Samuel Cunard

The Cunard Line, formerly the Cunard White-Star Line, is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century.

In 1839, Canadian-born Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganized as Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd to raise capital.^[1]

In 1902, White Star joined the American owned International Mercantile Marine Co. and the British Government provided Cunard with substantial loans and a subsidy to build two superliners needed to retain its competitive position. Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929. The sinking of her sister ship Lusitania in 1915 was one of the causes of the United States' entering the First World War. In the late 1920s, Cunard faced new competition when the Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners. Cunard was forced to suspend construction on its own new superliner because of the Great Depression. In 1934 the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish the Queen Mary and to build a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth, on the condition that Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star line to form Cunard White-Star Ltd. Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947; the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950.^[1]

Winston Churchill estimated that the two Queens helped to shorten the Second World War by at least a year; fundamentally due to the large troop-carrying capacities of the ships. Upon the end of the war, Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line. By the mid 1950s, it operated twelve ships to the United States and Canada. After 1958, transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable because of the introduction of jet airliners. Cunard withdrew from its year round service in 1968 to concentrate on cruising and summer transatlantic voyages for vacationers. The Queens were replaced by the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), which was designed for the dual role.^[2]

In 1998 Cunard was acquired by the Carnival Corporation, and accounted for 8.7% of that companies revenue in 2012.^[3] and five years later QE2 was replaced on the Transatlantic runs by the Queen Mary 2 (QM2). The line also operates the Queen Victoria (QV) and the Queen Elizabeth (QE). At the moment, Cunard is the only shipping company to operate a scheduled passenger service between Europe and North America.

History[link]

1840–65[link]

Britannia of 1840 (1150 GRT), the first Cunard liner built for the transatlantic service.

The British Government started operating monthly mail brigs from Falmouth, Cornwall, to New York in 1756. These ships carried few non-governmental passengers and no cargo. In 1818, the Black Ball Line opened a regularly scheduled New York–Liverpool service with clipper ships, beginning an era when American sailing packets dominated the North Atlantic saloon-passenger trade that lasted until the introduction of steamships.^[1] A Committee of Parliament decided in 1836 that to become more competitive, the mail packets operated by the Post Office should be replaced by private shipping companies. The Admiralty assumed responsibility for managing the contracts.^[4] Famed Arctic explorer, Admiral Sir William Edward Parry was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837.^[5] Nova Scotians led by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe lobbied for steam service to Halifax. On his arrival in London in May 1838, Howe discussed the enterprise with fellow Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard (1787–1865), a shipowner who was also visiting London on business.^[6] Cunard and Howe were associates and Howe also owed Cunard £300.^[7] (£21,724 as of 2012),^[8] Cunard returned to Halifax to raise capital, and Howe continued to lobby the British government.^[6] The Rebellions of 1837 were ongoing and London realized that the proposed Halifax service was also important for the military.^[9]

That November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic monthly mail service to Halifax beginning in April 1839 using steamships with 300 horsepower.^[9] The Great Western Steamship Company, which had opened its pioneer Bristol–New York service earlier that year, bid £45,000 for a monthly Bristol–Halifax–New York service using three ships of 450 horsepower. While British American, the other pioneer transatlantic steamship company did not submit a tender,^[10] the St. George Steam Packet Company, owner of the Sirius, bid £45,000 for a monthly Cork-Halifax service^[11] and £65,000 for a monthly Cork–Halifax–New York service. The Admiralty rejected both tenders because neither bid offered to begin services early enough.^[12]

Cunard, who was back in Halifax, unfortunately did not know of the tender until after the deadline.^[10] He returned to London and started negotiations with Admiral Parry, who was Cunard's good friend from when Parry was a young officer stationed in Halifax 20 years earlier. Cunard offered Parry a fortnightly service beginning in May 1840. While Cunard did not then own a steamship, he had been an investor in an earlier steamship venture, the Royal William, and owned coal mines in Nova Scotia.^[6] Cunard's major backer was Robert Napier, who was the Royal Navy's supplier of steam engines.^[10] He also had the strong backing of Nova Scotian political leaders at the time when London needed to rebuild support in British North America after the rebellion.^[9]

