Name: Consuming (the) Victorians
Start: 2016-08-31
End: 2016-09-02
Location: Cardiff University

Exploring Victorian Consumer Cultures and Their Contemporary Legacy

An interdisciplinary conference bringing together scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts from across the globe to examine the complexity of Victorian consumption, from the emergence of modern markets to the ways in which the nineteenth century continues to shape contemporary culture.

31st August – 2nd September 2016

Cardiff University, Wales

Conference Highlights

Three days of panels, workshops, and plenary sessions dedicated to Victorian studies.

Keynote Lectures

Distinguished scholars presented lectures on topics ranging from George Eliot and the neo-Victorian imagination, the late-Victorian violin craze, to the global dimensions of Victorian consumer culture.

Panel Sessions

Over 330 academics, postgraduate researchers, and early career scholars gathered for a series of open and themed panel discussions exploring Victorian consumption from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Workshops & Events

Specialist workshops on illustration and editing were complemented by a reception at the National Museum Cardiff and a guided tour of Cardiff Castle, featuring interiors designed by the Victorian architect William Burges.

Keynote Speakers

The conference featured plenary addresses by three leading Victorianists.

Patricia Duncker

University of Manchester

Exploring George Eliot and the neo-Victorian imagination in contemporary literature.

Christina Bashford

University of Illinois

Examining the late-Victorian "violin craze" and its cultural significance in consumer society.

Frank Trentmann

Birkbeck College, London

Investigating the global aspects of Victorian consumer culture and its lasting worldwide impact.

Conference Theme

The Victorian age saw the emergence of what many scholars recognise as "modern" consumer culture. Across urban life, commerce, literature, art, science and medicine, entertainment, and the growing leisure and tourist industries, the nineteenth century witnessed a dramatic transformation of everyday experience.

The expansion of new mass markets and the proliferation of novel goods opened up pleasurable and democratising forms of consumption. At the same time, these developments raised anxieties about urban space, the blurring of social and gendered boundaries, the perceived pollution of domestic and public life, and the moral and social health of the nation.

"Consuming (the) Victorians" addressed these themes from an interdisciplinary standpoint. The conference brought together research on literature, history, art, material culture, science, and performance to explore how Victorian consumer cultures operated, and to consider how contemporary society continues to consume, reimagine, and reinterpret the Victorians.

Hosted at Cardiff University

Organised by the School of English, Communication and Philosophy, with support from the Schools of Modern Languages, History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff, and the School of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield.

Recent Articles

Updates, reflections, and research on Victorian consumer culture.

13th March 2026 · Animal History

From Pedigree to Crossbreed: Victorian Dog Breeding and Its Modern Legacy

The Victorian era transformed the domestic dog from a working animal into a cultural commodity, establishing systems of breeding, registration, and exhibition that continue to shape canine culture today. Both the Golden Retriever and the Standard Poodle trace their formal histories to this period, and their enduring popularity is evident in the rise of the Goldendoodle, a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle, one of the most sought-after companion dogs of the twenty-first century.

8th January 2026 · Retrospective

Revisiting Victorian Consumer Culture: A Decade of New Perspectives

Nearly a decade has passed since over 330 scholars gathered at Cardiff University for the BAVS 2016 conference, "Consuming (the) Victorians." The event brought together a remarkable diversity of perspectives on Victorian consumer culture, and the themes explored during those three days in late August and early September 2016 have continued to resonate and develop in the years since.

14th June 2024 · Digital Humanities

Victorian Material Culture in the Digital Age

The digital revolution has transformed nearly every area of academic research, and Victorian studies is no exception. Resources such as The Victorian Web, which has been providing freely accessible scholarly material on the Victorian period for over two decades, exemplify the possibilities that digital platforms offer for the study and dissemination of nineteenth-century culture.

22nd November 2021 · Research

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Nineteenth-Century Studies

One of the defining characteristics of Victorian studies as a field has been its commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry. From its earliest days, the study of the nineteenth century has drawn together scholars of literature, history, art, science, religion, and philosophy, recognising that the richness and complexity of the Victorian period cannot be adequately captured from any single disciplinary perspective.

15th March 2019 · Architecture

The Legacy of William Burges at Cardiff Castle

Among the many architectural treasures of Wales, Cardiff Castle stands as one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic Revival design anywhere in Britain. The castle's extraordinary interiors, created by the architect William Burges between 1868 and 1881, remain a powerful testament to the ambition and artistry of the Victorian period.

12th October 2016 · Conference Review

Reflections on Consuming (the) Victorians

More than a month has passed since the closing session of the 2016 annual conference of the British Association for Victorian Studies, held at Cardiff University from 31st August to 2nd September. With over 330 delegates in attendance, the event brought together a remarkable breadth of scholarship on the theme of "Consuming (the) Victorians."

18th July 2016 · Victorian History

Victorian Consumer Culture: From Department Stores to Mass Markets

As the British Association for Victorian Studies prepares for its 2016 annual conference at Cardiff University, the theme of "Consuming (the) Victorians" invites scholars to reconsider the profound changes that took place in British commercial life during the nineteenth century. The Victorian era witnessed a transformation in how goods were produced, marketed, and purchased.

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