A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis focuses on a selection of biographical treatments of Charles Darwin dating from 1887 to 1991, and through these explores certain shifts in the purposes and assumptions of biography since the Victorian period. An introductory discussion of problematic features in standard histories of biography is followed by an overview of the biographical material that surrounds Darwin. Four works are then analysed in detail. These are: The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin edited by his son Francis Darwin. (1887); Charles Darwin: The fragmentary man by Geoffrey West (1937); Darwin and the Beagle by Alan Moorehead (1969); and Darwin by Adrian Desmond and James Moore (1991). The disparities between these works - disparities in purpose, form, and the image of Darwin that each presents - are so great that one must question whether biography is a continuous, evolving family of texts. Is it not, rather, a conglomeration of approaches to life-writing - approaches which critics have grouped into a single genre much as the ancients grouped whales with fishes, on the basis that "because certain of their structural features are analogous, they must be generically-related"? The findings of this thesis do not supply a comprehensive answer, but affirm that we need to re-evaluate concepts like "the evolution of biography". In an appendix I analyse The Life of Richard Owen by R.S. Owen (1894) and thereby reconsider certain of my conclusions about Victorian biography. (Owen was the most eminent naturalist of the era and is often supposed to have been Darwin's greatest rival, hence my choice of this particular work.) / AC 2018

The thesis is about life and personality of John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), who was a notable Scottish literary critic and biographer. The first part of the thesis is a brief narrative of his life. The second part is dedicated to the history and manners of Lockhart's family, which was closely related to Sir Walter Scott. This family is compared with a typical family of the period. The third part is tracing Lockhart's influence over the Scottish national movement.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / As white settlers and pioneers moved westward in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, some of the first to settle the Indiana territory, near the Ohio border, were members of the Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers). Many of these Quakers focused on social reforms, especially the anti-slavery movement, as they fled the slave-holding states like the Carolinas. Less discussed in Indiana’s history is the impact Quakerism also had in the movement for women’s rights. This case study of two of the founding members of the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association (later to be renamed the Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association), illuminates the influences of Quakerism on women’s rights. Amanda M. Way (1828-1914) and Mary Frame (Myers) Thomas, M.D. (1816-1888) practiced skills and gained opportunities for organizing a grassroots movement through the Religious Society of Friends. They attained a strong sense of moral grounding, skills for conducting business meetings, and most importantly, developed a confidence in public speaking uncommon for women in the nineteenth century. Quakerism propelled Way and Thomas into action as they assumed early leadership roles in the women’s rights movement. As advocates for greater equality and freedom for women, Way and Thomas leveraged the skills learned from Quakerism into political opportunities, resource mobilization, and the ability to frame their arguments within other ideological contexts (such as temperance, anti-slavery, and education).