Campaigns for moral reform were a recurrent and distinctive feature of public life in later Georgian and Victorian England. Anti-slavery, temperance, charity, cruelty prevention and "social purity" advocates promoted their causes through mobilization of citizen volunteer support. M.J.D. Roberts explores the world of these volunteer networks--their concerns, patterns of recruitment, methods of operation, and responses aroused--to provide an accessible period survey of moral reform.

Campaigns for moral reform were a recurrent and distinctive feature of public life in later Georgian and Victorian England. Anti-slavery, temperance, charity, cruelty prevention and "social purity" advocates promoted their causes through mobilization of citizen volunteer support. M.J.D. Roberts explores the world of these volunteer networks--their concerns, patterns of recruitment, methods of operation, and responses aroused--to provide an accessible period survey of moral reform.