This is a book driven into existence by curiosity about moral change. Who decides that contemporary moral values, current standards of behaviour, are repugnant? What experiences promote this sensitivity? What experiences and mental processes trigger attempts to promote moral change – attempts often met with indifference, hostility, ridicule and failure? And under what circumstances, by what methods, do the morally sensitive manage to persuade the indifferent, and overcome the hostile, when they do achieve recognition? ‘Nothing is more difficult perhaps than to explain how and why, or why not, a new moral perception becomes effective in action. Yet nothing is more urgent if an academic historical exercise is to become a significant investigation of human behavior.’

This, then, is a study of people seeking moral reform – and about the associations they formed, the campaigns they fought, and the responses they achieved. The leading characters will be relatively familiar to the reader. The list begins with William Wilberforce and concludes with Josephine Butler and the crusading journalist W. T. Stead. The volunteer associations which these recognised historical figures led, and relied upon to achieve their goals, will, to most, be less familiar – as will some of the goals themselves.

It is hoped that the book itself may prove useful in three ways.