What started for Aaron Radford-Wattley as a hobby collecting Victorian-era thirst traps turned into a viral Instagram account and a newly released book…
By Stephan Petar
On a blustery winter’s day, I ventured to Parkdale Hall’s vintage market in Toronto. The Sunday tradition is a treasure trove of vintage fashion, accessories, records, toys and housewares. On this particular day in 2022, a man was selling historic photos of the city. As I browsed through the black and white images, I stopped at a photo of 10 dapper men posing alongside two bicycles – penny-farthings, to be exact.
I was drawn to the image for three reasons: I’m a cyclist, I’m passionate about the city’s history, and I was kind of attracted to the men. Their heart-piercing stares along with their military-styled cycling uniforms, stockings, caps and neckwear made me blush. Upon closer inspection, I learned that the photo was from 1890 and showcased members of the Toronto Bicycle Club.
As I paid the man for the photo, a woman eyed my purchase. “You should submit that to the Instagram Hot Victorians,” she said. At that point I had never heard of the account, but I soon learned that it married my two favourite things – history, and hot men who are unavailable.
From finding a community to a viral sensation
For those who have never visited Hot Victorians, it is a mix of historic photos and paintings of 19th and 20th century men. Some men wear wool suits accessorized with neckties, canes, chains that likely connect to a pocket watch, and other fashionable accessories. Others wear sports attire, or one-piece bathing suits that leave nothing to the imagination when wet. Accompanying each photo is a brief story about the man.
The account’s creator, Aaron Radford-Wattley, has been obsessed with the Victorian era since a young age. His first ‘Hot Victorian’ purchase happened at the age of nine. He attended a centenary celebration for a London psychiatric hospital where his father worked, and gravitated to a stall selling old photographs. While he was flipping through the images, one caught his attention. “I was fascinated by this handsome young Victorian man who was well dressed with his high collar and had a pensive look,” he says. “That was my first Victorian picture.”
That photo started his collection, which now features hundreds of Victorian and Edwardian men from around the world. “I have a huge box of images,” he humbly brags, before adding that his iPhone gallery is filled with pictures of men from those eras.
In 2019, he went on Instagram in search of a community that appreciated good-looking 19th and 20th century men. To his surprise, there wasn’t one. So he opened the account @HotVictorians. He now has more than 160,000 followers, including famous names like burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge Alan Carr.
“It was originally to catalogue my passion,” Radford-Wattley admits. “Then I started to see that people followed and that they were my kind of people – the girls, the gays and the theys. All supportive, open-minded and interested. It took off from there.”
The account saw an explosion of engagement and followers during the global pandemic and political unrest in the United States in 2020. The creator says he was happy that his account was able to make people laugh during the uncertain time. “I wanted some positivity on social media. I wanted it all to be very light, but interesting,” he shares. “Something to take away that’s informative. Something to make people smile…and maybe a little bit aroused.”
The latter objective isn’t difficult to achieve. As our conversation continued, there were moments when we both needed to reset after talking about a specific man on the account. “Sorry, I’m getting fluttery again,” he says at one point, fanning himself.
When picking the men to feature, the creator doesn’t have a hotness checklist. He admits it’s subjective, but he also understands what his audience wants. “Queer people generally like the more muscular posts. Women will generally like pretty boys,” he reveals, noting some men are popular with everyone.
To obtain these images, he scours vintage shops, the US Library of Congress and various archival websites. He knows he’s found an image when he gets that “wow factor” looking at it. He also stresses that the back story has to be good, admitting that sometimes the story is more impactful than the image.
The account also features submissions sent by followers – like my Toronto Bicycle Club photo posted in 2024! Some followers send images they’ve purchased, and others send personal pictures of ancestors. “People have a sense of pride and want to show off their great-great uncle or their great-great-great grandfather. It’s nice.”
After six years of curating the account, Radford-Wattley has expanded the Hot Victorians universe with a book. Hot Victorians: Meet Your Dream Man From the Past has received some hilarious reviews, including one from Alan Carr. The comedian and Drag Race UK host calls it “a delicious sepia wet dream of a book that had me drooling, swiping right and wanting to buy a time machine.” And he’s not wrong.
Flipping through a catalogue of men
Featuring more than 75 men, the book is essentially a dating app that will have readers trying to swipe right on the various profiles – trust me, I’ve tried! Each profile reveals the basics of the ‘Hot Victorian,’ like his name, occupation, birthplace and brief biography. Radford-Wattley also adds prompts commonly seen on dating profiles to further grab the reader’s interest.
The book features chapters separated into five male archetypes. Browse through hot dads, hunky jocks, boys next door, sexy nerds and hipsters. For those more into bad boys, there are plenty of them too: like Swedish robber Carl Wiktor Blom, whose probation office will need to approve a date. Those into professional athletes should consider Toronto’s Edward ‘Ned’ Hanlan – yes, of Hanlan’s Point. According to the book, his greatest strength is that he can “always find a way to stick his oar in.” Call us intrigued.
The book is a mix of never-before-seen men and heartthrobs from Radford-Wattley’s Instagram. “I had to pick around 80 to 100 guys,” he says.
As much as fun as the book was to write, the first-time author did have some challenges. The book features famous historical figures such as Sigmund Freud, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and other men with fascinating stories. He found the profiles of famous figures the hardest to write, because he had to distill their vast stories into 100 words or less, while balancing their important achievements with the book’s humorous tone. “It’s always a fine line between acknowledging someone’s hotness and not diminishing their actual accomplishments. Especially when they’re notable.”
Some of the men in the book are unknown, their names lost to time. He admits these men allowed for more creativity. To build an idea of who they were, he had to look closely for clues on the photographs. “A lot of the photographic studios would have their names printed on the image,” he shares. “I would research that, find the location and have a good estimate of the dates. Then I’d build an idea about what their life might have been like.”
The book also features an array of diverse men of different backgrounds. The selection process for these individuals presented its own set of challenges, he says, noting he had to take extra caution. “You had to make sure they weren’t enslaved. For a big chunk of that time period they would’ve been,” he says.
He also reveals that acquiring photos of Victorian African American men usually comes at a higher price than their white counterparts. “Maybe they’re rare or people are trying to capitalize on them, I don’t know,” he admits, saying prices tend to be over US$100.
Why do we thirst over hot unavailable men?
When asked why “the gays, the girls and the theys” are attracted to these men, he says it’s a mix of beauty and fashion. “I think the queer community loves details and appreciates when people have the buttonholes and high collars,” he suggests. “They’re also kind of sexy without even trying. When you don’t know you’re sexy, that’s even more attractive.”
He also thinks it’s the mystery of the person in question. “I think we can project our fantasies onto them,” he explains. “When there isn’t a definitive answer as to who they were or what they were like or how they lived, our mind is free to go wild.”
Whatever the reason, it’s comforting to know that Radford-Wattley and I are not the only ones who wish to resurrect these fine specimens and take them home to mom. There are over 160,000 of you.
STEPHAN PETAR is a born and raised Torontonian, known for developing lifestyle, entertainment, travel, historical and 2SLGBTQI+ content. He enjoys wandering the streets of any destination he visits, where he’s guaranteed to discover something new or meet someone who will inspire his next story.
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