George Bradburn (March 4, 1806 – July 26, 1880) was an American politician and
Unitarian minister in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
known for his support for
abolitionism and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
[ on a lecture tour in ]Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
when they were attacked.[ Lydia Maria Child wrote with regard to his work on anti-slavery that he had " a high place among the tried and true."][
]
Biography
Bradburn was born March 4, 1806, to James and Sarah Bradburn in Attleboro, a small town in Massachusetts. After his mother died, he was brought up by his half sister Fanny. He first took a trade as a machinist until he decided to pursue further studies at the age on nineteen.[ He continued his education at Phillips Exeter Academy in ]New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
. After studying with Hosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou D.D. (April 30, 1771 – June 7, 1852) was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.
Originally a Baptist, he converted to Universalism in 1789. He preached in a number of towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, and ...
(the 2nd) he attended the Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...
.[
His first ministerial position was in Nantucket in 1831, but oddly, his church was sold while he was away and his congregation was later disbanded in 1834. While in Nantucket he met and married his first wife, Lydia, but within a year of marriage she had died, and his only daughter died a year later. This cast a "shadow over his whole life."][ Moreover, Bradburn had begun to lose his sense of hearing. However, he was well regarded and was elected by the Whigs to serve as the ]Massachusetts Legislature
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, w ...
in 1839 for three years.[Letters of Lysader Spooner]
, accessed July 20, 2008
He became associated with the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and he brought forward related radical legislation. He led a movement which repealed a marriage law. After this change, "People in Massachusetts, wishing to marry, are under no necessity of comparing complexions"[ in 1842.][
]
The year of the "World's Convention"
In 1840, a woman's right to serve on an American anti-slavery committee was established when Abby Kelley became a full member of the business committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society at their annual convention. This was not without cost, and some of the members left the meeting, but others who were known as the "Garrisonian wing" believed in equal rights of all Americans, irrespective of gender.[ So when an invitation was received for the ]World Anti-Slavery Convention
The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The ex ...
on June 12, 1840, in London, it was not surprising that Massachusetts decided to not only send William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
, Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney.
According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...
and Bradburn, but also Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Martineau and Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston Chapman (July 25, 1806 – July 12, 1885) was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery jour ...
.
Bradburn travelled first class on the ship ''Roscoe'' on the May 7, 1840. Other anti-slavery delegates aboard the ship were James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
and Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...
, Emily Winslow and her father Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...
, Abby South, Henry Grew
Henry Grew (1781 – August 8, 1862) was a Christian teacher and writer whose studies of the Bible led him to conclusions which were at odds with doctrines accepted by many of the mainstream churches of his time. Among other things, he rejected th ...
his daughter Mary Grew and Elizabeth Neall.[Mary Grew, Abolitionist and Feminist, 1813-1896](_blank)
accessed July 19, 2008 After they arrived many took the opportunity to tour England. Bradburn was able to visit various places including Blenheim Palace, Eaton Hall, Stratford on Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
, Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
and Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a meander of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-an ...
.[ He was later able to call on these experiences in lectures later in life.
Just before the ''World's Anti-Slavery Convention'' opened, the British organiser ]Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge (1793 – 14 May 1859) was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International). He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions suppo ...
explained that female delegates would not be allowed. This "insane innovation, this woman-intruding delusion," was rebuked by the leading English Anti-Slavery members. Some of the male delegates from America sided with the women, including George Bradburn, Wendell Phillips, James Mott, William Adam, Isaac Winslow, J. P. Miller
''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...
and Henry B. Stanton. William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
, who was not there until the 17th,[ refused to take his seat until there was equality in seating.][Massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement. A general, political, legal and legislative history from 1774, to 1881]
, By Harriet H. Robinson, accessed July 19, 2006 Henry Grew
Henry Grew (1781 – August 8, 1862) was a Christian teacher and writer whose studies of the Bible led him to conclusions which were at odds with doctrines accepted by many of the mainstream churches of his time. Among other things, he rejected th ...
spoke in favour of the men's rights to exclude women despite his daughter being one of the excluded delegates.Reforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City
Bruce Dorsey, p.179, 2002, accessed July 21, 2008 The American women had to join the other female observers like Lady Byron and were not allowed to participate in the convention. Not only was the equality of the sexes debated, but Bradburn said that "introducing any such words as 'Christian,' 'Religious,' and the like, by which persons of any religion whatever, or of no religion whatever, should be excluded from the Anti-Slavery platform.[ The Collected Works of Lysander Spooner]
, by Charles Shively, © 1971 by M&S Press, accessed July 19, 2008
The portrait of Bradburn which is shown at the top of this article and in Haydon's picture of the 1840 World Anti-Slavery convention[The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840]
Benjamin Robert Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...
