Denis Cobell (born 1938) is a prominent UK secularist, humanist, republican and pacifist. He was President of 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 ...

from 1997 to 2006.

Early life

Cobell was born in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

just before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His parents were strict evangelical Christians; his father was a lay preacher. Cobell was baptised and attended St Nicolas's Church of England School in

Portslade Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...

. Following the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...

examinations he went to Hove County Grammar School for Boys.

Working life

Cobell began his training as a nurse at Southlands Hospital,

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

, in 1956. He moved to London in 1960 and worked at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

for over 30 years, finally becoming a senior nurse. In 1994 he shifted from full-time to part-time, continuing to work for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

until he finally retired in December 2004 (after 48 years in the NHS).

Family

Cobell married in 1968 and has three children and three grandchildren.

Atheism, secularism and humanism

In his late teens, Denis Cobell spent time at Hove Public Library reading a variety of books including works by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

, who he was to meet at his North Wales home in 1959. He discovered both the Unitarian Church in New Road

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and the Brighton and Hove

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 ...

Group. In terms of developing his atheist views, Denis Cobell had some interesting conversations. He talked with the Rev John Rowland of the Unitarians. John Rowland had worked for 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 ...

on the ''Literary Guide'' (precursor to 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 wrote in '' The Freethinker''. During this time Cobell also met the feminist author Daisy L. Hobman, who was the initiator of the Brighton and Hove Humanist Group. Denis was invited to give a talk at the Group's first public meeting. Cobell started writing for secular / humanist and socialist publications from the late 1950s and also spoke at

Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas design ...

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

during the 1960s and 1970s. He also co edited the Hyde Park Socialist quarterly paper from 1968 to 1984; a regular contributor to this paper was

FA Ridley Francis Ambrose Ridley, usually known as Frank Ridley (22 February 1897 – 27 March 1994) was a Marxist and secularist of the United Kingdom. Life Ridley was educated at Sedbergh School and Salisbury Theological College. He did not enter the ...

, a former President of the

. Cobell joined the

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

Humanist Group in 1973 and has been the Hon Secretary since 1974. He continues to officiate at many secular funerals, baby namings and weddings. He was Humanist Chaplain to the Mayor of Lewisham 1998-99 and also the Humanist Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain to UK Armed Forces Humanist Association. He is a Director of the publishing company responsible for ''The Freethinker''. Cobell joined the Council of the National Secular Society in 1976, and became president in 1997. He stepped down as president in 2006 but remained on the Society's Council of Management. He has announced that he will retire from the Council in 2009.

Other activities

Cobell is a pacifist and is currently Chair of the Right to Refuse to Kill (RRK) Group for recognition of conscientious objectors. He was a signatory to the "Manifesto of the Third Camp Against US Militarism and Islamic Terrorism". Cobell was Treasurer of Brighton Young Liberals in 1959–60; the chairman was

Navnit Dholakia Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia (born 4 March 1937) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Education Educated in India and Tanzania, Dholakia came to Britain to study at ...

, later Lord Dholakia, who was President of the Liberal Democrats, 2000–2004.

Works and articles

Over 300 articles and reviews in various journals - including '' The Freethinker'', ''Guy's Kings & St Thomas' Gazette'', ''New Humanist'', ''Nursing Mirror'', ''

Nursing Standard ''Nursing Standard'' is a weekly professional magazine that contains peer-reviewed articles and research, news, and career information for the nursing field. The magazine was founded in 1987. It is published by RCNi. The magazine is abstracted and ...

'' and ''

Socialist Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

''.

Bibliography

Secularism and humanism

*Alternative Christmas message. BBC Radio London, 25 December 1995
Transcript available online here:
*Right of Reply. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 2 November 1998
Available online here:
*Review of 'Humanism' by

Barbara Smoker Barbara Smoker (2 June 1923 – 7 April 2020)

. ''Gay and Lesbian Humanist'', Autumn 1998
Available online here:
*Review of 'All in the Mind', by

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and ...

. ''Gay and Lesbian Humanist'', Summer 199
Available online here:
*"Losing my religion", ''Nursing Standard'', Vol. 16 (20), 30 January - 5 February 2002, pp. 20–21.

Health

*"The origin and history of syphillis", ''Nursing Mirror'', 17 September 1965, p. 120-. *Du Plessis, P., Bor, R., Slack, D., Swash, E., Cobell, D. (1995). "Assessment of HIV Counselling and Social Care Services in a London Hospital", ''British Journal of Guidance & Counselling'', Vol. 23 (1), pp. 45–51

References

External links

National Secular SocietyLewisham Humanist GroupRight to Refuse to Kill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobell, Denis 1938 births British atheists British pacifists British secularists Freethought writers Living people English humanists