Harriet Law
| Harriet Law | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Harriet Teresa Frost 5 November 1831 Ongar, Essex, England |
| Died | 19 July 1897 (aged 65) Peckham, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Public speaker |
| Known for | Only woman on the general council of the First International |
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 Baptist but converted to atheism. She became a salaried speaker for the secularist movement and addressed many often hostile audiences around the country. She was invited to sit on the general council of the First International, the only woman to do so, where she engaged in debate with prominent communists including Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. From 1877 to 1878 she published The Secular Chronicle, which covered subjects such as socialism, atheism and women's rights.
Harriet Teresa Frost was born in Ongar on 5 November 1831. She was brought up as a Strict Baptist. Her father was a small farmer, but when his business failed he moved with his family to London's East End. Law taught in a Sunday school to bring some income to the family. In the 1850s she began debating with Owenite infidels such as George Holyoake and Charles Southwell who were giving lectures in East London. In the process her beliefs changed. She "saw the light of reason" in 1855 and became a strong supporter of Holyoake. She became an atheist, feminist, and a believer in "Owenite co-operation."
Harriet married Edward Law on 11 January 1855. They lived at 38 Boyson Road in Walworth and had four children. Her husband was also a free thinker.
From 1859 Harriet Law was paid a salary for lecturing for the secular movement. She spoke out against Christianity at meetings around the country in the 1860s and 1870s. Often it was difficult to find premises that could be hired for such meetings, and often the audience was hostile and at times even violent. When giving a series of lectures in Keighley, Yorkshire, in September 1866 she had to compete with Henry Grattan Guinness, of the brewing family, a nonconformist evangelist who held meetings at the same time to try to counteract her influence. Writing in 1893, Annie Besant said of her, "Mrs. Harriet Law, a woman of much courage and of strong natural ability, had many a rough meeting in her lecturing days."
...
Wikipedia