, 1841, National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1880 was completed in a small room at the Freemasons hall where the convention was held. Bradburn commented that he felt that he had been given "too much severity or sharpness," but Haydon assured him that he looked "revolutionary" when giving his speeches. Bradburn made time after a visit to France to complete a third sitting on August 3, 1840.[ Bradburn then visited ]Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, Scotland and Ireland, visiting people he had met at the convention including the Irish Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...
and Lady Byron, the mathematician (and the poet's estranged wife).
100 conventions
In 1843 Bradburn accompanied Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
and William A. White on a lecture tour organised by the American Anti-Slavery Society and called "100 conventions." This was not a tour preaching to the converted and he was, subsequently, attacked. Douglass was attacked and his hand broken so badly that he never recovered its full use.[The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: From 1817-1882]
written by himself; with an Introduction by the Right Hon. John Bright, ed. John Lobb (London: Christian Age Office, 1882) Chapter 5 - 100 conventions Other sources also place Bradburn there at Pendleton in Indiana on September 16, 1843, when the attack took place.
From 1846 to 1849, Bradburn edited the, "Pioneer and Herald of Freedom" in Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
.[
Douglass told a group in Ireland of a story about how Blackburn, who now was nearly completely deaf, was challenged for assuming that ministers could adopt the abolitionists message as they "must live." Bradburn said, "I deny any such necessity — I dispute your premises. I deny that it is necessary for any man to live, unless he can live honestly."]Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
,
Baptists, Congregationalists, the Free Church, and Slavery
: An Address Delivered in Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, Ireland, on December 23, 1845." Belfast News Letter, December 26, 1845, and Belfast Northern Whig, December 25, 1845. Blassingame, John (et al., eds.). The Frederick Douglass Papers: Series One--Speeches, Debates, and Interviews. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Vol. I.
1850
In 1850 in Boston, Bradburn married Frances H. Parker. Although she later would become an invalid and prevent him from taking up overseas positions, she was the one who eventually completed his memoirs.[A Memorial of George Bradburn]
Frances H. Bradburn, 1883 That year he was working for the ''Boston Chronotype'' and he attended the two-day ''National Woman's Rights Convention'' which was held in Brinley Hall, Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. The convention was called to order by Sarah H. Earle, and chaired by Paulina Wright Davis of Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
on October 23, 1850. There were 268 delegates, but the vast majority were from Massachusetts. The news of the convention was widely reported, but frequently in a disparaging way. Only four local newspapers were thought to deal with the subject well and one of those was the ''Lynn Pioneer'' (which was edited by Bradburn).[
In 1851, George and Frances moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Bradburn helped to edit the ''True Democrat'', a daily newspaper. After two years he went on lecture tours where he would sometimes speak every night for 26 days. His lectures at this time were not only political but drew on his experiences in Europe in 1840. He was able to use his trip to London as the basis of entertaining and informative lectures.][
In 1859, he occupied the pulpit of a Unitarian church in ]Athol, Massachusetts
Athol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,945 at the 2020 census.
History
Originally called Pequoiag when settled by Native Americans, the area was subsequently settled by five families in Sept ...
, and resided there for another two years. He made good friends there and returned to visit ever summer for the next twenty years. He took a job in a customs house which had been organised by his friend Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was a Founding Father of the United States, a signatory to the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and an Associate Justice of t ...
, but he sadly missed his ability to work. At the end of his life he called out to William A. White, who his wife remembered as a friend from his time lecturing to thousands.
Death
At Bradburn's funeral in 1880, Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808May 14, 1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, entrepreneur, essayist, legal theorist, pamphletist, political philosopher, Unitarian and writer.
Spooner was a strong advocate of the labor ...
read a eulogy and was a pallbearer.[ His wife published his biography in 1883.][ Lydia Maria Child wrote "Surely in this country, and within this century, no other cause has so tested the moral natures of men and women, as did the anti-slavery cause in its early days: and no one who knew George Bradburn at that time will doing question his right to a high place among the tried and true."][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradburn, George
1806 births
1880 deaths
American abolitionists
Members of the Massachusetts General Court
Harvard Divinity School alumni
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
People from Attleboro, Massachusetts
19th-century Christian clergy
American Unitarian clergy
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American clergy