Sabine Baring-Gould

The life story of an important and eminent - but largely unsung Victorian

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Sabine Baring-Gould was one of the most remarkable Englishmen of the Victorian Age. Born as the heir to an estate in Devon, he received an erratic education travelling on the continent. Eventually he became a clergyman, and when thirty he married an eighteen year old mill girl, and act which attracted national interest and comment.Over the next sixty years he became famous as a pioneer archaeologist, the first collector of West Country folk music, composer of hymns, a writer on theology-he was extremely critical of his Church-and one of the most popular novelists of the day. As well as this staggering output, he ran his large estate with compassion, and as if to cement his Victorian credentials he and Grace had fifteen children. He died in 1924 aged eighty nine. This biography analyses in detail his extraordinary life and work, especially his literary output, and draws a picture of a great character. It is high time we were reminded of a major figure in Victorian England.