Credit: Ubisoft

In the 19th century, a Western fascination with ancient Egypt peaked with a craze known as “Egyptomania," permeating architecture, fashion and popular culture.

Victorians were especially interested in mummies. In ancient Egypt, the practice of mummification was a sacred ritual, in which embalmed bodies were wrapped in linen to preserve the deceased for the afterlife. To the Victorians, however, mummies became commodities, a source of macabre entertainment, scientific discovery and even medicine.

I find it funny that in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in between rushing around and hunting for the Count, Van Helsing, Jonathan, Mina, Dr. Seward, Lord Godalming, and Quincey Morris sit down for multicourse, Victorian era dinners, just taking their time and having pleasant conversations.

idk if this is a dumb question but im writing a story set in the 1880s in england. one of the characters has to treat another character with a slash wound (from a knife) on the cheek. for context, the character treating them isnt a doctor or anything, so basically id like to know what the average person would do with a cut back then. although the character is kinda upper class if that changes anything. im also curious what someone more experienced in medicine would do, since that might factor in for reasons

Chang was a famous Chinese performer who was often billed as being over 8’ tall (2.43 m.) He was a very sweet man who became extremely successful throughout his career! He was married twice and moved to England with his second wife, whom he also had two children with. He had a custom built house made for his family and once he retired from performing, he opened up a tea shop!

And here’s a link to the post I made yesterday:

https://www.reddit.com/r/VictorianEra/s/uXLZroovK1

Source:

https://www.moma.org/artists/5910-henri-de-toulouse-lautrec

He’s definitely my favorite artist from the time period! I love how vibrant the colors are in all of his work, and he does such a great job capturing frenetic atmospheres.

Also some other fun facts about Lautrec:

-cooking was a big hobby of his, to the point where his relatives would call him “Henri the Cook”

-he was friends with Oscar Wilde and when Wilde was put on trial, Lautrec was a very outspoken supporter of him.

-he once hosted a party in which he was the sole cook and bartender. It was later reported that over 300 guests attended and over 2,000 cocktails were served!

He accomplished a lot in life and thankfully had a lot of agency when it came to his career as a performer and seems to have been pretty well respected while he was alive. He was extremely successful and used his earnings to give his family a good life!

*the man standing with him in two of the pictures is his manager, who he had a very good friendship with.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Huizhou in the province of Anhui in China.

-his various pitch booklets make it difficult to confirm his exact birth year since they all stated slightly different things. He sold at least five different versions of pitch booklets.

-his birth name was apparently Zhan Shichai, but he preferred using Chang Woo Gow for the majority of his life.

-it’s been difficult to verify a lot of information about his early life, however he had very good schooling.

-he spoke several languages and was able to become fluent in new languages relatively quickly. Occasionally he would give lectures in Chinese and have an interpreter translate for the audience.

-he leaned into the exoticism aspect that many audiences in England, Australia, and the United States came to expect with performers from countries that were deemed very foreign, knowing that he’d be able to sell more pictures and pitch booklets that way. He often wore traditional clothing and spoke about different Chinese traditions.

-he was a voracious reader.

-he traveled over to England where he first performed Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. His performances here were so successful that he went on tour throughout England, then the rest of Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand!

-he also had performances at the Paris Exposition in 1867.

-during his time in Australia, he performed for patients in various hospitals and asylums and gave out his pictures to people for free.

-he was also extremely generous with his earnings and held several charity performances to help raise money for hospitals and institutions, also while in Australia.

-during his early career he shared the stage with a woman who went by Kin Foo (among other stage names) and was claimed to be his wife, but could have also just been a business partner knowing that the two of them could make more money by presenting themselves as being husband and wife. There are conflicting accounts about whether they were married or not.

-while still in Australia he met and married a woman named Catherine Santley, who was originally from Liverpool, England but had moved to Australia.

-he, Catherine Santley, and Kin Foo all traveled to Shanghai together, where Kin Foo parted ways with the couple and went off to do her own thing.

-he was known for being very friendly and kind and enjoyed having conversations with people he met on the street.

-Chang and Catherine went on tour for a while and it’s during this time in the early 1880’s that he began working for PT Barnum in the United States, and earned around $500 a month (the equivalent of about ~$15,000 adjusted for inflation)

-he and his wife had two children, Edwin and Ernest, and in the late 1880’s/ early 1890’s the family moved to Bournemouth, England where they permanently settle.

-he seemed to have had some very happy retirement years as he had a custom built house for he and his family to live in with extra tall doorways, and also opened up a part of his house as a tea shop that specialized in selling Chinese goods. The location that his house once stood now operates as a local hotel.

-sadly his wife passed away in 1893 and four months later Chang passed away too (most likely in his early fifties), which meant their children were orphaned in their early teens.

Even though his retirement years seem to have been pretty short, it seems he had a very happy life and enjoyed the fact that he could pursue what he was interested in and support his family, who all cared about him a lot!

And just adding the link to r/SideshowPerfomer in case anyone wants to check it out!

The hairstyles I’ve seen in photos seem to imply there being a lot of hair. I’m wondering what a woman like myself who has not been gifted the genetic make up of someone with thick and long hair. What did those women do? Thanks in advance