J. M. (Joseph Mazzini) Wheeler

Born in London on 24 January 1850, Joseph Mazzini Wheeler was an English atheist, journalist, and freethought writer. He briefly worked as a lithographer in Edinburgh before moving more fully into radical journalism and secularist activism. Sources available here describe him as a close friend of George William Foote and as subeditor of The Freethinker from its founding in 1881 until Wheeler's death in 1898.

Wheeler became known for fiercely anti-Christian writing and for works that tried to gather ideas, controversies, and personalities from the history of skepticism into accessible form. His best-known book is A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages, published in 1889. Other works associated with him include Frauds and Follies of the Fathers, The Christian Doctrine of Hell, and Footsteps of the Past. He also contributed articles to the Dictionary of National Biography.

He served as a vice-president of the National Secular Society, showing how closely his writing and public work were linked. Wheeler died on 5 May 1898, after suffering a mental breakdown, but his books and journalism still offer a vivid glimpse into the combative world of late 19th-century secularism.