Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life

A biography of the priest, historian and supporter of social reform, now remembered as the author of The Water Babies.

Charles Kingsley (Author), Frances Eliza Kingsley (Edited by)

9781108034845, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 November 2011

522 pages, 4 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.66 kg

Charles Kingsley (1819–75) is best remembered today as the author of the children's morality tale The Water Babies. This biography, written by his wife and published in 1877, draws on his letters to describe a man who saw his faith as being central to his life not only as an Anglican priest, but also as a historian, novelist and supporter of social reform. The two-volume work gives insights into the concerns and preoccupations of the intellectual classes of the mid-Victorian period. Volume 1 covers the period until 1856. We read Kingsley's precocious sermon written at the age of four, and his first attempts at poetry. As an adult he was keenly aware of the inequalities of Victorian life, and his support for the Chartists and social reform can be traced back to his witnessing the 1831 Bristol Riots, his vivid description of which is included here.

Preface
1. Birth and parentage
2. 1830–8. Live at Clovelly
3. 1838–42. Life at Cambridge
4. 1842. Reads for Holy Orders
5. 1842–3. Curate life
6. 1844–7. Marriage
7. 1848. Publication of Saint's Tragedy
8. 1849. Winter in Devonshire
9. 1850–1. Resigns the office of clerk in orders at Chelsea
10. 1851. Letters on university reform and teetotalism
11. 1852. Strike in the iron-trade
12. 1853. The rector in his church
13. 1854. Torquay
14. 1855. Bideford
15. 1856. Winter at Farley Court.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]