Lord Ashley (later the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury), the 'Poor Man's Earl', is widely remembered as a leading aristocratic philanthropist whose concern for suffering and the oppressed victims of Victorian 'progress' saw him champion a range of social, industrial, educational, and health reforms. A deeply religious individual, his evangelicalism and sense of philanthropy as 'duty' make these extraordinarily rich and candid diaries a vital resource for understanding the motivations of a prominent philanthropist and Victorian social reformer. The diaries contain detailed accounts of his labours, religious and philosophical reflections, self analysis, and descriptions and criticisms of contemporaries, and offer thereby a fascinating insight into Victorian politics and social change.

The full run of the diaries span the period 1825-85. This first volume, covering 1825-45, shows the emergence of Ashley as a passionate evangelical reformer and determined advocate for a range of domestic and international issues and causes.

In Volume 1, Part Two (covering 1843-5), the questions and issues that would dominate his public work for years to come and which he had begun to address in the period covered in Part One feature more prominently. His discussion of important topics – such as religious questions (including here the intense debates over Tractarianism); industrial working conditions, especially for children; and the work of the lunacy commission – show how he had by this point found his voice and become established as a key actor in those fields. Part Two also includes a narrative of a further European tour (in 1843). The volume closes with a political journal for 1834-42, detailing Ashley's role in, and view of, the turbulent parliamentary history of the period.