Story Of Family ... - The Profligate Son: Or, A True

The book reconstructs the tragic real-life "rake's progress" of , a charming but deeply troubled young man whose life spiraled from elite schooling to a penal colony in Australia. The Protagonists: A Father's Ambition vs. A Son's Rebellion

Born in 1791, William was sent to top schools like Harrow but rebelled against their "brutal regimes". He preferred the life of a "Regency buck," characterized by fine clothes, gambling, and the pursuit of prostitutes. To his friends, he was a "damned good fellow"; to his father, he was a sign of total moral failure. A Descent into Depravity The Profligate Son: Or, a True Story of Family ...

A wealthy merchant for the East India Company who returned from Madras with a fortune and a desperate need for social respectability. He invested all his future ambitions into his only son, hoping William would secure the family’s place among the elite through prudent management and quiet intelligence. The book reconstructs the tragic real-life "rake's progress"

In the early 19th century, few things terrified a Georgian parent more than a "profligate son"—a young man who traded moral and financial self-control for the hedonistic temptations of Regency London. This fear is the centerpiece of by historian Nicola Phillips . He preferred the life of a "Regency buck,"

William's life followed a relentless downward arc, meticulously chronicled by his father in an unpublished three-volume account titled Filial Ingratitude :

The story is built upon a fundamental generational clash between two men with very different ideas of what it meant to be a "gentleman":