The Life and Times of Abraham Hayward, Q.c. Victorian Essayist 'one of the Two Best Read men in England'

An inquiry into how, in Victorian England, Abraham Hayward, a man from a modest rural background, without a university education, makes his mark in London Society, becomes a barrister and a Queen's Counsel and a successful writer, political commentator, journalist and essayist. The book examines his sometimes difficult relationships with others which affects the course of his life and examines the extent of his political influence with Prime Ministers and other leading figures. Also discussed are Hayward's rapport with intellectual women writers and female members of the aristocracy and his successful dinners to which he invited politicians, writers, lawyers and members of Society. One chapter describes a landmark rights of way case, successfully conducted by Abraham Hayward and his father, on behalf of the town of Lyme Regis, Dorset, in the early 1840s.