George Jacob Holyoake 1817 to 1906
Hi. It's Bob Forder again
George Jacob Holyoake was born in Birmingham, the second of 13 children. His
father was a whitesmith, which means that he worked tin,
and his mother a horn button maker. Like Paine and Carlile his background was
that of an artisan. George Jacob received a basic
education to the age of eight before joining his father's trade.
At the age of 19 he began attending evening classes at the Birmingham Mechanics
Institute and became acquainted with the pioneering socialist ideas of Robert
Owen and, of course, he also read Thomas Paine
in 1837 he joined Owen's "Association of All Classes of all Nations".
Two years later, in 1839, he married Eleanor Williams. They soon had two daughters and
three sons were to follow. He decided to become a teacher, but it
seems his promotion was blocked due to his unorthodox ideas. Well, that was his story
anyway. He therefore successfully applied to become an Owenite Social Missionary
working first in Worcester and then Sheffield where he established a school
for the City's children.
Holyoake promoted and was influenced by Owen's experiments at his new Lanark
textile factory, limiting working hours, introducing education for children and
ensuring that his workers lived in good quality housing and were able to purchase
wholesome food and supplies at fair prices.
This association with Owenism had a influence on Holyoake in that he always
followed the Owenite idea that people are modelled by their environment. And if
people live in better circumstances, they'll eventually become better
citizens.
In 1841 Holyoake was contributing articles to the "Oracle of Reason" an
atheist journal. In 1842 Charles Southwell,
the journal's editor, was arrested, convicted of blasphemy, and sent to prison.
Holyoake took over the editorship becoming increasingly critical of
Owenism which he considered far too accommodating of Christianity. It was
also critical of Owen's community building ventures. For example the one at
Queenswood in Hampshire, arguing that such separateness was a diversion from
the need to radically restructure society.
Like Southwell, Holyoake was soon to find himself in trouble with the law.
Southwell had been imprisoned in Bristol and Holyoake was traveling on foot to
visit him when he stopped off in Cheltenham to give a lecture on the 24th
of May 1842. At the end of the lecture a clergyman questioner suggested that
although Holyoake had told his audience of their duty to mankind
he had said nothing of their duties of God.
Holyoake replied, "If poor men cost the state as much as the churches, they be
put on half-pay. I think it would be wise to do the same thing with the Deity.
For myself, I flee the Bible as a viper and revolt at the touch of a Christian".
Holyoake continued to Bristol but learned that news of his comments had spread and
that the Cheltenham magistrates thought there was a case of blasphemy to answer.
Holyoake returned to Cheltenham, addressed a meeting, and was promptly arrested.
Holyoake defended himself at his trial was found guilty and sentenced to six
months. A number of attempts were made by the
prison chaplain to convert him during drink during his imprisonment all were
unsuccessful but some of which was recorded by Holyoake.
Chaplin: "You deny there is a God?" Holyoake: "Oh no no I deny there is sufficient
reason to believe that there is one."
Chaplain: "I am very glad to find that you have not the termerity to say there is no God."
Holyoake: "And I am very sorry to find that you have the temerity to say there is one.
If it be absurd for me to deny what I cannot demonstrate, is it not improper for you to assert so dogmatically what you cannot prove?"
While in prison Holyoake was visited by Richard Carlile.
This came as a surprise as he'd been told Carlisle was dead.
Holyoake emerged from jail a celebrity martyr. He had never been so popular.
After his release Holyoake started a journal called
"The Reasoner" which survived for some 15 years and became one of the most
important working-class journals of the 19th century. It also provides us with a
record of many of the reformist activities of that period.
Holyoake also became a member of the Birmingham Chartists eventually becoming
a member of the Chartist Executive but Charterism and went into decline
after 1848 and eventually collapsed.
After 1848 Holyoake therefore helped found and became one of the
leaders of the National Reform League which endeavored to carry on the
campaign for political and constitutional reform.
Holyoake also campaigned against the taxes on knowledge as they were known. These were
were intended to make it more difficult for subversive, seditious, blasphemous and
revolutionary ideas to spread. They became particularly significant
after 1815 and then again after Peterloo when the taxes on newspapers were
extended in order to put them beyond the reach of working people.
Apart from Carlile and Holyoake two other individuals were of particular
importance: Henry Hetherington and James Watson, although there were very many
others too.
In 1851 Holyoake joined with Watson and Hetherington to form the Association for
the repeal of the taxes on knowledge. In 1855 newspapers stamp duties were
finally abolished, but only after Holyoake himself had been fined many times.
