Late Victorian Era Primer

[Barrister]

Colleagues,
I am researching a book set in the 1890s and am off to my beloved London to do so. Can anyone suggest a quick and efficient way to become steeped in the period? My protagonist is an aristocrat so she'd need to be acquainted with the ritzier sections of London. I'm thinking of something like a Jack the Ripper tour, which I can pretty much do by heart now. Is there any exhibit at the V&A that would bring me up to speed? I know this is an odd request but you guys have more arcane knowledge than any other group with which I a acquainted.
Thanks so much, guys.

[MrBarnett]

I'd suggest long walks - east to west, south to north. Many of the social divisions that existed in the 1890's can still be appreciated by travelling through the many 'villages' of London.

A quick spin around the Museum of London might be a good idea too.

[MrBarnett]

What are the backgrounds of your characters - legal, commercial, literary/artistic, military?

You might want to tailor your walks (should you choose to take them) to suit your characters.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I can recommend these walks highly if you want to go on guided tours. I go to London every year (I’ll be off again on October 11th) and I do many of these walks.

http://www.walks.com/:2thumbsup:

[miss marple]

I would suggest you visit Linley Sambourne's house in Kensington. Linley Sambourne was a Punch cartoonist and he and his wife Marion led a very upper middle class life. The house is virtually as it was in the 1880s 90s as their son lived in it he was unmarried and nothing was changed in the house. It is amazing. The affluence of the upper classes can be seen.Their daughter Maud married Leonard Messel and her daughter became the mother of Anthony Armstrong Jones, who became Viscount Snowdon, when he married Princess Margaret.

Miss Marple