Charles Watts (secularist)

Charles Watts (27 February 1836 – 16 February 1906) was an English writer, lecturer and publisher, who was prominent in the secularist and freethought movements in both Britain and Canada.

Charles Watts
Born(1836-02-27)27 February 1836
Bristol, England
Died16 February 1906(1906-02-16) (aged 70)
England
OccupationWriter, lecturer, publisher
RelativesCharles Albert Watts (son)

Life and career

He was born in Bristol into a family of Methodists, and showed precocious talents, giving his first lecture at the age of 14. At the age of 16 he moved to London, and worked with his elder brother John Watts (1834-1866) in a printing office. Through this work the two brothers came into contact with freethinkers including Charles Southwell and Charles Bradlaugh. John Watts became an active proselytiser for secularism, and in 1863 was appointed editor of the National Reformer, a radical periodical founded by Bradlaugh, with Charles as assistant editor. In 1864 the brothers formed a publishing business, Watts & Co.[1][2]

John Watts died from tuberculosis at the age of 32.[1] Charles Watts took charge of the publishing business and toured the country, delivering hundreds of lectures on theological, social, and political issues. He declared himself an atheist and, with Bradlaugh and others, helped found the National Secular Society (NSS) in 1866. In 1876, he was appointed full-time editor and publisher of the National Reformer. He also wrote and published a wide range of pamphlets on secularism and republicanism, and wrote the first systematic history of freethought, eventually published in book form as Freethought: its Rise, Progress and Triumph. His wife, Kate Eunice Watts, often travelled with him and also wrote pamphlets, including The Education and Position of Woman and Christianity: Defective and Unnecessary.[1][2]

In 1877 Charles Watts broke with Bradlaugh over the pamphlet The Fruits of Philosophy, which had been written by American physician and atheist Charles Knowlton, and which promoted birth control and discussed human sexuality.[3] The pamphlet was published for the first time in Britain by James Watson's publishing company in 1845.[4] In 1876, Charles Watts published the pamphlet and was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act. In protest of Watts' prosecution, Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, published the pamphlet it 1877 and were also prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, resulting in the infamous "Knowlton Trial" of Bradlaugh and Besant. Later Watts was released, resigned from the NSS, and, with George Holyoake and George Foote, formed the British Secular Union, a short-lived rival group. Watts became editor of the Secular Review founded by Holyoake.[1][2][5]

In 1882, he travelled for the first time to the United States to lecture, and also visited Canada, where he was invited to take up residence. He emigrated to Toronto in 1883, leaving his son Charles Albert Watts in charge of his publishing interests in Britain. Charles Watts then became the leader of the secularist movement in Canada, founding and editing Secular Thought in Toronto, and also regularly went on lecture tours of the US.[2] He returned in 1891 to England, where his son had by then established the periodical Watts's Literary Guide (the forerunner of the New Humanist magazine) to promote secularist activities. Charles Watts rejoined the NSS and continued lecturing, as well as cooperating with Foote on the journal, The Freethinker. He returned to the US and Canada, with Foote, to lecture in 1896, and again visited the US in 1899.[2][5]

He died in England in 1906 at the age of 70. His son, Charles Albert Watts, remained active in the secularist movement, helping to develop the Rationalist Press Association.

Selected publications

References
  1. Edward Royle, Victorian Infidels: The Origins of the British Secularist Movement 1791-1866 Archived 2005-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, Manchester University Press, 1974, ISBN 0-7190-0557-4
  2. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Biography of Charles Watts, American Atheists
  3. Knowlton, Charles (October 1891) [1840]. Besant, Annie; Bradlaugh, Charles (eds.). Fruits of philosophy: a treatise on the population question. San Francisco: Reader's Library. OCLC 626706770. A publication about birth control. View original copy.
  4. Knowlton, Charles (1845). Fruits of philosophy, or, The private companion of young married people. Wellcome Library. London : J. Watson.
  5. G. H. Taylor, A Chronology of British Secularism, National Secular Society, 1957 Archived December 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by
New position		 Secretary of the National Secular Society
1866–1876		 Succeeded by
George Standring
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