ABSTRACT
The biographies throw some light on the much-neglected history of father-daughter relationships and on the politics of paternity and political ancestry for feminists in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. They are also suggestive of the positive attractions and use that biography held for Victorian women writers and feminists. Biography was a form of political activism and their voices were firm and assured, betraying little evidence of 'anxiety of authorship' in any of their extensive publications across a variety of media. Bradlaugh Bonner's record presented itself forcefully as the authorised version of her father's life, the preface beginning with the jovial conversation in which Bradlaugh confirmed his daughter as the person best equipped to write his life. The daughter's nervousness around her father's reputation was prompted not only by the evangelical scandal mongers for, as a leading activist, she fought ferociously to ensure that the movement remained true to her father's legacy.
