George William Foote
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George William Foote (11 January 1850 – 17 October 1915) was a secularist and journal editor.
He was born in Plymouth, England and brought up in the Anglican tradition. He moved to London in 1868, where he became involved with the secularism, freethought and republicanism, joining the Young Men's Secular Association, the National Secular Society, and contributing to Charles Bradlaugh's National Reformer.
In 1877 Foote joined the anti-Bradlaughites in the breakaway British Secular Union. The split was caused by several factors: Bradlaugh's alleged autocratic style; Bradlaugh's association with Annie Besant; and Bradlaugh and Besant's involvement in promoting birth control and Malthusianism. The BSU was relatively shortlived, and Foote himself was reconciled to Bradlaugh within a few years, becoming an NSS vice-president from 1882.
The Secularist, Foote's first (1876) attempt to launch his own publication, in collaboration with George Jacob Holyoake, did not last long. In May, 1881, Foote started a serial publication called The Freethinker which is still published. As a result of contents of this journal, Foote was charged with blasphemy, and eventually imprisoned for one year. His description of this experience was published in 1886 as Prisoner for Blasphemy.
Once released, Foote continued to be very active promoting his ideals, writing books and pamphlets, lecturing, and debating. Foote was well-versed in literature, and had extensive knowledge of ancient and contemporary writers, and ecclesiastical history. In 1890 Foote succeeded Bradlaugh as President of the National Secular Society and remained in that role for twenty-five years.
His death was related by Chapman Cohen in The Freethinker (October 31, 1915):
When I saw him on the Friday (two days) before his death he said, "I have had another setback, but I am a curious fellow and may get all right again." But he looked the fact of death in the face with the same courage and determination that he faced Judge North many years ago. A few hours before he died he said calmly to those around him, "I am dying." And when the end came his head dropped back on the pillow, and with a quiet sigh, as of one falling to sleep, he died .
[edit] Bibliography
- Herrick, Jim (1982). Vision and Realism: A Hundred Years of The Freethinker. London: GW Foote & Co. ISBN 0-9508243-0-5
- Marsh, Joss (1998). Word crimes: blasphemy, culture, and literature in nineteenth-century England. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-50691-6
