Walter Richard Cassels

Born in London on September 4, 1826, Walter Richard Cassels spent much of his early life in India, where his family had official and commercial ties. He later went into business in Bombay with two of his brothers and served on the legislative council of Bombay from 1863 to 1865 before returning to England.

Cassels wrote both poetry and theological criticism, but he is chiefly associated with Supernatural Religion (1874), a major Victorian challenge to traditional Christian belief and the historical reliability of the New Testament. The book first appeared anonymously and became widely discussed; later sources identify Cassels as its author.

He died on June 10, 1907. Today he is remembered less as a public celebrity than as a serious, questioning writer whose work stood at the center of nineteenth-century debates about faith, history, and reason.