George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms

secularism 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 ...

in 1851 and "

jingoism Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national i ...

" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to June 1861, and a co-operative one, ''The English Leader'', in 1864–1867.

Early life

George Jacob Holyoake was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, where his father worked as a whitesmith and his mother as a button maker. He attended a

dame school Dame schools were small, privately run schools for young children that emerged in the British Isles and its colonies during the early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman who would educate children f ...

and a Wesleyan Sunday School, began working half-days at the same foundry as his father at the age of eight, and learnt his trade. At 18 he began attending lectures at the Birmingham Mechanics' Institute, where he encountered the socialist writings of Robert Owen and later became an assistant lecturer. He married Eleanor Williams in 1839 and decided to become a full-time teacher, but was rejected for his socialist views. Unable to teach full-time, Holyoake took a job as an

Owenite Owenism is the utopian socialist philosophy of 19th-century social reformer Robert Owen and his followers and successors, who are known as Owenites. Owenism aimed for radical reform of society and is considered a forerunner of the cooperative mov ...

social missionary. His first posting was in Worcester, but the following year he was transferred to a more important one in Sheffield.

Owenism

Holyoake joined

Charles Southwell Charles Southwell (1814 – 7 August 1860) was a radical English journalist, freethinker and colonial advocate. Early life Charles Southwell was born in London, the youngest of 33 children in a poor family. His father, William, was a piano mak ...

in dissenting from the official Owenite policy that lecturers should take a religious oath to enable them to take collections on Sundays. Southwell had founded an atheist organization, '' Oracle of Reason'', and was soon imprisoned on those grounds. Holyoake took over as editor, having moved to an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

position as a result of his experiences. Holyoake was influenced by the French

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of ...

, notable in sociology and famous for the doctrine of

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

. Comte had himself attempted to establish a secular "

religion of humanity Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Hum ...

" to fulfil the cohesive

function Function or functionality may refer to: Computing * Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards * Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system * Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...

of traditional religion. Holyoake was an acquaintance of

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoreti ...

, who translated various works by Comte and was perhaps the first female sociologist. She wrote to him excitedly on reviewing Darwin's ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' in 1859.

Prosecution

In 1842, Holyoake became one of the last persons convicted for

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religio ...

in a public lecture, held in April 1842 at the

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral ...

Mechanics' Institute, though this had no theological character and the incriminating words were merely a reply to a question addressed to him from the body of the meeting. It took an intervention by supporters to stop him being walked in chains from Cheltenham to Gloucester Gaol, and there was a formal complaint to the Home Secretary, which was upheld. He was well supported by the ''Cheltenham Free Press'' at the time in his actions, but attacked in the ''Cheltenham Chronicle'' and ''Examiner''. Those at the lecture, the second in a series, moved and carried a motion "that free discussion was equally beneficial in the departments of politics, morals and religion." In 1842 Holyoake and the socialist Emma Martin formed the

Anti-Persecution Union The Anti-Persecution Union was an organisation established by the freethinkers George Jacob Holyoake and Emma Martin in 1842, to aid in defending individuals accused of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. Its object was "to assert and maintain the rig ...

to support free thinkers in danger of arrest.

Secularism

Holyoake nonetheless underwent six months' imprisonment and editorship of the ''Oracle'' changed hands. After the paper closed at the end of 1843, Holyoake founded a more moderate one, ''The Movement'', which survived into 1845. Holyoake also founded the ''Reasoner'', where he developed the concept of ''

'', followed by the ''

Secular Review ''Secular Review'' (1876–1907) was a freethought/secularist weekly publication in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain that appeared under a variety of names. It represented a "relatively moderate style of Secularism," more open to old ...

'' in August 1876. He was the last person indicted for publishing an unstamped newspaper, but the prosecution was dropped when the tax was withdrawn. He retained his disbelief in God, but after the ''Oracle'' soon came to see "atheism" as a negative term, preferring "secularism". He then adopted the term "

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

", when it appeared. In the 1850s Holyoake and

were lecturing in East London.

Harriet Law Harriet Teresa Law (née Frost, 5 November 1831 – 19 July 1897) was a leading British freethinker in 19th-century London. The daughter of a small farmer, she was raised as a "Strict Baptist" but later converted to atheism. She became a salarie ...

, then a Baptist, began debating with them, and in the process changed her beliefs. She "saw the light of reason" in 1855 and became a supporter of Holyoake and a prominent secular speaker. After an 1877 split with

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, Bradl ...

and

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 ...

, leaders of the National Secular Society (NSS), Holyoake, Charles Watts and Harriet Law founded the

British Secular Union The British Secular Union was a secularist organisation, founded in August 1877, primarily as a response to what its founders regarded as the "dictatorial" powers of Charles Bradlaugh as President of the National Secular Society. The founding memb ...

, which remained active until 1884. On 6 March 1881, Holyoake was a speaker at the opening of

Leicester Secular Society Leicester Secular Society is the world's oldest Secular Society. It meets at its headquarters, the Leicester Secular Hall in the centre of Leicester, England, at 75 Humberstone Gate. Founding Founded in 1851, the society is the oldest surviving ...

's Secular Hall in Humberstone Gate, along with

and

. He chaired the Rationalist Press Association in 1899–1906.

Co-operative movement

Holyoake's later years were mainly spent on the working-class co-operative movement. He served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

for the first day of the 1887

Co-operative Congress The Co-operative Congress is the national conference of the UK Co-operative Movement. The first of the modern congresses took place in 1869 following a series of meetings called the "Owenite Congress" in the 1830s. Members of Co-operatives UK ( ...