Over Great Western's protests,^[13] in May 1839 Parry accepted Cunard's tender of £55,000 for a three-ship Liverpool–Halifax service with an extension to Boston and a supplementary service to Montreal.^[6] The annual subsidy was later raised £81,000 to add a fourth ship^[14] and departures from Liverpool were to be monthly during the winter and fortnightly for the rest of the year.^[1] Parliament investigated Great Western's complaints, and upheld the Admiralty's decision.^[12] Napier and Cunard recruited other investors including businessmen James Donaldson, Sir George Burns, and David MacIver. In May 1840, just before the first ship was ready, they formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (B&NARMSPC) with initial capital of £270,000, later increased to £300,000.(£21,239,138 as of 2012),^[8] Cunard supplied £55,000.^[6] Burns supervised ship construction, McIver was responsible for day to day operations, and Cunard was the "first among equals' in the management structure. When MacIver died in 1845, his younger brother Charles assumed his responsibilities for the next 35 years.^[10] (For more detail of the first investors in the Cunard Line and also the early life of Charles Maciver, see Liverpool Nautical Research Society's Second Merseyside Maritime History pp 33–37 1991.)

In May 1840 the coastal paddle steamer Unicorn made the company's first voyage to Halifax^[15] to begin the supplementary service to Montreal. Two months later the first of the four ocean-going steamers of the Britannia Class, departed Liverpool, arriving in Halifax after 12 days and 10 hours, averaging 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h), before proceeding to Boston. During 1840–41, mean Liverpool–Halifax times for the quartet were 13 days 6 hours to Halifax and 11 days 4 hours homeward. Two larger ships were quickly ordered, one to replace the Columbia, which sank at Seal Island, Nova Scotia in 1843 without loss of life. By 1845, steamship lines led by Cunard carried more saloon passengers than the sailing packets.^[1] Three years later, the British Government increased the annual subsidy to £156,000 so that Cunard could double its frequency.^[14] Four additional wooden paddlers were ordered and alternate sailings were direct to New York instead of the Halifax-Boston route. The sailing packet lines were now reduced to the immigrant trade.^[1]

From the beginning Cunard's ships used the line's distinctive red funnel with two or three narrow black bands and black top. It appears that Robert Napier was responsible for this feature. His shipyard in Glasgow used this combination previously in 1830 on Thomas Assheton Smith's private steam yacht "Menai". The renovation of her model by Glasgow Museum of Transport revealed that she had vermilion funnels with black bands and black top.^[16]

Cunard's reputation for safety was one of the significant factors in the firm's early success.^[2] Both the first two transatlantic lines failed after major accidents. 'British and American' collapsed after the President foundered in a gale and Great Western after Great Britain stranded because of a navigation error.^[1] Cunard's orders to his masters were, "Your ship is loaded, take her; speed is nothing, follow your own road, deliver her safe, bring her back safe - safety is all that is required."^[2] In particular, it was Charles MacIver's constant inspections that was responsible for the firm's safety discipline.^[10]

A captain waves aboard a Cunard Line vessel.

In 1850 the American Collins Line and the British Inman Line started new Atlantic steamship services. The American Government supplied Collins with a large annual subsidy to operate four wooden paddlers that were superior to Cunard's best.^[14] Inman showed that iron-hulled, screw propelled steamers of modest speed could be profitable without subsidy. Inman also became the first steamship line to carry steerage passengers. Both of the newcomers suffered major disasters in 1854.^[1] The next year, Cunard put pressure on Collins by commissioning its first iron-hulled paddler, the Persia, which won the Blue Riband with a Liverpool–New York voyage of 9 days 16 hours, averaging 13.11 knots (24.28 km/h).^[17]

During the Crimean War Cunard supplied 11 ships for war service. Every British North Atlantic route was suspended until 1856 except Cunard's Liverpool-Halifax-Boston service. While Collins' fortunes improved because of the lack of competition during the war, it collapsed in 1858 after the loss of two additional steamers. Cunard emerged as the leading carrier of saloon passengers and in 1862 commissioned the Scotia, the last paddle steamer to win the Blue Riband. Inman carried more passengers because of its success in the immigrant trade. To compete, in May 1863 Cunard started a secondary Liverpool-New York service with iron-hulled screw steamers that catered for steerage passengers. Beginning with the China, the line also replaced the last three wooden paddlers on the New York mail service with iron screw steamers that only carried saloon passengers.^[1]

