There's a pretty good piece about Huxley here:

The Huxley File - A Sort of Firm
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/guide3.html

Linear, in regard to your comments, sometimes people do things not because they feel ever so innately deeply that it is the right thing to do, but because the world around them tells them it is the right thing to do, because Mama tells them it is so, because Grandpa tells them it is so, and/or because they learn it in school and emulate the behaviors of those around them (and of course, to make money, acquire wealth), simply to fit in.

... Like continuing to teach Darwin's theory of evolution even though much of the science is invalid and the personal views egregious, as you and Linda have both pointed out.

The answer to every question you asked otherwise has already been given in previous posts either by myself or CTD.

There's a brief page on contemporary authors of the 19th century within a piece about Jack London, here, that is worth a read as well:
http://london.sonoma.edu/Essays/philosophy.html

As that page points out, Herbert Spencer drew upon Darwin's work as social Darwinism.

The writings of these, including Darwin's work, were referred to by many during that time as 'New Thought'. If you want to know what the social climate of any given place is during any time of history, you must study the history, but you should also familiarize yourself with the writers of that period who express the sentiments of the times in various ways and whose books are read by others afterward leaving their mark, for better or worse, as well.