Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition — John Shaqi
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
History
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
As after my father left home he was chiefly sheltered by the Carliles
at 1 Warner Place, I cannot imagine what Mr Headingley[4] means by
saying that Mr Bradlaugh was saved the anxiety of pursuit by his
parents. There was no necessity for pursuit; he was never at any time
far from home, and for the most part was in the same street, only a
few doors off. His parents knew where he was; he was often up and down
their street; and his sister Elizabeth would watch to see him pass, or
would loiter about near the Temperance Hall to catch a glimpse of her
brother. She was peremptorily forbidden to exchange a word with him;
and when they passed in the street, this loving brother and sister,
who were little more than children in years, would look at each other,
and not daring to speak, would both burst into tears. In spite of all
this I never heard my father say an unkind or bitter, or even a merely
reproachful word about either of his parents.
Having once begun to speak at the open-air meetings in Bonner's Fields,
he continued speaking there or at Victoria Park, Sunday after Sunday,
during the day, and in the evening at the Warner Place Temperance Hall,
or at a small Temperance Hall in Philpot Street. I am also informed
that he lectured on Temperance at the _Wheatsheaf_ in Mile End Road.
The _British Banner_ for July 31st, 1850, contains a letter signed
D. J. E., on "Victoria Park on the Lord's Day." The writer, after
dwelling at length upon the sinfulness and general iniquity of the
Sunday frequenters of the park, who, he affirmed, sauntered in "sinful
idleness" ... "willing listeners to the harangues of the Chartist, the
Socialist, the infidel and scoffer," goes on to say of my father:--
"The stump orator for the real scoffing party is an overgrown boy of
seventeen, with such an uninformed mind, that it is really amusing
to see him sometimes stammering and spluttering on in his ignorant
eloquence, making the most ludicrous mistakes, making all history to
suit his private convenience, and often calling yea nay, and nay yea,
when it will serve his purpose. He is styled by the frequenters of the
park as the 'baby'; and I believe he is listened to very often more
from real curiosity to know what one so young will say, than from any
love the working men have to his scoffings."
[Footnote 4: Biography of Charles Bradlaugh.]
At the conclusion of a long letter, the writer says:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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