The best-loved politician and social reformer of nineteenth century England, Lord Shaftesbury's deep compassion for the poor became legendary. He campaigned tirelessly to limit factory hours, to stop the use of boys as chimney sweeps and children in coalmines, and to develop universal education. As a result he changed the character of English society forever. Areas covered in this important new biography include his upbringing and education; his work as a politician and his campaign for mental health; factory and industrial reforms; campaigns for climbing boys and for better sanitation and housing; his contribution towards the founding of the Bible Society, CPAS, London City Mission, Ragged School Union and CMS; his role as a defender of the Protestant faith and the campaign against ritualism; his personal theology.

The third Earl of Shaftesbury was a pivotal figure in eighteenth-century thought and culture. Professor Klein's study is the first to examine the extensive Shaftesbury manuscripts and offer an interpretation of his diverse writings as an attempt to comprehend contemporary society and politics and, in particular, to offer a legitimation for the new Whig political order established after 1688. As the focus of Shaftesbury's thinking was the idea of politeness, this study involves the first serious examination of the importance of the idea of politeness in the eighteenth century for thinking about society and culture and organising cultural practices. Through politeness, Shaftesbury conceptualised a new kind of public and critical culture for Britain and Europe, and greatly influenced the philosophical and cultural models associated with the European Enlightenment.

This book, first published in 2000, presents an edition of one of the most important texts of the Enlightenment.