This book challenges the view that historians have generally accepted of a model of masculinity wherein financial solvency was a crucial measure of success, problematising the idea of the man as successful breadwinner being a cornerstone of middle-class masculine identity. It examines neglected aspects of middle-class men’s lived experience, including indebtedness, bankruptcy and the receipt of charity, and, through this, reveals that the effect of financial failure was more complex and nuanced than previously thought. For the first time this book shines a light on these middle-class men and their families who occupied a liminal position of reduced fortunes and thwarted expectations in Victorian England.