Bradlaugh, Chls
DATE OF BIRTH: September 26, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH: Hoxton, London, England
DATE OF DEATH: January 30, 1891
PLACE OF DEATH: London, England.
DISCIPLINE: Politics
FIELD: Pamphleteering
ASSESSMENT: An uncompromising freethinker who through his oratory and writing was highly effective in promoting civil liberties
LANGUAGE: English
EDUCATION: Local elementary school
ACHIEVEMENTS: Parliamentary oath reform
MAJOR WORK: Political pamphlets: "Impeachment of the House of
Brunswick" 1872 ; "Land for the People" 1877
LIFE AND TIMES:
In 1853, a legacy from Bradlaugh's aunt allowed the family to buy him out of the army. He went to London, where he took a job as messenger for a solicitor. He later became manager of the common law department, where he learned much about the law, an area of expertise he found invaluable later in life. He also became heavily involved in radical politics. Bradlaugh became leader of "an extreme party", whose membership was mainly blue-collar. The party advocated religious free thought and republicanism. He was also elected president of the London Secular Society.
In 1862, Bradlaugh became proprietor of the National Reformer, a radical periodical established by Sheffield free-thinkers. The magazine was his major platform from then on. He spoke in support of the republican cause in Italy, and for Garibaldi*.
He took up the cause of the unemployed cotton workers in the North of England (where there was a cotton famine caused by the American Civil War in which Bradlaugh supported the Union cause). In 1863 he supported Poland in the uprising against Russian occupation. In 1866, as a member of the Parliamentary Reform League, he pushed for the abolition of the House of Lords' veto power. He also advocated women's suffrage.
In 1868, determined to sit in the House of Commons, Bradlaugh stood for election but conservative elements defeated him. That same year, he raised enough money to build the New Hall of Science in London, which held nearly 2,000 people, and made it his London headquarters.
A triumph for Bradlaugh occurred in 1869, when the Evidence Amendment Act was passed, allowing free-thinkers to give evidence without taking the oath. The legislation followed a judge's refusal to hear Bradlaugh's evidence because Bradlaugh was a declared atheist and would not take the oath.
In 1870 Bradlaugh was appointed envoy of the English republicans to the Spanish republican leader Castelar and went to see him in Spain. The same year, the French Republic was established and Bradlaugh was nominated as candidate for a political seat in Paris. But before he got there, he was arrested at Calais and sent back to London. He believed, like many radicals, that monarchies cause war. To him, the capitalist system, the Church, the House of Lords and the landed gentry all represented an oppressive force. But he did not believe in violent revolution.
In 1874, Bradlaugh went to lecture in the United States and was warmly received. Back in England, he tried again for Parliament and again failed. During this period, Bradlaugh met Annie Besant*, a young woman who had taken the brave step of leaving her husband and was working to support herself. She later became a noted campaigner for women's rights. She had decided to become a member of the National Secular Society and went to hear Bradlaugh speak. She was entranced, and he was drawn to her. Their relationship lasted 13 years. Besant worked on the National Reformer, gave lectures, and developed a reputation as a crusader.
In 1877, Bradlaugh and Besant were jointly prosecuted over publication of a pamphlet on birth control, called "The Fruits of Philosophy", written by Knowlton*. Deciding to conduct their own defence, they asked Dickens* to testify, but he was too ill. George Bernard Shaw* observed the trial as a young journalist. They won the case, effectively removing the remaining restrictions on the liberty of the press.
In 1880, Bradlaugh finally realized his dream and was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton, the first declared atheist elected to the House of Commons. In the House, he refused to swear the oath on the Bible, insisting on his right to affirm instead. His action provoked a dispute that lasted six years in the Commons and the law courts. In one Commons debate, Gladstone* moved that unbelievers be allowed to affirm but "at their legal peril". Bradlaugh used several dramatic devices to make his point and was bodily ejected from the Commons at least twice.
His seat was taken from him twice, but he won it back, and voters, now seeing him as a victim, continued to re-elect him in ensuing general elections. In January, 1886, at the beginning of a new session, the new Speaker ruled out any objections to Bradlaugh affirming. On August 9,1888, an Act was passed allowing affirmation as a substitute for taking the oath in both the law courts, and in the House of Commons. Bradlaugh remained Member of Parliament until his death in 1891. In the House, Bradlaugh took a special interest in topics relating to India and was known as "the member for India". He went to India in 1889 and attended the Indian National Congress at Bombay, where he was received with great deference.
On January 30, 1891, Bradlaugh died at his home. One of the mourners at his interment at Woking Necropolis was Gandhi*, in London studying law. Sickert* later did a painting showing Bradlaugh at the bar of the House of Commons during the oath debate.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Knew Monkton Milnes *
Employed anti-vivisectionist Mary Kingsford*
ONELINER: Charles Bradlaugh, first British atheist MP.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
DNB
Manvell, Roger, The Trial of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, Elek/Pemberton, London, 1976
Headingley, Alphonse S., The Biography of Charles Bradlaugh,Lucknow, 1889
Bonner, Hypatia Bradlaugh, Charles Bradlaugh, A Record of His Life and Work by his daughter Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1908.
PARENTS: Charles Bradlaugh, solicitor's clerk; Elizabeth Trimby
SPOUSE: Alice Hooper
SIBLINGS: Unknown
CHILDREN: a son, two daughters