- Date:
- 1875
- Original Format:
- Carte de Visite
- Item#:
- MES26440
- Photographer:
- William S. Warren (Boston)
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891)
Charles Bradlaugh was a member of Parliament, freethinker, and atheist. The radical met Annie Besant, a freethinker as well as a feminist, and in 1877 they published Charles Knowlton's "The Fruits of Philosophy," which advocated birth control. During the famous Bradlaugh-Besant trial in 1877-78, they argued "we think it more moral to prevent conception of children than, after they are born, to murder them by want of food, air and clothing." The defendants were convicted for "obscene libel" and sentenced to six months in prison (reversed on appeal).