Charles Albert Watts (27 May 1858 – 15 May 1946) was an English

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

editor and publisher. He founded the journal ''Watts's Literary Guide'', which later became the ''

New Humanist ''New Humanist'' is a quarterly magazine, published by the Rationalist Association in the UK, that focuses on culture, news, philosophy, and science from a sceptical perspective. History The ''New Humanist'' has been in print for more than 131 ...

'' magazine, and the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor ...

. His father Charles Watts was also a prominent secularist writer. Father and son are sometimes confused with each other, and Charles Albert Watts is sometimes referred to as C. A. Watts or Charles Watts Jr.

Life and career

Charles Albert Watts was the son of Charles Watts and his first wife Mary Ann Watts, and was the nephew of John Watts, all of whom were active in the rationalist and secularist movement in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, based around

Charles Bradlaugh Charles Bradlaugh (; 26 September 1833 – 30 January 1891) was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851. In 1880, Brad ...

. John and Charles Watts both edited the ''National Reformer'', and founded a radical publishing house, Watts & Co., in London in 1864. Charles Watts co-founded the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

in 1866, and became a leading spokesman for the group after his brother's death, but broke with Bradlaugh in 1877 and, in 1883, emigrated to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, leaving his son Charles Albert to run his publishing house and continue his editorial work. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, ''Biography of Charles Watts'', American Atheists
/ref> In November 1885, the younger Watts established a journal, ''Watts's Literary Guide''. In the first issue, which sold for one

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

, the then-anonymous editor set out his ambition to fill it with "literary gossip" of interest to

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

, together with recording "the best liberal publications in this country". It also contained details of his father's speaking tours of Canada and the US, and regular criticisms of the Christian establishment on every front, from science and metaphysics to history and poetry. Soon afterwards, he also organised the Propagandist Press Committee, which later became the Rationalist Press Association. This provided him with a large group of subscribers, and enabled him to expand the magazine in size and with a widening readership. The name was changed to ''The Literary Guide'' in 1894.Jonathan Rée, ''The blasphemers of Johnson's Court''

C. A. Watts himself remained anonymous. He was described as "...decisive but self-effacing. He encouraged controversy in his pages, though he shrank from it himself." He did not allow his own name to appear in the magazine until his sixtieth birthday, in 1918. He edited the regular journal for over 60 years until his death, writing editorial content himself and drawing on contributors from a wide range of disciplines, including

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

, and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Watts & Co., into publishing books, including a series of "cheap reprints" which made the works of such writers as

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The storie ...

and

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

available to a mass audience, at only sixpence a volume. This later became the "

Thinker's Library The Thinker's Library was a series of 140 small hardcover books published between 1929 and 1951 for the Rationalist Press Association by Watts & Co., London, a company founded by the brothers Charles and John Watts. The series was launched at ...

", a series of 140 small books published between 1929 and 1951. They included

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, and extracts from works by various classical and contemporary

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

s and rationalists.New Humanist, ''A brief history of the Rationalist Association''
/ref> Charles Albert Watts died in 1946 at the age of 87. The magazine was later renamed ''The Humanist'', and then ''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Charles Albert 1858 births 1946 deaths English humanists Publishers (people) from London English sceptics British secularists Freethought writers