The Times Great Victorian Lives

Obituaries of the most influential Victorians as profiled by The Times, including Dickens, Darwin, Ruskin, Peel, WG Grace and Florence Nightingale.

For over 150 years, The Times obituaries have been providing the most respected and perceptive verdicts on the lives of the great and the good. Scientists, social reformers, composers, writers, sportsmen and politicians…Times Great Victorian Lives examines the achievements of eminent Victorians, from Isambard Kingdom Brunel to Charles Darwin, Disraeli to Gladstone and Florence Nightingale to Sarah Bernhardt.

Figures have been chosen according to their importance today and are ordered chronologically. The Times Great Victorian Lives gives a fascinating insight into Victorian history, revealing how the Victorian figures we now consider 'great' were seen in their day.

Reviews

Praise for The Times Great Victorian Lives:

‘A brilliant concept, irresistible to anyone interested in those amazing Victorians. Like re-reading history through a many-faceted prism … So many gems’ Liza Picard, author of Victorian London

Praise for The Times Great Lives:

‘a glorious celebration of human diversity, genius and sheer eccentricity…Great Lives is a great book’ Daily Express

‘an engrossing volume, full of lively writing’ The Times Literary Supplement

About the author

Educated at the universities of Oxford and Hamburg, Ian Brunskill joined The Times in 1991. He succeeded the political commentator Anthony Howard as Obituaries Editor in February 1999, and took on the additional duties of Letters Editor in 2005; he is currently assistant editor. He is editor of The Times Great Lives (2005), The Times Great Victorian Lives (2007) and The Times Guide to the House of Commons (2015).