HS3SVL: Victorian Lives

Module code: HS3SVL

Module provider: History; School of Humanities

Credits: 40

Level: 6

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Professor David Stack, email: d.a.stack@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: No placement specified

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 24 April 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Special Subject modules provide 'hands-on' experience of the historian's task through the close examination and evaluation of primary sources and the light they shed on issues and problems.  

This module will: 

• Study how the lives of key Victorian figures (John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Charles Darwin; and Annie Besant) were framed and understood, in their own autobiographies and elsewhere; 
• Reflect on the way in which their individual lives connected to, and were influenced by, the broader political, socio-economic, and intellectual contexts of the Victorian period; 
• Consider how aspects of their personal lives (including childhood, health, marriage, and parenthood) influenced their activism and ideas. 

The purpose of the module is to allow students to further develop and demonstrate the skills they have gained working with primary sources throughout their degree programme. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. undertake detailed textual analysis and comment on the primary materials; 
2. achieve a detailed command of varying historical interpretations of the primary materials and subject as a whole; 
3. organise material and articulate arguments effectively in writing under timed conditions; 
4. locate and assemble information on the subject by independent research; 
5. deploy a wide range of different primary materials to shed light on the issues and problems being studied. 

Module content

The primary source material used will include: autobiographies; contemporary biographies; newspaper obituaries; and other contemporary assessments of the lives under consideration. This module will focus on three key ‘Victorian Lives’, those of Charles Darwin, Annie Besant, and John Stuart Mill (and Harriet Taylor). In each case we will build our understanding from the autobiographies that each wrote to explore broader questions about the nature and value of Victorian autobiography as a source material for the historian. Supplementing the autobiographies with other primary source material, including letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts, the lives of Besant, Darwin, and Mill will provide portals into the consideration of some key themes in Victorian culture, including childhood, gender and marriage, religion, and secularisation, and the boundaries between public and private spheres.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

• The teaching for this module involves weekly two-hour discussion seminars 
• Students will gain ‘hands-on’ experience of the historian’s task through the detailed evaluations of key texts, objects, and images, and the light they shed on the issues and problems being investigated 
• Students will be required to prepare for seminars through reading from both the primary sources and the secondary literature 

Study hours

At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module. 

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Formative work, for instance essay plans, seminar presentations, book reviews, posters, practice source commentaries, will be required for this Special Subject over the two semesters. Practice commentaries on the sources will be required for formative assessment.

Reassessment

Additional costs