Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/215

 of Bengal. B. Sep. 17, 1811. Ed. Richmond, Iselmond, and Guy's Hospital. He went to India in 1732, practising as a surgeon and studying the native languages. In 1751 he was Zemindar of the Twenty-four Parganas, and in 1756 he was one of the survivors of "the Black Hole of Calcutta." In 1760-61 he was temporary Governor of Bengal. Besides various works on India he wrote A Dissertation on the Origin of Intelligent Beings and on a Divine Providence (1786), which is of a Rationalist character. D. Nov. 5, 1798.

Holyoake, Austin, Secularist, brother of G. J. Holyoake. B. Oct 27, 1826. Like his elder brother, he came under the influence of the Owenites, and he devoted his life to the cause of progress and Rationalism. He co-operated in editing the Reasoner, and afterwards printed and sub-edited the National Reformer for Mr. Bradlaugh, of whom he was a life-long friend. He published various pamphlets on religion. D. Apr. 10, 1874.

Holyoake, George Jacob, writer and reformer. B. Apr. 13, 1817. As a boy he worked in a foundry and attended classes at the Birmingham Mechanics Institute, afterwards teaching mathematics there. He joined the Birmingham Reform League in 1831, the Chartists in 1832, and the Owenites in 1838. In 1840 he went as lecturer to the Worcester Hall of Science, and in 1841 to the Sheffield Owenite Hall. He edited the Oracle of Reason, and was imprisoned for six months for "blasphemy" in a lecture at Cheltenham (1842). He then settled in London, editing the Owenite Movement, which he and M. Q. Ryall had established, and selling advanced books. He presided at the opening of the Rochdale Co-operative Store in 1845, and became the leading champion of, and authority on, Co-operation in Europe. He founded and edited the Reasoner (1846-50), the Leader (1850), the Secular Review (1876), and other papers. In these successive enter prises he strained his slender resources, and used all his time to secure the freedom of the cheap Press and the triumph of advanced principles. In 1851 he began to use the word " Secularist " as a description of himself and his followers, and to organize societies in London and the provinces. For many years he was President of the British Secular Union. He denned Secularism as " a code of duty pertaining to this life, founded on con siderations purely human " (Origin and Nature of Secularism, 1896, p. 41). In his later years he took a zealous part in the founding of the R. P. A., of which he was the first Chairman. Holyoake's ideal was to direct Rationalists into positive, not merely destructive, humanitarian action, and there was hardly a reform in England that had not the aid of his effective pen. In combating the "taxes on knowledge" he incurred fines amounting to 600,000. Refugee democrats of all countries enlisted his services, and he fought for the rights of women, political reform, arbitration, education, labour-copartnership, and other reforms. His works and pamphlets number about 160. They cover the whole field of progress, and are not less marked by refinement of character than by literary skill. His advocacy of Rationalism ex tended over more than sixty years, and was as devoted as it was fruitful. D. Jan. 22, 1906.

Home, Henry, Lord Kames, judge. B. 1696. Ed. private tutors. He was indentured to a writer, but he studied diligently, and was called to the Scottish Bar in 1724. In 1752 he was appointed Ordinary Lord of Session, taking the title Lord Kames from his birthplace, and in 1763 Lord of the Justiciary Court. Besides several works on law, he wrote Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (1751), for which he was charged with heresy before the Edinburgh Presbytery. The charge lapsed because the petitioner died, not because it was refuted, as is sometimes said. Lord Kames clearly denies free-will in the book, and his later