Robert Stout
From Philosopedia
Stout, Robert [Sir] [Chief Justice] (28 September 1844 - 19 July 1930)
Stout, who was born in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, was educated in parish schools. He qualified as a student teacher at age 13, then as a surveyor in 1860. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1863.
One of New Zealand’s leading public figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Stout had few rivals as regards the range of his contributions to public life. He promoted liberal social legislation, including legal equality for women, and fought to keep the church out of public affairs and education.
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Freetought and Rationalism
He was a champion of the freethought movement and supported the rationalist cause throughout his life. For his last 25 years he was a leading member of the Wellington Unitarian Church and frequently spoke at their meetings.
Stout became president of the Dunedin Freethought Association in 1880 and also defended the Auckland Rationalist Association when it was threatened with prosecution for selling its magazine on Sundays. Stout eventually introduced a bill, which passed, reducing Blue Law fines and restrictions. The freethought group was encouraged to ask questions, demand proof, reject dogma, and take nothing for granted.
In Dunedin, he edited Echo in the 1860s to 1880s. In his inaugural address as president of Dunedin Freethought Association in 1880, Stout said,
- We recognise no authority competent to dictate to us. Each must believe what he considers to be true and act up to his belief, granting the same right to everyone else.
Stout in 1884 was President of New Zealand’s Freethought Federal Union. The 1887 New Zealand census showed 3,925 Freethinkers, with a further 189 Secularists, 105 Atheists, 207 Agnostics, 83 Deists and Theists, 11 Materialists, and 668 of no religion.
His Impact on New Zealand
Stout promoted secondary schools, medical and welfare services, and was sympathetic to the Maori and land reform. He passed the Married Women's Property Act while Prime Minister. During his entire political career he championed a secular educational system. Stout returned to Parliament in time to finally see passage of women's suffrage in 1893, a reform he had promoted. He was appointed Chief Justice, serving from 1899-1926. He was also chancellor of the New Zealand University (1903-1923). When he retired as Chief Justice, Stout was appointed to the Legislative Council, where he immediately defended secular education, which was under attack by religionists seeking to introduce bible reading and prayers in school: "I fear that parliament may set up a little state church to make people morally good . . . it will make them immoral, for it will inaugurate bitterness and ill feeling."
He served on a royal commission, 1907-08, whose recommendations influenced the Native Lands Act of 1909. This restricted government purchases of native land and gave more power to Maori land boards.
Stout played a significant role in the development of the New Zealand university system. He was a member of the Senate of the University of New Zealand, 1885-1930; chancellor, 1903-23; and a member of the Council of the University of Otago, 1891-98. In Wellington he helped found Victoria University College and was a member of its Council, 1900-15 and 1918-23. He received honorary L.L.D.s from Manchester and Edinburgh Universities and an honorary D.C.L. from Oxford.
In 1899 he was appointed Chief Justice. Throughout his life, Sir Robert remained a freethinker and agnostic, and he was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association. According to Edward Royle, “Stout was to New Zealand what Ingersoll was to the United States and Bradlaugh to Britain.”
Unitarianism and Rationalism
It was not until late middle age that Stout had the opportunity to gather with Unitarians or to attend a Unitarian church. In Wellington Stout met up again with an old friend John Gammell, an inspector of schools and an outstanding Hebrew scholar. Gammell, a Unitarian, most likely introduced Stout to other Unitarians. In 1900 the British and Foreign Unitarian Association (BFUA) sent William Jellie to be minister to the newly-formed Auckland Unitarian Church, the first in New Zealand. Shortly after Jellie arrived Stout wrote him that there was an opening for the Unitarian movement in cities outside Auckland. Later, when Jellie transferred to the Wellington church, 1910-13, he and Stout became more closely acquainted.
In 1904 the Rev Charles Hargrove was sent to New Zealand by BFUA to establish other Unitarian churches. After Hargrove lectured in Wellington, Stout helped organize a Unitarian Society upon the basis of freedom of thought, and served as Chairman. Two years later another BFUA missionary, the Rev Dr Tudor Jones established the Wellington Unitarian Free Church. Stout was the first Chairman and held this position until appointed President, in which honorary office he remained until his death. Jones commented that Stout "was greatly interested in all efforts which were made in the direction of freedom of thought and religion." Stout often lectured at the church. In 1914, speaking on "Religion and the State," he said "It is not right of the State to select one religion and teach its creed because it is the religion of the majority" and asked "why should children be taught what many intelligent adults doubt?"
Stout espoused a humanist approach in his writing and speeches during the last ten years of his life. In an address to the Unitarian church he said 'If only we could get us a Humanist religion we would be able to solve many problems yet unsolved. But now Humanism has developed and we can hope for better days.'
Upon his retirement as Chief Justice Stout was appointed to the Legislative Council (Upper House). In the same month he was appointed he rose to defend secular education. "Unitarians do not accept the creed of the Churches," he declared in a speech to a Bill to introduce Bible reading and prayers in schools. "I fear that parliament may set up a little state church to make people morally good . . . it will make them immoral, for it will inaugurate bitterness and ill feeling."
Throughout his association with Unitarianism Stout remained a rationalist. He was vice president of the New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Rationalism. He continued to write for their journal until a year before his death. He has been described as being to New Zealand what Robert Ingersoll was to the United States and Bradlaugh was to Britain.
After Stout's death there was controversy about conflict between his Unitarian affiliation and his rationalism. "He was a Rationalist," conceded Jellie. "But Rationalism and Unitarianism are not incompatible. I also claim to be a Rationalist, repudiating any authority for truth outside the human spirit and the final court of appeal within myself."
Marriage and Death
In 1876 Stout married Anna Paterson Logan (1858-1931). Anna's parents John and Jessie Logan were social reformers and members of the freethought and temperance movements. Between 1878 and 1894 Anna gave birth to six children, four sons and two daughters. One of the children, Sir Thomas Duncan MacGregor Stout, followed in his father's footsteps as a promoter of education. He was knighted for his services to Victoria University of Wellington. In 1929 he began to be in poor health and the following year in July he died.
{BDF; DUUB; EU, D. A. Hamer; FFRF; FUK; JM; RAT; RE; SWW; TRI}