1865–97[link]

Etruria of 1885 (7,700 GRT)

When Cunard died in 1865, the equally conservative Charles MacIver assumed Cunard's role.^[10] The firm retained its reluctance about change and was overtaken by competitors that more quickly adopted new technology.^[14] In 1866 Inman started to build screw propelled express liners that matched B&NARMSPC's premier unit, the Scotia. The B&NARMSPC responded with its first high speed screw propellered steamer, the Russia which was followed by two larger editions. In 1871 both companies faced a new rival when the White Star Line commissioned the Oceanic and her five sisters. The new White Star record-breakers were especially economical because of their use of compound engines. White Star also set new standards for comfort by placing the dining saloon midships and doubling the size of cabins. Inman rebuilt its express fleet to the new standard, but B&NARMSPC lagged behind both of its rivals. Throughout the 1870s B&NARMSPC passage times were longer than either White Star or Inman.^[1]

In 1867 responsibility for mail contracts was transferred back to the Post Office and opened for bid. B&NARMSPC, Inman and the German Norddeutscher Lloyd were each awarded one of the three weekly New York mail services. The fortnightly route to Halifax formerly held by B&NARMSPC went to Inman. B&NARMSPC continued to receive a £80,000 subsidy (£5,165,840 as of 2012),^[8] while NDL and Inman were paid sea postage. Two years later the service was rebid and B&NARMSPC was awarded a seven-year contract for two weekly New York mail services at £70,000 per annum. Inman was awarded a seven-year contract for the third weekly New York service at £35,000 per year.^[12]

Campania of 1893, (12,900 GRT)

The Panic of 1873 started a five-year shipping depression that strained the finances of all of the Atlantic competitors.^[1] In 1876 the mail contracts expired and the Post Office ended both B&NARMSPC's and Inman's subsidies. The new contracts were paid on the basis of weight, at a rate substantially higher than paid by the United States Post Office.^[12] Cunard's weekly New York mail sailings were reduced to one and White Star was awarded the third mail sailing. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday a liner from one of the three firms departed Liverpool with the mail for New York.^[18]

To raise additional capital, in 1879 the privately-held British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (B&NARMSPC) was reorganized as a public stock corporation, the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd.^[1] Under Cunard's new chairman, John Burns (1839–1900), son of one of the firm's original founders,^[10] Cunard commissioned four steel-hulled express liners beginning with Servia of 1881, the first passenger liner with electric lighting throughout. In 1884, Cunard purchased the almost new Blue Riband winner Oregon from the Guion Line when that firm defaulted on payments to the shipyard. That year, Cunard also commissioned the record-breakers Umbria and Etruria capable of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h). Starting in 1887, Cunard's newly won leadership on the North Atlantic was threatened when Inman and then White Star responded with twin propellered record-breakers. In 1893 Cunard countered with two even faster Blue Riband winners, the Campania and the Lucania, capable of 21.8 knots (40.4 km/h).^[14]

1897–1929[link]

Crest of the 1921 Cunard liner Laconia

No sooner had Cunard re-established its supremacy than new rivals emerged. Beginning in the late 1860s several German firms commissioned liners that were almost as fast as the British mail steamers from Liverpool.^[1] In 1897 Kaiser Wilhelm der Große of Norddeutscher Lloyd raised the Blue Riband to 22.3 knots (41.3 km/h), and was followed by a succession of German record-breakers.^[17] Rather than match the new German speedsters, White Star commissioned four very profitable Celtic-class liners of more moderate speed for its secondary Livepool-New York service. In 1902 White Star joined the well-capitalized American combine, the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM), which owned the American Line, including the old Inman Line, and other lines. IMM also had trade agreements with Hamburg–America and Norddeutscher Lloyd.^[1]

RMS Carpathia of 1901 (13,555 GRT) became famous for rescuing the survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

This was the Dreadnought era and British prestige was at stake. The British Government provided Cunard with an annual subsidy of £150,000 plus a low interest loan of £2.5 million (£199 million as of 2012),^[8] to pay for the construction of the two superliners, the Blue Riband winners Lusitania and Mauretania, capable of 26.0 knots (48.2 km/h). In 1904 the firm started a Fiume–New York service with calls at Italian ports and Gibraltar. The next year Cunard commissioned two ships to compete directly with the Celtic-class liners on the secondary Liverpool-New York route. In 1911 Cunard entered the St Lawrence trade by purchasing the Thompson line, and absorbed the Royal line five years later.^[1]

Berengaria of 1913 (51,950 GRT), originally Hapag's Imperator, was acquired by Cunard in 1921 to join Mauretania and Aquitania in the three-ship express service.

