The Last Victorians: A Daring Reassessment of Four Twentieth Century Eccentrics

This original and prodigious book from the acclaimed author of Muckraker tells the story of four eccentric public figures born in the heyday of the Empire, who attempted to promote Victorian values throughout the early and middle years of the twentieth century. The subjects of this extraordinary book are Sir William Joynson-Hicks, the controversially authoritarian Home Secretary from 1924 to 1929; William Ralph Inge, author, Anglican priest and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral; John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, founding father of the BBC; and Sir Arthur Bryant, influential and bestselling historian. Each of these four individuals represented a school of thought swept away by modern views in post-Victorian society but, Robinson argues eloquently, they still have lessons to teach us.