The contemporary story features a self-educated working-class intellectual and freethinker whose characterisation draws on many strands of thought of the day. Drawn after the model of self-made men such as Daniel Macmillan
, William Lovett
Timeline
February 1843
Daniel
and Alexander Macmillan
founded their own publishing house in London.
1863
Publisher Alexander Macmillan
moved the publishing firm founded by his late brother Daniel
from Cambridge to London (where he had opened a branch in 1858).
