the mid 1860's Barnum embarked on a brief political career. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution over slavery and African-American suffrage, Barnum spoke before the legislature and said, "A human soul is not to be trifled with. It may inhabit the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab or a Hotentot - it is still an immortal spirit! (From Wikipedia). After an exciting life filled with adventure, controversy and success Barnum died in his sleep at home on April 7, 1891. You can read a lot more in detail about PT Barnum and his amazing life on Wikipedia and other sites on the Internet. Please make sure to have your parents’ permission before you do so.