Making English Morals Voluntary Association and Moral Reform in England, 1787-1886

Campaigns for moral reform were a recurrent and distinctive feature of public life in later Georgian and Victorian England. Anti-slavery, temperance, charity organisation, cruelty prevention, 'social purity' advocates, and more--all promoted their causes through mobilisation of citizen volunteer support. This book sets out to explore the world of these volunteer networks, their foci of concern, their patterns of recruitment, their methods of operation, and the responses they aroused. It provides the first ever systematic survey of moral reform movements over this period and is both compelling and accessible.