This biographical study accessed genealogical records, wills, probate records, and contemporary newspaper accounts to examine the lives of six generations of the middle-class merchant Dawbarn family of nineteenth-century Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and Liverpool. The purpose was to assess the extent to which the experiences of this Dissenter family, with a focus on third-generation businessman and author William Dawbarn (1819-1881), conform to the well-known story of the rise of the English middle class. The Dawbarns did conform to the commercial and social patterns established by the middle class: sons joined fathers’ businesses; religion was central to life; successful businessmen participated in local politics; membership in associations was common; and partible inheritance was the norm when passing wealth to the next generation. All of this was accomplished within a society which placed a high value on conformity. Yet a close reading of William Dawbarn’s writing reveals a benevolently eccentric individual. / Graduate