George Jacob Holyoake (1817–1906) was an English secularist, co-operator, and newspaper editor. He coined the term “secularism” in 1851 and “jingoism” in 1878. He was one of the Victorian pioneers of the British co-operative movement.
Born in Birmingham, Holyoake taught mathematics for some years at the Mechanics’ Institution in Birmingham. He lectured on textile manufacturer Robert Owen’s socialist system, was secretary to Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi’s British contingent, and edited a secularist paper Reasoner 1846–1861. He also edited the co-operative paper The English Leader 1864 to 1867 and promoted the bill legalizing secular affirmations.
Holyoake became the last person imprisoned in England on a charge of atheism (1842) after he declared at a public meeting in Cheltenham, “If I could have my way, I would place the deity on half-pay as the government of this country did its subaltern officers.”
Holyoake edited several papers supporting socialism, atheism, and republicanism, notably The Reasoner 1846–61, and was the last secretary of the chartist National Charter Association in 1852. He wrote histories of the co-operative movement and secularism, including Sixty Years of an Agitator’s Life (1892,) Public Speaking, and Debate (1895.)
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Atheism deprives superstition of its stand ground, and compels Theism to reason for its existence.
—George Holyoake
Topics: Atheism
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