Individual Perceptions: A New Chapter on Victorian Information History

Abstract

Studies in Victorian information history have tended to focus upon the technological or organizational infrastructures and processes of information. This paper takes a different approach and examines four individuals as case studies — the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, Julius Reuter and Eleanor Sidgwick. Using contemporary archival material it attempts to understand the multifaceted notion of information as it was understood by the Victorians themselves, and in doing so proposes some personal perceptions of information during the nineteenth century. It concludes that information and knowledge played a recognized and varied role in nineteenth century society, but that this role was more subtle and understated than some Victorian information society literature has previously implied.