William Winwood Reade

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William Winwood Reade (1838 - 1875) was an English historian, explorer, and philosopher.

Born to a squire in Perthshire, Reade took to writing at an early age, composing two novels by the age of 23. At this age he also decided to depart for Africa, arriving in Gabon by steamboat in 1862. After several months of observing gorillas and traveling down through Angola, Reade returned home and published his first travel account, Savage Africa. Despite what critics have called an often juvenile tone, the book is notable for its anthropological inquiries.

In 1868, Reade secured the patronage of London-based Gold Coast trader Andrew Swanzy to journey to West Africa. After failing to get permission to enter the Ashanti Confederacy, Reade set out north from Freetown to explore the areas past the Solimana capital of Falaba. Though Reade traveled over some unexplored territory, his findings excited little interest among geographers, due mostly to his failure to take accurate measurements of his journey; his sextant and other instruments had been left behind at Port Loko. On his return, Reade published his African Sketch-Book (1873), an account of his travels that also called for far greater British involvement in West Africa.

His best-known work, however, is The Martyrdom of Man (1872), a secular history of the Western world. In it, Reade attempts to trace the development of Western civilization in terms analogous to those used in the natural sciences. He uses it to advance his philosophy, which was secular humanism. He attacks traditional religion and morality. Reade was an atheist and a social Darwinist and believed in survival of the fittest. He wanted to create a new civilization. Cecil Rhodes, an English-born South Africa politician and businessman, said that the book "made me what I am". The title of the book is well known to many who have not read it: in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes says to Dr. Watson: "Let me recommend this book, -- one of the most remarkable ever penned."

Reade returned to Africa in 1873 to serve as a correspondent in the Ashanti War, but died not long after. He was buried in Ipsden churchyard, Oxfordshire.