Not to be outdone, both White Star and Hamburg–America each ordered a trio of superliners. The White Star Olympic-class liners at 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h) and the Hapag Imperator-class liners at 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h) were larger and more luxurious than the Cunarders, but not as fast. Cunard also ordered a new ship, the Aquitania, capable of 24.0 knots (44.4 km/h), to complete the Liverpool mail fleet. Events prevented the expected competition between the three sets of superliners. White Star's Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, both White Star's Britannic and Cunard's Lusitania were war losses, and the three Hapag super-liners were handed over to the Allied powers as war reparations.^[2]

In 1917 Cunard Line completed its European headquarters in Liverpool. The grand neo-Classical Cunard Building was the third of Liverpool's Three Graces. The headquarters were used by Cunard until the 1960s.^[19]

Due to First World War losses, Cunard began a post-war rebuilding programme included eleven intermediate liners; Southampton replaced Liverpool as the British destination for the three-ship express service; and Cunard acquired the former Hapag Imperator (renamed the Berengaria) to replace the lost Lusitania as the running mate for Mauretania and Aquitania. By 1926 Cunard's fleet was larger than before the war, and White Star was in decline, having been sold by IMM.^[1]

1929–71[link]

Aquitania of 1914 (45,650 GRT).

Despite the dramatic reduction in North Atlantic passengers caused by the shipping depression beginning in 1929, the Germans, Italians and the French commissioned new "ships of state" prestige liners.^[1] The German Bremen took the Blue Riband at 27.8 knots (51.5 km/h) in 1933, the Italian Rex recorded 28.9 knots (53.5 km/h) on a westbound voyage the same year, and the French Normandie crossed the Atlantic in just under four days at 30.58 knots (56.63 km/h) in 1937.^[17] In 1930 Cunard ordered a 80,000 ton liner that was to be the first of two record-breakers fast enough to fit into a two-ship weekly Southampton-New York service. Work on hull 534 was halted in 1931 because of the economic conditions.^[2]

By 1934 the White Star Line was failing and the British Government was concerned about potential job losses. David Kirkwood, MP for Clydebank where the unfinished hull 534 had been sitting idle for two and a half years, made a passionate plea in the House of Commons for funding to finish the ship and restart the dormant British economy.^[20] The government offered Cunard a loan of £3 million to complete hull 534 and an additional £5 million to build the second ship, if Cunard merged with White Star.^[2] The merger was accomplished by forming a new company, Cunard White Star, Ltd with Cunard owning about two-thirds of the capital.^[1]

Due to the surplus tonnage of the new combined Cunard White Star fleet many of the older liners were sent to the scrapyard, these included the Mauretania and the ex-White Star liners Olympic and Homeric. In 1936, the ex-White Star Majestic was sold when hull 534, now named Queen Mary, replaced her in the express mail service.^[2] Queen Mary reached 30.99 knots (57.39 km/h) on her 1938 Blue Riband voyage.^[17] Cunard started construction on the Queen Elizabeth, and a smaller ship, the second Mauretania, joined the fleet and which also could be used on the Atlantic run when one of the Queens was in drydock for overhaul.^[1] Berengaria was sold for scrap in 1938 after a series of fires.^[2]

Queen Mary of 1936 (80,700 GRT) in retirement at Long Beach, California as a floating museum/hotel ship.

