John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher and economist. His father had him educated in utilitarian philsophy from the age of three. In 1843 he wrote "System of Logic", which applied economic doctrines to social problems. He also wrote "On Liberty and the Subjection of Women". He wrote on parliamentary reform and advocated women's suffrage. Henry Cole (1808-1882) was a fellow-contributor to the London review. He wrote books on architecture under the pseudonym Felix Summerly. He worked for twenty years at the Victoria and Albert Museum and in 1875 he was knighted in recognition of his public work.

The John Stuart Mill Diary is a holograph manuscript written in two exercise books. The diary describes in great detail what Mill and Henry Cole encountered in Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight. The first noteworthy reference is to Selborne, where Gilbert White had lived.