A micro-history of Victorian liberal parenting: John Morley's 'discreet indifference'

This text explores the theory and practice of Victorian liberal parenting by focusing on the life and writings of John Morley, one of Britain's premier intellectuals and politicians.

Reading Morley's published works - much of which explicitly or implicitly addresses this relationship - with and against other writings of the period, and in the context of formative circumstances in his own life, it explores how living one's life as a liberal extended to parenting.

Although Victorian liberalism is currently undergoing reappraisal by scholars in the disciplines of literature and history, only a handful of studies have addressed its implications for intimate personal relations.