Victorian Middle Class Analysis

On 18 December 1873, Mr Davidson, Mr Dennison and Mr Roumanielle pleaded guilty to offences under the Obscene Publications Act (1857). In a case heard at Marlborough Street magistrates’ court in London, the magistrate, Mr Knox, ordered that that their property be destroyed. Mr Collette, for the prosecution asked if he may be granted the honour of beginning the destruction himself, a request which Mr Knox immediately granted. Accompanied by Police Inspector Harnett and Sargeant Butcher, Mr Collette proceeded to take a hammer and smash a collection of anatomical wax models. The destroyed remains of which, were handed back to the defendants. The elaborate models, said to have cost a considerable sum of money, had originally formed part of Kahn’s Anatomical Museum, which had for twenty years, been the best known and most …show more content…
The upper middle classes were better paid and in a position to experience a higher standard of leisure time, this led to uncertainty as to exactly how that time could be appropriately spent. As a result, leisure for the emerging Victorian middle class had to be instructive, productive and beneficial for both the soul and the developing sense of social integrity. Recreational and leisurely pursuits had to have a rational justification, the middle classes being wary of jeopardising their position by the moral temptations of traditional leisurely pursuits of the classes that they deemed to be above or below them . However, those at the lower end of the spectrum, the lower middle class, including clerks and assistants, were lower paid than skilled craftsmen, who were classed as working class. This section of society, more than most were in a position that had to be carefully