Radical Victorians

by James Hobson

There is more to the Victorian era than respectability, economic success and the grudging solution of the practical social problems they encountered. The politicians, generals and commercial classes have been well covered in popular history books, but there were also thinkers of radical and unsettling ideas who had a real influence at the time. Many were women, many from the middle and working classes, and almost all outside the power structure. They were by no means all fringe ideas either – in 1840, Queen Victoria herself attended a séance, for example.

The book is a biography focussed history of some of these challenging ideas and the men and women who promoted them. It looks at radical thinkers and movers, the people who stepped outside of the social norm and propelled the Victorians towards the modern day.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Research, Biography

232 pages, Hardcover

Published May 30, 2022

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

A really interesting overview of some radical Victorian thinkers and activists, many now forgotten (publishers, vegetarians, anti vivisectionists, pro cremationists, socialist vicars) or half remembered (Besant and Bradlaugh) along with Josephine Butler, Keir Hardie and Francis Galton (radical ideas aren't always right, see also Florence Cook the spiritualist). Strong focus on women, pleasingly. It's revelatory as to the extremes of radical thought--many of those here would currently be considered rather left-wing and socially radical by the average US Democrat.

Well told with a few cracking jokes, though really needed a more thorough edit. Strongly recommended to everyone who bleats about "anachronism" in Victorian historical romance whenever they see women demanding jobs, votes, power, or satisfying sex (including outside marriage).

[Ann Dudzinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victorian society is usually thought of as traditional, conservative, and staid. And for most people who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria, that is true. However, James Hobson presents several Victorians who not only broke societal rules to make a point, they influenced future generations in ways they might not have dreamed of. Sadly, the names of most of these early influencers have been lost to history but this book gives them a last hoorah.

I originally picked this up as research for my own writing, since characters who behave all the time are boring. The author has a dry wit and the book is very readable (no textbook-style slog here), and I found myself immersed in history - which is one of my favorite places to be.

The author was very clear in his selection process: he chose radical thinkers “whose ideas were not much acted on (during the Victorian era).” In fact, most of those highlighted did not live long enough to see society embrace their ideas. But whether they knew it or not, they all changed the future.

The book explores both men and women. Most were wealthy, a few were not. Some were better tolerated than others. A few hobnobbed with high society and other radical thinkers like Darwin and Karl Marx. A few went broke pursuing their dream and one died on the Titanic. Some were radical atheists, others were conservative Christians. They couldn’t be pigeon holed.

The Victorians in this work embraced ideals that included vegetarianism, the end to vivisection, temperance as a lifestyle, freedom of the press, atheism, radical Christianity, acceptance of birth control and cremation, spiritualism, and women's equality under the law.

If you’re interested in Victorian society or just historical movers and shakers, I highly recommend this book. It’s a worthy addition to any library.

** Please be aware there are some inconsistencies on the release date. My main sources indicate a May 30, 2022 release date; however, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are listing two different August 2022 release dates. I suggest preordering it and being pleasantly surprised when it arrives.

My final rating was 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen & Sword publishing for providing the ARC of this book. I’ve left my review honestly and voluntarily.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radical Victorians by James Hobson is a fascinating glimpse into the nonconforming side of Victorian culture.

While these are essentially biographical sketches I like that each chapter is titled with the issue for which that person is most associated. Even with the person's name as a subtitle I think it allows Hobson to be more inclusive of other individuals in discussing the topic. As one would expect, there is also a lot of crossover since many of these people cared passionately about other related topics. I guess what I am saying is that each chapter is a nice mix of biography and discussion about the movements more broadly.

As he points out, many of these people were far from perfect. They often held views that are certainly offensive to the 21st century mind and many were even questionably ethical by their own contemporary's minds. That doesn't change the impact they had in the areas discussed and, while making them less appealing, it also highlights the difficulty in expecting anyone to be perfectly aligned with our own views. We could learn from that. It doesn't mean we don't hold our current activists accountable for offensive views but it does suggest that we work with people on some issues while working against them on others. This will lead to far more progress than strict polarization where someone who doesn't align perfectly is discarded and their efforts in mutual areas ignored. We are all students and we are all teachers, we all seek change and we all should be open to change ourselves.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting and informative book. Some of this names were relevant because of the modernity of their ideas or their anrticonformism.
They were all interesting and none is well known name.
I discovered interesting people and enjoyed this well written book.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[CPE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radical Victorians by James Hobson tells us about a group of Victorians (obvs!) who defied convention in various ways: espousing vegetarianism, teetotalism, cremation, women’s legal equality and many other views that were ahead of their time. The individuals are:
- Anna Kingsford
- Frances Power Cobbe
- Ann Jane Carlile
- Florence Cook
- Sir Henry Thompson
- Isabelle Holmes
- Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy
- Richard Pankhurst
- George Drysdale
- Annie Besant
- Edward Truelove
- Charles Bradlaugh
- Josephine Butler
- W.T. Stead
- Stuart Headlam
- Keir Hardie
- Henry Hyndham
- Sir Charles Dilke
- Francis Dalton
To my shame, I had only heard of five of them and, as I read Hobson’s book, I realised I actually knew very little about those few. This is perhaps not surprising. Hobson has chosen people who change the future but (mostly) didn’t live to see their views accepted. Thus, the book excludes Florence Nightingale and Charles Darwin – their views were radical when first proposed but were fairly mainstream when Queen Victoria died. Francis Dalton was a great scientist but made one huge misjudgement: eugenics. Whilst the basic science may be correct (racehorses can be bred for stamina, potatoes can be bred to resist blight), the moral consequences are shudderingly deplorable. Modern cancel culture is writing him out of history, which is a shame, as he did achieve some great things: the first weather map in a newspaper; breakthroughs in fingerprint technology and statistical methods.

