This book suggests alternative ways of looking at what made a writer, what people gained from writing, and explores the alternative world of temperance periodicals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It introduces some of the now-forgotten writers who, in their thousands, kept the Victorian periodical presses rolling, and the public entertained. Locating their writing in the context of their personal commitment, the study takes seven prolific writers who were outside what we now think of as the circuits of conventional publication and authorship, and looks at how they found ways to make their voices heard. Their absorption in a cause led them to forge impressive writing careers in a variety of genres and media, focusing around high-circulation temperance periodicals. Examining their cultural contributions as well as their professional lives confirms the importance of the temperance movement in the second half of the nineteenth century, and raises questions about distribution practices and values, and distinctions between "life" and "work."

This book explores the history of the Australian temperance movement and the ideas that informed it, offering a detailed examination of the beliefs of evangelicals involved. The temperance movement in Australia was large and influential, and played a vital role in shaping the cultural and political life of the emerging nation across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study focuses on the relationship between evangelicalism and 'Moral Enlightenment' ideas within the temperance movement between 1832 and 1930. It considers the complex and varied ways in which they interacted within the thinking of the movement’s leaders, enriches discussions regarding religion and secularisation, and offers new insight into the involvement of women. Against the larger horizon of global evangelicalism, the international temperance movement, and the evolution of Australian political culture, the chapters look at the reported words and actions of six key temperance leaders: John Saunders, George Washington Walker, John McEncroe, Alfred Stackhouse, Mary Ann Thomas and Elizabeth Webb Nicholls. The book will be relevant to scholars of religious history and those with an interest in the evangelical Protestant tradition.

Many of London's Victorian buildings are built of coarse-textured yellow bricks. These are 'London stocks', produced in very large quantities all through the nineteenth century and notable for their ability to withstand the airborne pollutants of the Victorian city. Whether visible or, as is sometimes the case, hidden behind stonework or underground, they form a major part of the fabric of the capital. Until now, little has been written about how and where they were made and the people who made them. Peter Hounsell has written a detailed history of the industry which supplied these bricks to the London market, offering a fresh perspective on the social and economic history of the city. In it he reveals the workings of a complex network of finance and labour. From landowners who saw an opportunity to profit from the clay on their land, to entrepreneurs who sought to build a business as brick manufacturers, to those who actually made the bricks, the book considers the process in detail, placing it in the context of the supply-and-demand factors that affected the numbers of bricks produced and the costs involved in equipping and running a brickworks. Transport from the brickfields to the market was crucial and Dr Hounsell conducts a full survey of the different routes by which bricks were delivered to building sites - by road, by Thames barge or canal boat, and in the second half of the century by the new railways. The companies that made the bricks employed many thousands of men, women and children and their working lives, homes and culture are looked at here, as well as the journey towards better working conditions and wages. The decline of the handmade yellow stock was eventually brought about by the arrival of the machine-made Fletton brick that competed directly with it on price. Brickmaking in the vicinity of London finally disappeared after the Second World War. Although its demise has left little evidence in the landscape, this industry influenced the developme