First published in 1978, this multi-disciplinary study embraces a wide selection of topics ranging from family intimacy and authoritarianism to the family as a unit for launching social reforms. Subjects treated in the nine essays include the Victorian attitude to childbirth, the role of the nanny, the power of the upper-class paterfamilias, the pattern of family work and fertility, and incest among the Victorian working classes. The book is introduced by a critical survey of the state of family history and the need for new studies.

From the essays, the Victorian family emerges as both a refuge from society and a springboard into it, and as an important unit for the study of the repression and exploitation of women and children in Victorian society.

This book will be of interest to those studying Victorian history and society.

• Cover 2
• Half Title 3
• Title Page 5
• Copyright Page 6
• Original Title Page 7
• Original Copyright Page 8
• Table of Contents 9
• Dedication 10
• 1. Introduction 11
• Part One: Preparation and Possession 23
  • 2. 'Temple and Sewer': Childbirth, Prudery and Victoria Regina 25
  • 3. 'As the Twig is Bent': the Victorian Nanny 46
  • 4. The Paterfamilias of the Victorian Governing Classes 61
  • 5. Love and Possession in a Victorian Household: the Example of the Ruskins 84
  • 6. Family Secrets and Domestic Subversion: Rebellion in the Novels of the 1860s 103