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In 1888, Answers magazine ran a competition inviting readers to predict what life would be like in Britain 'a hundred years hence.' Strap in and get ready to learn how the Victorians imagined the 1980s!
Thread 👇👇👇:
Thread 👇👇👇:
"Invasion is made impossible by the intellectual, self-acting pyro-aqua vengeance bombs."
Pah! Such a thing could *NEVER* come to pass!
Inconceivable!
"There will be double the number of millionaires, and about the same proportion of very poor as at present, who will seem poorer by comparison..."
This one is a bit trippy, but also kinda prescient with predictions like "heat shall be drawn from the clouds and light from running water" and "armies shall meet in the air."
The chancellor in 1988 was Nigel Lawson. So, not a million miles away on that prediction either!
A *lot* of these predictions were fixated on the increasing popularity of cremation. Some, like this wag, also tried to butter-up the editors of Answers in the hope of preferential treatment. Alas, the magazine only lasted until 1955.
Three Channel Tunnels, a female majority in parliament, and the abolition of the House of Lords! Well, at least we got the 'air traveling machines' and made it to the moon quicker than this Victorian predicted...
"...underground tubes will be made through which things will be propelled at enormous speed."
"Trips to Melbourne by balloon express" and the prospect of working-class people at Cambridge!
Quite a few entries predicted that phonographic recordings would replace handwritten/typed letters.
At last, we reach the winner of the competition! Mr. Marcus G. Morrison of London, who somehow managed to fit all of these predictions onto one postcard.
If you enjoyed that Victorian vision of the future, then you might also like this one!
And this!
Or how about this?
Or, finally, this!
Here's another article from Answers magazine (1889) that confidently predicted that writing would soon be rendered obsolete by the phonograph. They'd be surprised to discover just how much 21st-century culture still relies on written texts...
Here's another Victorian vision of the future, summarised by the Review of Reviews (1894). The end of the 'Great War' would usher in a new era of peace "which promises to be durable." Hmmmm...
Here's more from the same piece. It's like an alternative history of the First World War, as imagined in 1894. France does quite a bit better & the war only lasts 6 months. This originally appeared in a Catholic newspaper so, naturally, the Pope steps in and fixes everything!
According to this article from The London Journal (1897), "in future ages of the world all human beings will be devoid of hair and teeth."
Another Victorian glimpse into the future. This time, a poem from 1870 imagines life in the 1960s! "Will people still play croquet"?!
- The Powder Magazine (Jan, 1870)
- The Powder Magazine (Jan, 1870)
In 1895, an operetta was written about a Victorian man who got drunk, fell asleep in a beer cellar, and then woke up in the year 1990! He discovered a world governed by women, "where the dominion of man [was] but a dim tradition of the misty past"...
... A modern woman tries to 'reform' him, but he won't change his Victorian ways. Eventually, he falls in love with her daughter ("who sighs for the days when men were at the head of affairs"), the men revolt, and the 'natural' order of things is restored. It was called '1990'!
A few people have rightly pointed out that I used the term 'British' in this thread's first tweet, whereas the competition said 'English.' Some of the entries *did* address wider British (and Imperial) issues, such as Welsh devolution, but I still should've been more careful.
Also: thanks to everybody who pointed out that one of the predictions was referencing the Lord Chancellor, not the Chancellor of the Exchequer! You're quite right. The 'long hair' reference there, of course, was to the fact that the post would be held by a woman.
Also Also: I don't know why these Victorians were all so obsessed with building houses out of paper bricks. I found some articles about this building material in the press at the time, but not enough yet to explain why they were so fixated on it in 1888. I'll do more digging.
I wonder if it might partly be to do with the prospect of recycling waste-paper, which was produced in astonishing abundance during the nineteenth century. See:
"A noble history, a splendid literature, a few gigantic buildings, and a progeny scattered over half the world will be all that will be left to remind [England] of its ancient fame."
- Cheltenham Chronicle (1877)
- Cheltenham Chronicle (1877)
Here's @DrDouglasSmall, with an interesting lead on the paper brick predictions!
Several people have also explained why cremation was a hot topic in the 1880s! See:
Before I forget, here's the full-page version of Answers' future-predicting competition, complete with reference details in case you ever need to cite it somewhere.
You might have noticed that several competitors predicted the increased use of 'automatic machines.' This was evidently a subject of great interest in the 1880s. In fact, Answers magazine ran another competition challenging people to suggest new ones!
The editors of Answers magazine explained that they used competitions to please readers, boost circulation, & generate buzz through word-of-mouth. I think they'd have been rather satisfied to learn that their 1988 Prophesy competition went down so well in the 21st century!
It might interest some of you to learn that Answers magazine was the first title published by Alfred Harmsworth. It was to become the foundation of an enormously profitable (and powerful) media empire - he went on to found the Daily Mail in 1896.
Answers magazine ran regular weekly competitions in its early days. I've been posting quite a few of them over the last few weeks. If you enjoyed their future-gazing challenge, then you might also like some of the contests in this thread:
I'm delighted to discover that this thread about Victorian visions of the future picked up some media coverage a few days ago! I totally missed it at the time...
Here it is in the i: inews.co.uk/culture/victor…
And in the Indy100: indy100.com/article/victor…
Here it is in the i: inews.co.uk/culture/victor…
And in the Indy100: indy100.com/article/victor…
I was *particularly* delighted to find it in The Times! A really good write-up from @lib_thinks too. thetimes.co.uk/article/for-ev…
As a journalism historian and a frequent user of The Times digital archive in both my research and teaching, it makes me rather giddy with excitement to find *myself* in it!
Astonishingly, this has now happened for two Decembers in a row...
Astonishingly, this has now happened for two Decembers in a row...
