NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY

From Philosopedia

NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY (NSS)

The National Secular Society was founded in 1866 by Charles Bradlaugh before he embarked on his parliamentary career as a radical Liberal. It was formed to unite the various secular societies that had developed from the Owenite and Chartist movements. During the late nineteenth century, it was the main freethought organization in England. At first it attracted mostly self-educated working-class people, and it still retains some of its traditional forthright and down-to-earth character as the most militant element in the humanist movement.

In 1881, George William Foote started The Freethinker, one of England’s boldest and liveliest progressive periodicals. Foote was president of the Society for twenty-five years and eight months.

Barbara Smoker served as the society’s president, according to Nicolas Walter’s tabulation, for twenty-four years and five months. The longest serving president, however, was Chapman Cohen, from 1915 to 1949.