. He wrote a history of the ''Rochdale Pioneers'' (1857), ''The History of Co-operation in England'' (1875; revised ed. 1906) and ''The Co-operative Movement of To-day'' (1891). He also published (1892) an autobiography entitled ''Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life'', and in 1905 two volumes of reminiscences, ''Bygones Worth Remembering''. Highgate Cemetery - East - George Holyoake 04

Highgate Cemetery - East - George Holyoake 04

Holyoake died in

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 ...

, Sussex, on 22 January 1906, and was buried in the eastern section of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

in London. The grave lies in a north-east section, off the main paths, and is not readily accessible, but visible between graves on the east side of the main central-north path, behind George Eliot's grave. The Co-operative Movement decided to build a lasting monument to him: a permanent home for the

Co-operative Union Co-operatives UK is a British cooperative federation, co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for Cooperative, co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Boa ...

in Manchester. Holyoake House was opened in 1911 and also houses the National Co-operative Archive. A second collection is held at

Bishopsgate Library Bishopsgate Library is an independent, charity-funded library located within the Bishopsgate Institute in the City of London. Description The library's particular strengths include printed and archive material on London, freethought and the lab ...

Other aspects

Holyoake coined the term "

" in a letter to '' The Daily News'' on 13 March 1878, referring to the patriotic song "By Jingo" by

G. W. Hunt George William Hunt (c.1837 – 1 March 1904), known in later life as 'Jingo' Hunt,Peter Gammond, ''The Oxford Companion to Popular Music'', Oxford University Press, 1991, p.279 was an English writer of music hall songs, best known for "MacDe ...

, popularised by the music hall singer

G. H. MacDermott Gilbert Hastings MacDermott (born John Farrell, 27 February 1845 – 8 May 1901) was an English lion comique, who was one of the biggest stars of the Victorian English music hall. He performed under the name of The Great MacDermott, and was well ...

. Referring back to this he wrote, "I had certainly intended to mark, by a convenient name, a new species of patriots...

hose A hose is a flexible hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called ''pipes'' (the word ''pipe'' usually refers to a rigid tube, whereas a hose is usually a flexible one), or more generally ' ...

characteristic was a war-urging pretentiousness which discredited the silent, resolute, self-defensiveness of the British people." Holyoake was the uncle of an independent MP and convicted fraudster,

Horatio Bottomley Horatio William Bottomley (23 March 1860 – 26 May 1933) was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine ''John Bull'', an ...

, and contributed to the cost of Bottomley's upkeep after he was orphaned in 1865. The New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake was related to him.

Memorials

Holyoake is listed on the south face of the Reformers' Memorial in London's Kensal Green Cemetery. The National Secular Society unveiled a blue plaque commemorating Holyoake on Friday 17 August 2018. It is mounted on the front of a newsagents' at 4 Woburn Walk in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mu ...

, London, WC1H 0JL, as part of the

Marchmont Association Marchmont is a mainly residential area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies roughly one mile to the south of the Old Town, separated from it by The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links. To the west it is bounded by Bruntsfield; to the south-southwest ...

's scheme of local history commemorative plaques. Holyoake Road in

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. ...

, Oxford, Holyoake Walk in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was hist ...

, London, Holypsje Terrace in

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River L ...

and Holyoake Terrace in Sevenoaks, Kent, are named after George Holyoake.

Publications

''Rationalism: A Treatise for the Times''
(London: J. Watson, 1845)
''The History of the Last Trial by Jury for Atheism in England: A Fragment of Autobiography''
(London: J. Watson, 1850)
''Christianity and Secularism Report of a Public Discussion Between Rev. Brewin and G. J. Holyoake''
(London: Ward & Co, 1853)
''Rudiments of Public Speaking and Debate or, Hints on the Application of Logic''
(New York: McElrath & Barker, 1853);
''The Trial of Theism''
(London, 1858)
''The Principles of Secularism''
(London, 1870) *''The History of Co-operation in England: Its Literature and its Advocates''
Volume IVolume II
(London: Trübner & Co, 1875)
''English Secularism: A Confession of Belief''
(Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1896)

Notes

References

*David Berman (1990), ''A history of atheism in Britain: from Hobbes to Russell'', London: Routledge. *Joseph McCabe (1908), ''Life and Letters of George Jacob Holyoake'', 2 vols. London: Watts & Co. It includes ''A contribution towards a bibliography of the writings of George Jacob Holyoake'', by C. W. F. Goss, pp. 329–344.) * * Michael Rectenwald (2013), "Secularism and the Cultures of Nineteenth-century Scientific Naturalism". ''The British Journal for the History of Science'' 46, no. 2: pp. 231–254
Found at JSTOR here
*Michael Rectenwald (2016), ''Nineteenth-century British Secularism Science, Religion and Literature.'' Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan *Ray Argyle (2021), ''Inventing Secularism: The Radical Life of George Jacob Holyoake.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland

External links

– Edward Royle "Holyoake, George Jacob" The Oxford Companion to British History. Ed. John Cannon. Oxford University Press, 1997
George Jacob Holyoake
biography & selected writings at gerald-massey.org.uk] * *
''The Reasoner''
on Internet Archive *
Secularism 101: Defining Secularism: Origins with George Jacob Holyoake
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holyoake, George Jacob 1817 births 1906 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English agnostics English autobiographers English criminals English humanists English socialists British cooperative organizers Critics of Christianity Freethought writers Owenites People convicted of blasphemy People from Birmingham, West Midlands Presidents of Co-operative Congress