During 1939–45 the Queens carried over two million servicemen and were credited by Churchill as helping to shorten the war by a year.^[2] All four of the large Cunard express liners, the two Queens, Aquitania and Mauretania survived, but many of the secondary ships were lost. Both the Lancastria and Laconia were sunk with heavy loss of life.^[1]

In 1947 Cunard purchased White Star's interest, and the company dropped the White Star name, and the company commissioned five freighters and two cargo liners. The Caronia, was completed in 1949 as a permanent cruise liner and the Aquitania was retired the next year.^[1] Cunard was in an especially good position to take advantage of the increase in North Atlantic travel during the 1950s and the Queens were a major generator of US currency for Great Britain. Cunard's slogan, "Getting there is half the fun", was specifically aimed at the tourist trade. Beginning in 1954, Cunard took delivery of a quartet of new 22,000-GRT intermediate liners for the Canadian route and the Liverpool- New York route. The last White Star motor ship, the Britannic of 1930, remained in service until 1960.^[2]

In 1960, a government appointed committee recommended the construction of project Q3, a conventional 75,000 GRT liner to replace Queen Mary. Under the plan, the government would loan Cunard the majority of the liner's cost.^[21] However, some Cunard stockholders questioned the plan at the June 1961 board meeting because trans-Atlantic flights were gaining in popularity.^[22] By 1963, the plan had been changed to a dual purpose 55,000 GRT ship that was designed to cruise in the off season.^[23] Ultimately, this ship came into service in 1969 as the 70,300 GRT Queen Elizabeth 2.^[2]

The Caronia and Carinthia laid up in Southampton.

Within ten years of the introduction of jet airliners in 1958, most of the conventional Atlantic liners were gone. Mauretania was retired in 1965, the Queen Mary and Caronia in 1967, and the Queen Elizabeth in 1968. Two of the new intermediate liners were sold by 1970 and the other two were converted to cruise ships.^[2] Cunard tried operating scheduled air services to North America, the Caribbean and South America by forming BOAC-Cunard Ltd in 1962 with the British Overseas Airways Corporation, but this venture lasted only until 1966.^[24]

Trafalgar House Years[link]

By 1971, when the line was purchased by the conglomerate Trafalgar House, Cunard operated cargo and passenger ships, hotels and resorts. Its cargo fleet consisted of 42 ships in service, with 20 on order. The flagship of the passenger fleet was the two-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2. The fleet also included the remaining two intermediate liners from the 1950s, plus two purpose-built cruise ships on order. Trafalgar acquired two additional cruise ships and disposed of the intermediate liners and most of the cargo fleet.^[25] During the Falklands War, the QE2 and the Cunard Countess were chartered as troopships^[26] while Cunard's container ship Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by an Exocet missile.^[27]

Queen Elizabeth 2 of 1969 (70,300 GRT), at Trondheim, Norway, in 2006.

Cunard acquired the Norwegian America Line in 1983, with two classic ocean liner/cruise ships.^[28] Also in 1983, the Trafalgar attempted a hostile takeover of P&O, another large passenger and cargo shipping line, which was formed the same year as Cunard. P&O objected and forced the issue to the British Monopolies and Mergers Commission. In their filing, P&O was critical of Trafalgar's management of Cunard and their failure to correct QE2's mechanical problems.^[29] In 1984, the Commission ruled in favor of the merger, but Trafalgar decided against proceeding.^[30] In 1988, Cunard acquired Ellerman Lines and its small fleet of cargo vessels, organizing the business as Cunard-Ellerman, however, only a few years later, Cunard decided to abandon the cargo business and focus solely on cruise ships. Cunard's cargo fleet was sold off between 1989 and 1991, with a single container ship, the second Atlantic Conveyor, remaining under Cunard ownership until 1996. In 1994 Cunard purchased the rights to the name of the Royal Viking Line and its Royal Viking Sun. The rest of Royal Viking Line's fleet stayed with the line's owner, Norwegian Cruise Line.^[31]

By the mid 1990s Cunard was ailing. The company was embarrassed in late 1994 when the QE2 experienced numerous defects during the first voyage of the season because of unfinished renovation work. Claims from passengers cost the company US$13 million. After Cunard reported a US$25 million loss in 1995, Trafalgar assigned a new CEO to the line, who concluded that the company had management issues. In 1996 the Norwegian conglomerate Kværner acquired Trafalgar House, and attempted to sell Cunard. When there were no takers, Kværner made substantial investments to turn around the company's tarnished reputation.^[32]

Carnival[link]

Queen Mary 2 of 2004 (148,528 GT) at Hamburg, 2006.