By 1853 Hollyoake's "The Reasoner" was selling around 5,000 copies a week, although its
reach was probably much wider than that as copies were handed on, and there were
readings sometimes of particular issues. In it, Holyoake criticised Christianity
and suggested that it should be replaced by a belief system based on reason and
science. Holyoake coined the term "secularism" as a
name for this theory. And he describes what he meant in the following way:
"Secularism is that which seeks the development of the physical,
moral and intellectual nature of man to the highest possible point, as the
immediate duty of life - which inculcates the practical sufficiency of natural
unmapped morality, apart from Atheism, Theism or the Bible -
which selects as its methods and proposes these positive agreements as
the common bond of union, to all who had regulate life by reason and ennoble it
by service.
One of the reasons Holyoake generated his new term was that he considered atheism
far too negative. For Holyoake a key principle was freedom of
thought and expression without interference from State or Church,
although from Holyoake's own definition it could be seen that his view of
secularism was broad in the way in which the term is often used today and
perhaps has much in common with the term "humanism".
Some thought this position a betrayal as it diverted away from attacks on
religion at a time when the established Anglican Church was widely viewed as
repressive and as a kind of establishment thought police. In their
minds secularism and atheism were virtually synonymous
These divisions were very evident in the secularist or freethought movement and
were one, among others, of the factors that led to Holyoake losing the leadership of
secularism to the more militant outspoken Charles Bradlaugh, of whom I
will have much more to say in the future.
As mentioned earlier Holyoake was deeply influenced by the ideas of Robert
Owen including Owen's pioneering work on co-operation. Holyoake campaigned forom the
movement in "The Reasoner" and wrote "Self-help by the People", a book about the
Rochdale pioneers. He had actually been present at the opening of the first
co-operative store at Toad Lane, Rochdale. He also wrote "The History of Co-operation
in England" thereby became effectively the co-operative movement's historian.
Holyoake's contribution to cooperation was recognized by the naming of the
co-operative Union headquarters in Manchester Holyoake House. Two other
memorials to Holyoake are plaques on his residences at 36 Camelford Street, Brighton
where he lived from 1881 to his death in 1906, and at 4 Woburn Walk,
just south of Euuston station where he lived from 1850 to 1861.
This plaque was only recently unveiled.
Holyoake was one of the founding fathers in the Rationalist Press Association and
was its first Chairman. The RPA was highly influential in the
first half of the 20th century popularising rationalist, secularist and
free thinking ideas. Ventures like the Thinker's Library were, in my estimation,
just as important in making good quality literature available to the
masses as were Penguin and the Left Book Club.
So what were Holyoake's achievements? What was his legacy?
Well most obviously there was that word "secularism"
but there are other points too. First, one reason he is important is simply that he
lived a very long time and his long life covered an important period in
English radical history.
Second, his interests encompass most radical campaigns and issues - Charterism
and political reform, the War of the Unstamped, secularism and co-operation. In
some senses he was the fulcrum around which many of these campaigns revolved.
To an extent his autobiography "Sixty years of an Agitator's Life" is a history of
19th century radicalism. On that theme, George Jacob also tried to
fuse together reformist ideas and he tried to build bridges between
secularism, co-operation, socialism and political reform.
Third I think his main importance was that of a journalist spreading,
articulating and developing the radical and reformist message.
As well as his journals he wrote over a 160 books and pamphlets.
But there were some negatives too.
He was a poor public speaker with a thin reedy voice in the days when the public
meeting was one of the most important ways in which ideas were communicated.
He wasn't a good organiser either.
As time went on he became distrusted by many of his more militant followers
He certainly spent a lot of time cultivating his relationship with the
powerful and the respectable - the pious William Gladstone was a
particular target.
His rivalry with Charles Bradlaugh who effectively replaced him as a leader of
British secularism damaged radical cause.
A particular issue was Holyoake's failure to support Bradlaugh and Annie Besant
over the publication of a birth control pamphlet entitled "Fruits of Philosophy".
Much more about this later and its significance.
So where can we find out more about Holyoake?
Well there's his autobiography and stuff already mentioned, and there is Lee
Grugel's "George Jacob Holyoake" which is fairly recent.
Probably the best book though is Edward Royle's "Victorian Infidels" which is not a
biography as such but deals with the events which dominated Holyoake's life
and recognises his central contribution. Interestingly a Canadian, Ray Argyle,
is currently writing a biography of Holyoake due to be published early in
2021. I've been privileged enough to see some
extracts from this and it promises to be an excellent read.
Thank you for listening You can contact me through my email
address: r.w.forder@btinternet.com.