Until the beginning of the nineteenth century pure mathematics was valued in Britain principally for its role in mixed mathematics, which aimed to advance scientific and technological disciplines, solve practical problems, and increase our knowledge of the world. Thus all British mathematicians had the advancement of mixed mathematics as their underlying motivation. However, the nineteenth century brought with it a new understanding of a Continental tradition in which pure mathematics was studied and researched as an independent discipline, for its own sake, without regard to any useful outcomes. Those who embraced this philosophy, which was completely at variance with Victorian ideals of utilitarianism, became known as 'pure mathematicians', and were accused of wasting their talents in a valueless activity. Yet they not only survived, but by the start of the First World War had begun to obtain moral superiority over applied mathematicians, who continued to work in the mixed mathematical tradition. This circumstance requires some explanation, which lies in pure mathematicians' adoption of arguments and modes of expression that they appropriated from elsewhere in Victorian culture.