A reconstruction of the life of Robert Noonan, author of "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists", covering the nine years he spent in Hastings while he wrote the book, based on the fragments known of his life, his writing and the political events of the time. It shows the conditions suffered by the working class, and shows how the book grew out of a commitment to socialism which the prevailing conditions of unemployment and depression prevented him from putting into practice, particularly in his attempts to encourage his colleagues to join a union.

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