The Times Great Victorian Lives

It was during the Victorian era that the first obituaries appeared in the Times, documenting the lives of the great and the good. Nearly two centuries later our evaluation of many of these historical figures has changed, and deserves reassessment. Obituaries of some of the most significant and influential scientists, social reformers, composers, writers and politicians of the Victorian era (including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Dickens, William Gladstone, Karl Marx, Louis Pasteur, Christina Rossetti, Thomas Cook and Oscar Wilde) have been selected by Ian Brunskill, the Obituaries Editor of the Times. Professor Andrew Sanders has edited each obituary, with insightful commentary to reveal the subtexts and omissions of those early accounts. Arranged according to the date of their deaths and illustrated with rare pictures from the Times archive, these great lives offer a fascinating analysis of one of the most interesting eras in history, examining the society, people and values of the Victorian world, and, indirectly, the legacy of the men and women who lived through, and influenced, it as it is seen today.Sanders, Andrew is the author of 'The Times Great Victorian Lives', published 2008 under ISBN 9780007259731 and ISBN 0007259735.