The death of John Stuart Mill

Stack, D. (2011) The death of John Stuart Mill. The Historical Journal, 54 (1). pp. 167-190. ISSN 1469-5103 doi: 10.1017/S0018246X10000610

Abstract/Summary

This article surveys the fiercely contested posthumous assessments of John Stuart Mill in the newspaper and periodical press, in the months following his death in May 1873, and elicits the broader intellectual context. Judgements made in the immediate wake of Mill's death influence biographers and historians to this day and provide an illuminating aperture into the politics and shifting ideological forces of the period. The article considers how Mill's failure to control his posthumous reputation demonstrates both the inextricable intertwining of politics and character in the 1870s, and the difficulties his allies faced. In particular, it shows the sharp division between Mill's middle and working class admirers; the use of James Mill's name as a rebuke to his son; the redefinition of Malthusianism in the 1870s; and how publication of Mill's Autobiography damaged his reputation. Finally, the article considers the relative absence of both theological and Darwinian critiques of Mill.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/25723
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > History
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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