ABSTRACT
Between 1850 and 1870, Victorian autodidacticism changed from private aspiration to public duty, as the newly activist ideals of mutual self-improvement were gradually imparted to the practice of civic governance. This chapter looks at the ways in which voluntary cultural institutions put this ideal into practice. It examines the process by which the members of these institutions, inspired by undeniable successes and challenged by relative failures, began to claim the duties and responsibilities of political leadership as a means of accomplishing reform. Within both mutual improvement and debating society, the loose association of citizenship with suffrage encouraged even unenfranchised members to contribute enthusiastically to questions of social and political reform. The Midland Institute’s founding depended upon the successful modification of traditional voluntarism. Diagnosing ‘the failure of voluntarism’ had not been easy, but pushing potential leaders to take responsibility for its replacement was even harder.