Queen Victoria of 2007 (90,049 GT)

In 1998 Cunard was sold to the cruise line conglomerate Carnival Corporation for US$500 million.^[33] The next year Carnival acquired the remaining stock for US$205 million.^[34] Each of Carnival's cruise lines is positioned to appeal to a different market, and Carnival was interested in rebuilding Cunard as a luxury brand trading on its British traditions. Under the slogan "Advancing Civilization Since 1840," Cunard's advertising campaign sought to emphasize the elegance and mystique of ocean travel.^[35] Only the QE2 and Caronia continued under the Cunard brand and the company started Project Queen Mary to build a new ocean liner/cruise ship for the transatlantic route.^[36]

By 2001 Carnival was the largest cruise company, followed by Royal Caribbean and P&O Princess Cruises, which had recently demerged from its parent P&O. When Royal Caribbean and P&O Princess agreed to merge, Carnival countered with a hostile takeover bid for P&O Princess. Carnival rejected the idea of selling Cunard to resolve antitrust issues with the acquisition.^[37] European and U.S. regulators approved the merger without requiring Cunard's sale.^[38] After the merger was completed, Carnival moved Cunard's headquarters to the offices of Princess Cruises in Santa Clarita, California so that administrative, financial and technology services could be combined.^[39]

With the opening of Carnival House in Southampton in 2009,^[40] executive control of Cunard Line was subsequently transferred from Carnival Corporation in the United States, to Carnival UK, the primary operating company of Carnival plc. As the UK listed holding company of the group, Carnival plc now has executive control of all Carnival Group activities in the UK, with all UK based brands, including Cunard, being headquartered in offices at Carnival House.

In 2004, the 36-year-old QE2 was replaced on the North Atlantic by Queen Mary 2. Caronia was sold and QE2 continued to cruise until she was retired in 2008. In 2007 Cunard added a large cruise ship, Queen Victoria. She is not a sister for the QM2, being ordered by Carnival as a Vista class cruise ship for the Holland America Line. To reinforce Cunard traditions, the QV has a small museum on board. Cunard commissioned a second Vista class cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth in 2010.^[41]

As of December 1, 2011 all three Cunard ships in service had changed vessel registry to Hamilton, Bermuda.^[42] This marks the first time in the 171-year history of the company that it will have no ships registered within the United Kingdom.^[43]

Fleet[link]

The Cunard fleet, all built for Cunard unless otherwise indicated, consisted of the following ships in order of acquisition:^[1]

1840–1865[link]

1865–1897[link]

1897–1929[link]

1929–present[link]

See also: White Star Line's Olympic, Homeric, Majestic, Doric, Laurentic, Britannic and Georgic

	United Kingdom portal
	Nautical portal
	Companies portal

See also[link]

• Cruise line
• Transatlantic crossing

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cunard Line ships

• Official website
• Cunard Fleet Listing
• Cunard Line Passenger Lists, Brochures, Other Historical Documents 1800s - 1954
• The Last Ocean Liners - Cunard Line - trade routes and ships of the Cunard Line since the 1950s

Queen Victoria
Victoria wearing her small diamond crown Photograph by Alexander Bassano, 1882
Queen of the United Kingdom
Reign	20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901
Coronation	28 June 1838
Predecessor	William IV
Successor	Edward VII
Prime Ministers	See list
Empress of India
Reign	1 May 1876 – 22 January 1901
Imperial Durbar	1 January 1877
Predecessor	Title created
Successor	Edward VII
Viceroys	See list
Consort	Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Detail Issue
Victoria, Princess Royal, German Empress Edward VII Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg
Full name
Alexandrina Victoria
House	House of Hanover
Father	Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Mother	Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Born	(1819-05-24)24 May 1819 Kensington Palace, London
Died	22 January 1901(1901-01-22) (aged 81) Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Burial	4 February 1901 Frogmore, Windsor
Signature

Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died without surviving legitimate issue. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the Sovereign held relatively few direct political powers. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments. Publicly, she became a national icon, and was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

She married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children and 26 of their 34 grandchildren who survived childhood married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.

