The fifth Chronicle of Carlingford was published in book form in 1863, following its serialisation in Blackwood’s Magazine. The eponymous curate is Frank Wentworth of St. Roque’s Church in Carlingford. Wentworth is popular and conscientious, poorly paid yet unstinting in his devotion to the well-being of others, including a series of ‘good works’ in the poor district of Wharfside. But Wentworth’s good intentions are challenged by the new rector, who is determined to put an end to his activities. As if this weren’t enough, Wentworth’s Evangelical aunts make it known that they are withholding an allowance from him due to what they see as his ‘high church’ principles. To cap it all, scandalous rumours begin to circulate about Wentworth’s past and his present – not least in the form of his relationship with a local shopkeeper’s daughter.
The novel is steeped in the social and religious concerns of mid-Victorian Britain. Among these were the conflict between high and low religious convictions (the austere worship of the Evangelical and the more ritualistic devotions of the established church), the moral and economic conditions of England’s poor and the changing class structure of English society.