The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 to January 1901.Swisher, Clarice, ed. Victorian England. San Diego, CA : Greenhaven Press, 2000. This was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed a large, educated middle class to develop. Some scholars would extend the beginning of the period—as defined by a variety of sensi