Her reign of 63 years and 7 months, which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history, is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover; her son and successor Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father.

Birth and family[link]

Princess Victoria, aged four.
Painting by Stephen Poyntz Denning, 1823

Victoria's father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of the reigning King of the United Kingdom, George III. Until 1817, Edward's niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis in the United Kingdom that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent (and his unmarried brother) to marry and have children. In 1818, he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a German princess whose brother Leopold was the widower of Princess Charlotte. The Duke and Duchess of Kent's only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 am on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.^[1]

She was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace.^[2] She was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Duke's elder brother, the Prince Regent (later George IV).^[3]

At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after her father and his three older brothers: the Prince Regent, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Clarence (later William IV).^[4] The Prince Regent was estranged from his wife and the Duchess of York was 52 years old, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further children. The Dukes of Kent and Clarence married on the same day 12 months before Victoria's birth, but both of Clarence's daughters (born in 1819 and 1820 respectively) died as infants. Victoria's grandfather and father died in 1820, within a week of each other, and the Duke of York died in 1827. On the death of her uncle George IV in 1830, Victoria became heiress presumptive to her next surviving uncle, William IV. The Regency Act 1830 made special provision for the Duchess of Kent to act as regent in case William died while Victoria was still a minor.^[5] King William distrusted the Duchess's capacity to be regent, and in 1836 declared in her presence that he wanted to live until Victoria's 18th birthday, so that a regency could be avoided.^[6]

Heiress presumptive[link]

Princess Victoria with her spaniel Dash, 1833
Painting by George Hayter

Victoria later described her childhood as "rather melancholy".^[7] Her mother was extremely protective, and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so called "Kensington System", an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by the Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover.^[8] The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of her father's family), and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them.^[9] The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of the King's bastard children,^[10] and perhaps prompted the emergence of Victorian morality by insisting that her daughter avoid any appearance of sexual impropriety.^[11] Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play hours with her dolls and her King Charles spaniel, Dash.^[12] Her lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin,^[13] but she spoke only English at home.^[14]

Self-portrait, 1835

In 1830, the Duchess of Kent and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills, stopping at towns and great country houses along the way.^[15] Similar journeys to other parts of England and Wales were taken in 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835. To King William's annoyance, Victoria was enthusiastically welcomed in each of the stops.^[16] William compared the journeys to royal progresses and was concerned that they portrayed Victoria as his rival rather than his heiress presumptive.^[17] Victoria disliked the trips; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill, and there was little time for her to rest.^[18] She objected on the grounds of the King's disapproval, but her mother dismissed his complaints as motivated by jealousy, and forced Victoria to continue the tours.^[19] At Ramsgate in October 1835, Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence.^[20] While Victoria was ill, Conroy and the Duchess unsuccessfully badgered her to make Conroy her private secretary.^[21] As a teenager, Victoria resisted persistent attempts by her mother and Conroy to appoint him to her staff.^[22] Once Queen, she banned him from her presence, but he remained in her mother's household.^[23]

By 1836, the Duchess's brother, Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831, hoped to marry his niece to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.^[24] Leopold, Victoria's mother, and Albert's father (Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) were siblings. Leopold arranged for Victoria's mother to invite her Coburg relatives to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of introducing Victoria to Albert.^[25] William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, second son of the Prince of Orange.^[26] Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.^[27] According to her diary, she enjoyed Albert's company from the beginning. After the visit 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."^[28] Alexander, on the other hand, was "very plain".^[29]

Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold, whom Victoria considered her "best and kindest adviser",^[30] to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy. He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see."^[31] However at 17, Victoria, though interested in Albert, was not yet ready to marry. The parties did not undertake a formal engagement, but assumed that the match would take place in due time.^[32]

Early reign[link]

Victoria receives the news of her accession from Lord Conyngham (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837, and a regency was avoided. On 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen."^[33] Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again.^[34]

Since 1714, Britain had shared a monarch with Hanover in Germany, but under Salic law women were excluded from the Hanoverian succession. While Victoria inherited all the British dominions, Hanover passed instead to her father's younger brother, her unpopular uncle the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, who became King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover. He was her heir presumptive until she married and had a child.^[35]

