George William Foote

George William Foote (11 January 1850 – 17 October 1915) was an English radical journalist, writer, editor, publisher, and prominent secularist. He was a leading advocate of freethought, founding and editing notable publications such as The Freethinker and The Secularist and co-founding the British Secular Union. Additionally, he ran a publishing business known as the Pioneer Press. Foote was convicted of blasphemy in 1883 for his satirical attacks on Christianity published in The Freethinker and sentenced to a year in prison. He authored over eighty works, mainly polemical pamphlets, with his editorial essays from The Freethinker compiled into Flowers of Freethought (1893–94).

Early life George William Foot was born in Plymouth on 11 January 1850, the son of William Thomas Foot (a customs officer) and Ann (née Winzar). His father died when Foote was four years old and he was raised by his mother to be Anglican, but became a Unitarian at the age of 15.

Career

In January 1868, Foote moved to London to work in a West End library, soon engaging in radical freethought. He founded a secular Sunday school and the Young Men's Secular Association at the Old Street Hall of Science in 1869, and began contributing to Charles Bradlaugh's National Reformer in 1870. He also served as secretary of the London Republican Club (1870) and the National Republican League (1871). In 1876, he opposed Bradlaugh's control over the secularist movement by starting his own paper, The Secularist, and in 1877, with G. J. Holyoake and Charles Watts, formed the British Secular Union.

A leading member of the Metropolitan Radical Federation, he championed free expression, opposed socialism, and grew disillusioned with what he saw as democratic mediocrity. In 1887, he debated socialism with Annie Besant. His defence of liberalism alienated many supporters who turned to socialism, leading to financial difficulties, conflicts with other leaders, and bankruptcy from 1901 to 1905. Despite these challenges, Foote played a significant role in sustaining secularist radicalism into the twentieth century.

When I saw him on the Friday (two days) before his death he said, "I have had another setback, but I am a curious fellow and may get all right again." But he looked the fact of death in the face with the same courage and determination that he faced Judge North many years ago. A few hours before he died he said calmly to those around him, "I am dying." And when the end came his head dropped back on the pillow, and with a quiet sigh, as of one falling to sleep, he passed away.

Personal life Foote's first marriage was to Henriette Mariane (born ), daughter of Adolph Heimann, a professor of German, on 20 March 1877. This marriage ended with her death in October of the same year. His second wife, Rosalia Martha (born ), daughter of Leopold Angel, a silversmith, supported his work but stayed in the background. They married on 12 April 1884, and had four children: a son named Francis, and three daughters named Helen, Florence, and Dorothy.

Foote was a cultured scholar with a deep knowledge of English literature, an admirer of Shakespeare, and a friend of George Meredith.

Publications Foote, George William (1879). Secularism, The True Philosophy of Life: An Exposition and a Defence. Reprint, London: GW Foote & Co., 2016. Foote, George William (1885). The Jewish Life of Christ. London: Progressive Publishing Co.

Foote, George William (1889). Secularism and Theosophy: A Rejoinder to Mrs. Besant's Pamphlet. London: Progressive Publishing Co.

Foote, George William (1889). The New Cagliostro: An Open Letter to Madame Blavatsky. London: Progressive Publishing Co.