This book explores the religious teachings of best-selling Victorian author and former Member of Parliament, Laurence Oliphant (1829–1888). While several biographies have been written on his captivating life, the stage of his life when Oliphant first established ‘The Household' commune has, until now, been largely unexplored.  Meer

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region.  Meer

Laurence Oliphant (1829–88) was a much-travelled British diplomat and writer. In the mid-nineteenth century, between two stints in the Caucasus, he spent several years in North America, helped Lord Elgin negotiate a trade treaty between Canada and the US, and was for a time Superintendent-General for Indian Affairs in Canada.  Meer

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat, and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region.  Meer

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region.  Meer

The British diplomat and writer Laurence Oliphant (1829–88) was the author of travel diaries and novels, including the very successful Piccadilly (1870).  Meer