Harriet Teresa Law was a leading British freethinker in 19th-century London.
29 Facts About Harriet Law
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Harriet Law became a salaried speaker for the secularist movement and addressed many often hostile audiences around the country.
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Harriet Law 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.
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Harriet Law's father was a small farmer, but when his business failed he moved with his family to London's East End.
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Harriet Law taught in a Sunday school to bring some income to the family.
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Harriet Law "saw the light of reason" in 1855 and became a strong supporter of Holyoake.
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Harriet Law embraced atheism, feminism, and "Owenite co-operation" after these discussions.
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From 1859 Harriet Law was paid a salary for lecturing for the secular movement.
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Harriet Law spoke out against Christianity at meetings around the country in the 1860s and 1870s.
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Harriet Law talked of John Stuart Mill's proposal for Woman's suffrage, which was being debated by the House of Commons, while Walker spoke of reform to the marriage laws.
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In 1876 Harriet Law was engaged by the Lancashire Secular Union to give ten special lectures, each attended by about 5,000 people.
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On her lecture tours in the provinces Harriet Law did not represent the leadership of the movement, but served as a freelance speaker at the meetings of the local secularist societies.
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Harriet Law was offered a vice-presidency of the NSS in 1867 and again in 1876, but refused both times.
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George Holyoake, Charles Watts and Harriet Law then founded the British Secular Union, which remained active until 1884.
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In 1868 Marx said that the "well-known orator Mrs Harriet Law" represented the atheist popular movement in the General Council.
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Harriet Law did not attend the IWA General Council meetings between August 1870 and October 1871.
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Harriet Law was among the signatories on the 1872 brochure The Fictitious Splits in the International in which Marx and Engels opposed Mikhail Bakunin and his supporters.
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Harriet Law bought the Secular Chronicle after the founder, George Reddalls, died of typhoid in October 1875.
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Harriet Law was editor of the journal from 1876 to 1879, assisted by her daughter.
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Harriet Law gave the paper a broader scope, with sections that covered atheism, women's rights, Owenite co-operation and republicanism.
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Harriet Law published a short biography of Karl Marx, with a portrait, and in the next issue published an article by Marx in which he pointed out the errors in George Howell's History of the International.
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Harriet Law published profiles of women such as the freethinker and women's rights activist Mary Wollstonecraft.
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Harriet Law handed the Secular Chronicle to new owners at the end on 1878.
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Harriet Law's health forced her to cut back her activities after 1879.
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Harriet Law died of a heart attack on 19 July 1897, having been ill with bronchitis.
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On 27 August 1868 Harriet Law argued against Karl Marx, who opposed turning the IWA into what he called a "debating club".
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Harriet Law was against imperialism during an era when many of the elite in Britain were proud of the continued expansion of the British Empire.
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Harriet Law felt that a competitive economy did not let the worker get full value for his work.
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Harriet Law was in favour of a communist system where a directing power distributed labour according to requirements.