George Whale (freethinker)

George Whale (25 November 1849 – 4 May 1925) was an English solicitor and freethinker.

Biography

Whale worked as a solicitor in Huntingdon and Woolwich. He was the Mayor of Woolwich (1908–1909) and was a Liberal parliamentary candidate for Marylebone. He was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and member of the Folklore Society, Johnson Club, Omar Khayyam Club, National Liberal Club and Samuel Pepys Club.[1][2] He lived at York Terrace and had a library of 60,000 books.[1][2]

Whale was Chairman of the Rationalist Press Association, 1922–1925.[3]

Whale was a friend of H. G. Wells.[1] He was married to author Winifred Stephens.[4]

Whale collapsed and died after giving a speech at the Annual Dinner of the Rationalist Press Association in 1925.[5]

Gissing, George; Mattheisen, Paul F; Young, Arthur C. (1995). The Collected Letters of George Gissing: 1897–1899. Ohio University Press. p. 230
Waller, Philip. (2006). Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 509. ISBN 0-19-820677-1
Whyte, Adam Gowans. (1949). The Story of the R.P.A. 1899–1949. London: Watts & Co. p. 93
Gould, Frederick James. (1929). The Pioneers of Johnson's Court. London: Watts & Co. p. 122
Cooke, Bill. (2003). The Gathering of Infidels: A Hundred Years of the Rationalist Press Association. Prometheus Books. p. 85. ISBN 978-1591021964