Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists: No. 3 The Cowper-temples and High Politics in Victorian England(Library of Victorian Studies)

William and Georgina Cowper-Temple were significant figures in nineteenth-century Britain. William Cowper-Temple, later Lord Mount Temple, was private secretary to one Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and minister in the government of Lord Palmerston. He sought to improve the nation's health and rebuild London, and famously amended the Education Act in 1870. His charismatic wife, Georgina, was also champion of diverse social and moral reforms, and friend to such worthies as John Ruskin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Frances Power Cobbe and Mrs Oscar Wilde. In the first full-length biography of this distinguished couple, James Gregory explores the Cowper-Temples' roles within Whig-Liberalism, philanthropy and social reform, and provides a fascinating insight into the private lives of two aristocrats dedicated to using their powers of influence to alleviate problems in Victorian society.

About the Author :
James Gregory was educated at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Southampton. He has taught at the Universities of Southampton and Durham, and is a Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bradford. His first book, 'Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain', was published in 2007. He has also published chapters and articles on 'eccentricity' in British culture c.1760-1901.

Review :
'This is an extremely well-researched account of the lives of two individuals who fully deserve a full-length treatment of this kind. The light which the author sheds on their complex social and cultural worlds has the potential to further enrich our understanding of the lives of the Victorian elite.' - Kathryn J. Gleadle, Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, University of Oxford; 'Gregory writes elegantly and in tackling a neglected subject has produced a book that illuminates the Victorian period in interesting new ways. The particular strengths of the book lie in Gregory's detailed reconstructions of the social networks and circles as well as the cultural interests of the Cowper-Temples and their milieu. There is much here to interest the social and cultural historian with important new information in particular on the religious and spiritual life of these little-studied Victorians.' - David Brown, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of Strathclyde; '... [The Cowper-Temples] have been fortunate in their biographer. James Gregory has achieved a monument of scholarship and exposition. Beyond extensive family papers he has examined 17 or so large archives on both sides of the Atlantic to inform himself of friends and colleagues of the couple. One thing that is immediately striking in dipping into the book is the apparently numberless people who knew them. If it could be said of anyone, they appear to have known everyone worth knowing, and more. To keep their friends straight is not easy, but Gregory achieves it for us. He is rightly sympathetic with his subjects, but equally aware of their foibles. His book can be read with great pleasure and profit.' - Parliamentary History