Introduction

Born in London, on 20 May 1806, John Stuart Mill was the eldest son of James Mill, the author of The History of British India.1 Most sketches of John Mill’s life - by himself and by others, then and now - commonly begin with a reference to his father.2 But Mill’s reputation has long surpassed that of his utilitarian predecessors.3 He is today one of the most studied nineteenth-century British thinkers. His eminence is owed primarily to On Liberty (1859), Utilitarianism (1861), and Autobiography (1873), but also to The Subjection of Women (1869), A System of Logic (1843), Principles of Political Economy (1848), Considerations on Representative Government (1861), and Three Essays on Religion (1874). Most of these works underwent several editions during his lifetime, and so did the few selected essays which he republished in Dissertations and Discussions (1859). However, he is no less remembered as an ardent and devoted advocate of the enfranchisement of women and the working classes, a stern supporter of Irish cultivators of land against absentee landowners and a resolute opponent of slavery and a Member of Parliament for Westminster (1865–8) than as the author of those influential works.