Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner
From Philosopedia
Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner (31 March 1858 - 1933)
Hypatia Bradlaugh (later Bonner) was the daughter of Charles Bradlaugh [[1]], Her atheist father named her after Hypatia of Alexandria, the pagan lecturer who was torn to pieces by a mob of Christians in 415.
Matriculating at London University, Hypatia became a teacher at the Hall of Science run by her father's National Secular Society. When she married Arthur Bonner in 1882, they merged their surnames and had two sons, one of whom survived.
After her father died in 1891, Hypatia wrote his biography and was forced by constant slanders of deathbed conversions to correct the public record, even taking successful court action.
An ardent opponent of the death penalty, proponent of penal reform, peace advocate and feminist, Hypatia lectured widely. She founded the Rationalist Peace Society in 1910. She edited a journal, Reformer (1897-1904).
She was part of the Rationalist Press Association, worked against blasphemy laws, and was appointed Justice of the Peace for London, 1922-1934, as a reward for 40 years of public service. She lectured widely for the Rationalist Press Association and complained that in person the Unitarians “always seemed to treat freethinkers with an acrimony special to themselves and us, nor would they handle the National Reformer in their bookstores.”
Her books include Penalties Upon Opinion (1912), The Christian Hell (1913) and Christianity and Conduct (1919).
In her final "Testament," she wrote:
- away with all these gods and godlings; they are worse than useless.
Upon her death, Chapman Cohen, president of the National Secular Society, noted that she belonged to “that small army of brave people who made it their duty, without thought of themselves or hope or expectation of reward, to strive for unpopular causes.”
