Charles Bradlaugh

Born in Hoxton, London, in 1833, Charles Bradlaugh rose from a modest background with little formal schooling to become one of the best-known radical speakers of his age. He built a reputation as a powerful orator and writer, and became a leading public advocate for freethought and secularism.

Bradlaugh founded the National Secular Society in 1866 and spent much of his career defending freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, and political reform. He was also closely associated with the National Reformer, and his public campaigns made him one of the most controversial and influential reformers in Victorian Britain.

He is especially remembered for the long struggle to take his seat as MP for Northampton after being elected to Parliament. Because he was an atheist, his attempt to affirm rather than swear a religious oath led to years of conflict and national attention. By the time of his death in 1891, he had become a symbol of the fight to widen civil rights and make public life more open to people of different beliefs.