Coronation portrait by George Hayter

At the time of her accession, the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne, who at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced Queen, who relied on him for advice.^[36] Charles Greville supposed that the widowed and childless Melbourne was "passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one", and Victoria probably saw him as a father figure.^[37] Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838, and she became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace.^[38] She inherited the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and was granted a civil list of £385,000 per year. Financially prudent, she paid off her father's debts.^[39]

At the start of her reign Victoria was popular,^[40] but her reputation suffered in an 1839 court intrigue when one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, developed an abdominal growth that was widely rumoured to be an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Sir John Conroy.^[41] Victoria believed the rumours.^[42] She hated Conroy, and despised "that odious Lady Flora",^[43] because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington System.^[44] At first, Lady Flora refused to submit to a naked medical examination, until in mid-February she eventually agreed, and was found to be a virgin.^[45] Conroy, the Hastings family and the opposition Tories organised a press campaign implicating the Queen in the spreading of false rumours about Lady Flora.^[46] When Lady Flora died in July, the post-mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen.^[47] At public appearances, Victoria was hissed and jeered as "Mrs. Melbourne".^[48]

In 1839, Melbourne resigned after Radicals and Tories (both of whom Victoria detested) voted against a Bill to suspend the constitution of Jamaica. The Bill removed political power from plantation owners who were resisting measures associated with the abolition of slavery.^[49] The Queen commissioned a Tory, Sir Robert Peel, to form a new ministry. At the time, it was customary for the prime minister to appoint members of the Royal Household, who were usually his political allies and their spouses. Many of the Queen's Ladies of the Bedchamber were wives of Whigs, and Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories. In what became known as the bedchamber crisis, Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal. Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen, and consequently resigned his commission, allowing Melbourne to return to office.^[50]

Marriage[link]

Marriage of Victoria and Albert
Painting by George Hayter

Though queen, as an unmarried young woman Victoria was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Conroy.^[51] Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to meet her.^[52] When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's close proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "schocking [sic] alternative".^[53] She showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.^[54]

Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor.^[55] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace, London. Victoria was besotted. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:

I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!^[56]

Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen's companion, replacing Lord Melbourne as the dominant, influential figure in the first half of her life.^[57] Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square. After the death of Princess Augusta in 1840, Victoria's mother was given both Clarence and Frogmore Houses.^[58] Through Albert's mediation, relations between mother and daughter slowly improved.^[59]

Contemporary lithograph of Edward Oxford's attempt to assassinate Victoria, 1840

During Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but both bullets missed. He was tried for high treason and found guilty, but was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.^[60] In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria's popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis.^[61] Her daughter, also named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840. The Queen hated being pregnant,^[62] viewed breast-feeding with disgust,^[63] and thought newborn babies were ugly.^[64] Nevertheless, she and Albert had a further eight children.

Victoria's household was largely run by her childhood governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen from Hanover. Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria,^[65] and had supported her against the Kensington System.^[66] Albert, however, thought Lehzen was incompetent, and that her mismanagement threatened the health of his daughter. After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue, Lehzen was pensioned off, and Victoria's close relationship with her ended.^[67]

Earliest known photograph of Victoria, here with her eldest daughter, c. 1844^[68]

1842–1860[link]

On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London, when John Francis aimed a pistol at her but did not fire; he escaped. The following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plain clothes policemen, and convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, John William Bean also fired a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco.^[69] Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840. Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail.^[70] In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill, London.^[71] In 1850, the Queen did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, Robert Pate. As Victoria was riding in a carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her face. Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years' transportation.^[72]

Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated. Peel became prime minister, and the Ladies of the Bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced.^[73]

In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight.^[74] In the next four years over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine.^[75] In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen".^[76][77] She personally donated £2,000 to famine relief, more than any other individual donor,^[78] and also supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition.^[79] The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home, was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century.^[80]

By 1846, Peel's ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws. Many Tories—by then known also as Conservatives—were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the "Peelites"), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell.^[81]

Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain.^[82] She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans, who were related by marriage through the Coburgs. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at château d'Eu in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French one since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.^[83] When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844, he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign.^[84] Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolutions of 1848, and fled to exile in England.^[85] At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848, Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of Osborne House,^[86] a private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped.^[87] Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances.^[88] Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism.^[89]