This thoroughly researched biographical work, written with wit and humour, is intended to engage at least two categories of reader.

For the first kind, already knowing something of the impact of Mrs. Walter Smith's exposure as 'The Clifton Girl-Flogger' in 1889, it fully answers the lingering question: just who was this intriguing Victorian Englishwoman, renowned for her use of corporal punishment to reform unruly middle class girls, and what was the course of her life like?

Then, for those without knowledge of the subject but attracted to intelligent insight on basically sensitive aspects of religious, educational, political and historical beliefs, here is the chance to understand how one widowed Bristol Schoolmistress came to be centrally entwined in a convocation of domestic and spiritual issues played out on the national stage.

Indeed, for all who like to savour the special taste of British social history, who want their fare properly prepared, to have the essential gravitas intermingled with mirth and farce, here is such a feast, freshly uncovered, and made ready for the table!