Hobson sets the context for each life, explaining the standard contemporary views and showing how unusual the above team seemed to other Victorians. Many of them had the luxury of wealthy parents and could afford to throw themselves whole-heartedly into fighting for good causes. (As Hobson puts it, they were part of “the leisured intellectual elite.” Some, however, like Keir Hardie, the founder of the Independent Labour Party, were desperately poor.

The book is well-written and provides a lot of interesting information about each life. It’s not as dry as you might expect, I shall read it again and I know I’ll get more out of it on a second or third reading. And that brings me onto my one cavil with the book. Many (most / all?) of the cast list were known to each other and they pop up in each other’s chapters. The trouble is, I can’t remember whether, when we read about Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy going to see the work of Josephine Butler, have we read about Butler yet or not? There are thirty-five mentions of Charles Bradlaugh before we reach the chapter dedicated to him. It’s all good stuff, but the interconnectedness makes it confusing. I know E.M. Forster told us to “Only connect!” but I sometimes wonder if Hobson has taken the instruction to extremes!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for the free review copy of the book.

#RadicalVictorians #NetGalley

[Ru]

3.5*

This was a readable and mostly interesting selection of biographies of various middle and upper class intellectuals in Victorian Britain who held opinions not generally shared by the majority of the establishment or population at the time. Many of the biographies were very interesting to read, and I ended up adding various names and books to my list yo research further.

The selection of people was knowingly and openly limited - the book's introduction highlights that they are all from the same social class and specifically people who sought to win verbal arguments rather than take direct action. The extent to which this approach is successful is probably a matter of opinion - personally I would have liked a rather broader approach, but I did value the way that the overlapping social circles were shown throughout the book.

The topics covered were varied and all interesting, although at times the stated link to 'radicalism' as defined in the book as going unrecognised and accepted at the end of the period, seemed rather stretched.

I was also very interested in a few topics that were vaguely mentioned in passing, for example the concept of race comes up a coupe of times, but I would have liked a greater depth here, and some non white figures would have been very welcome. A few of the women mentioned were, or appeared to be, in same sex relationships, and again this would have been interesting to delve further into.

Overall this was a good general introductory overview of many interesting and independently minded individuals, with limitations and also its own potential and use.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, although many of these radical Victorians were extremely dogmatic, and sound rather unlikeable. However, it is often the unlikeable ones who get things done, perhaps.

Some of these radical Victorians are quite well-known, such as Keir Hardie, but others are not known now. For example, if you mentioned Josephine Baker to anyone, they would assume that you meant the black singer, not a minister's wife who helped prostitutes in Victorian England. Charles Dilke is another one who isn't very well-known. Even W.T. Stead would not be a name familiar to most people now.

This can be difficult to read at times because the people that these Victorian radicals helped lived in such grim conditions, and because most of them had hard lives, and were badly treated.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781399008266
PRICE £25.00 (GBP)

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last quarter of the nineteenth century was a time when people began to question everything. With the inventions such as telephones, internal combustion cars, electricity for homes and businesses, people began to get used to new products and new ideas.

People created vegetarianism for those who felt that the eating of meat was not fair to the animals who were raised as food. Anti-vivisection, because many animals were operated on while they were awake and alive. Especially in England, the number of the poor who worked six and one-half days a week, alcohol was the only recreation(?) they could afford, but it destroyed people and families. Cremation in a city like London made sense when land was very scarce and graveyards were of better use if made into parks.

The are some of the new thoughts of philosophers and fakirs who pursued making life easier and better for all those living in the crowded cities.

[Ztu · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for supplying a copy of this e-book in return for an honest review.*

Radical Victorians was a surprisingly good read about lesser-known movers and shakers of Victorian Britain. Each chapter covers a different area of "radical" thought where the highlighted individual played a big role for reasons that are often forgotten about today. The one name I knew from the people featured was Keir Hardie for his involvement in the early British Labour Party. This meant that the book provided a lot of interesting new information, which is always a plus for me. Another interesting point was their definition of radical including many topics that would be seen by many as being far from progressive by today's standards.

[Quenby · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting tour of people famous during the Victorian era for making trouble. I would propose that Spiritualism wasn’t good trouble, but she m always interested in reformers. Leaders of reforms in my experience are a little crazy. Perhaps that is a requirement in order to withstand the criticism and pushback, especially if kept up over time. Reformers are not generally beautiful people. Nevertheless, they are like comets and their willingness to live outside social norms is damned impressive.

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting overview of some Victorian activists and thinkers, many of them women and it's a mix of their biographies and ideas. It's well written and structured, though it could have been copy edited more carefully.