Domestic Biography: The Legacy of Evangelicalism in Four Nineteenth-Century Families (Oxford Historical Monographs)

This is a fascinating account of the influence of evangelicalism upon eminent Victorians. Recording family life was an important ritual in Victorian households, and out of this habit grew a new literary genre, the domestic biography, extolling individual piety and domestic virtue. Using documents from the archives of the Macaulay, Stephen, Wilberforce, and Thornton families, Dr Tolley analyzes the biographical tradition and its lasting effects upon "family values."