Dr J. A. Langford (1823-1903): A Self-Taught Working Man and the Sale of American Degrees in Victorian Britain

In British provincial newspapers in the 1860s and 1870s brief reports began to appear informing readers that a number of writers, ministers and schoolmasters had been awarded LL.D degrees from Tusculum College in the United States. Correspondents to the newspapers began to query these degrees, claiming that they could not find Tusculum on the map. In fact Tusculum College did exist, and after the devastation of the Civil War, began to raise funds by selling degrees overseas to men deemed worthy of them. This pamphlet tells the story of this extraordinary saga. The autodidact, poet and radical John Alfred Langford (1823-1903) was one recipient of a Tusculum LL.D. He was deeply proud of the honour, recording it on the title pages of his books and even on his census returns. This pamphlet examines the routes taken by this remarkable working man into journalism, literature and radical politics, and the part he played in promoting the famous Civic Gospel which transformed Birmingham into 'the best-governed city in the world'. This account draws on a recently-located cache of Langford's correspondence, and offers the first full picture of his life. Stephen Roberts is Visiting Research Fellow in Victorian History at Newman University, Birmingham. He has written or edited a number of books on Chartism and related subjects.