Incest and influence: An odd journey through bourgeois England

A little bit of background📃

I spotted Incest and influence at the Brisbane annual Lifeline bookfest in 2025. I am a social historian at heart, so the subject matter and the book's title were enough to make me add the book to my basket. I have to admit, though, that the book is not what I was expecting. Read on for my review...

Incest and influence: The private life of bourgeois England | Published January 2009 | Read July 2025

The author✏️

Professor Adam Kuper is a social anthropologist and retired academic with an ongoing position as Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics. He was born in 1941 in Johannesburg, obtaining his undergraduate degree in South Africa before earning a doctorate from Cambridge University. Professor Kuper is a Fellow of the British Academy and has authored or edited nineteen books and published over 100 journal articles on anthropological theory and the history of anthropology. He makes frequent appearances on BBC television and radio.

The subject matterℹ️

Incest and Influence explores how the political networks of the eighteenth-century aristocracy were formed and consolidated by the practice of in-married bourgeois clans. These clans dominated finance and industry, local and national politics, and religious and intellectual life. Professor Kuper, as a social anthropologist, analyses kin marriages over multiple generations within a bunch of clans, notably the Darwin and Wedgwood families, the Rothschild and Barclay banking families, and in the Clapham Sect. The book finishes with an account of the Bloomsbury Group, the most eccentric example of English bourgeois endogamy.

Incest is woven through the book as societal, theological and legal perceptions and doctrines were challenged and changed over time. Victorian parliaments debated for over forty years whether a man could marry his deceased wife's sister. Cousin marriage was the norm these ideas changed over time, as Kuper charts in his book.

My thoughts on the book💭

I rather enjoyed my journey through bourgeois England. Professor Kuper presents that journey in an engaging and easily digestible way. The book starts off with an exploration of cousin marriage in popular fiction, creating an intriguing doorway into the the subject matter. This chapter sets up the rest of the book and Kuper's central argument: cousin and in-law marriage was a strategic move by the new bourgeoisie that was instrumental in the financial and political success of leading Victorian clans.

The book's title is somewhat misleading as cousin marriage would be considered incest now, but was acceptable in the nineteenth century. There is little exploration of what modern readers would be expecting to read about when they pick up a book on incest. Instead, Kuper examines cousin marriage, or marriage between in-laws, or marriage between a man and the sister of his deceased wife. Kuper notes that for a significant period of time - the 12th century upt until early in the 20th - incest was a theological issue not a legal one. Brothers and sisters in law were regarded as brothers and sisters. Marrying the sister or brother of a deceased spouse was considered incestuous, whereas it was not the case if cousins married. Fascinating!

There is certainly plenty of material for Kuper to draw from, including one of the most famous cousin marriages of the time, between Queen Victoria and her first cousin, Albert Saxe-Coburg. Darwin himself married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. After Kuper's initial exploration of literary ideas about incest, he digs into the legal, theological, scientific, financial and emotional elements of Victorian marriage practices.

I learnt a lot about the social history of marriage, the changing theological and legal doctrines, and the ties that bound powerful families together through marriage to advance their fortunes. The book is rich in its exploration of the subject matter but it is also rather confusing at times. I found myself lost amongst all the connections between the families, the genealogical detail, and the endless parade of names.

In sum📝

There's no doubt that Kuper researched his subject well. The book makes a strong contribution to social history in its exploration of the fascinating kinship strategy that wealthy Victorian families used to boost their fortunes and social and political connections. If social history is your thing, give the book a go. Just go into it with the caveat that there's an abundance of complex connections within and between the families to get your head around.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