Victorian Parson

The Victorian parson is an unsung hero. Legend and literature portray him, at best, as the bearer of a thin veneer of piety which covers his hypocrisy; at worst, as a buffoon or a charlatan. Yet amid the unprecedented technological and commercial change of the nineteenth century, the Church moved to the centre of the nation s affairs and took on new and important responsibilities. Campaigning for new schools, healthier living conditions and humanitarian values, the parson became a champion for the lower classes. With a wealth of diary entries and other first-hand accounts, this beautifully written history sees society from the viewpoint of the parson at the centre of his community a community in the throes of economic, spiritual, architectural, social and scientific revolution.