The British Ethical Societies I

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-15517-5 - The British Ethical Societies I. D. MacKillop Frontmatter More information

The British Ethical Societies

I. D. MacKillop

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First published 1986 First paperback edition 2010

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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data MacKillop, I. D. (Ian Duncan) The British ethical societies. Bibliography; p. Includes index. 1. Ethics, English - History. 2. Ethics, English - Societies, etc. - History. I. Title. BJ602.M33 1986 170’.6’041 85-10978

isbn 978-0-521-26672-7 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-15517-5 Paperback

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Contents

Preface page vii Prologue 1 Ethical Epoch The real and the good, 1876-1903 3 Views from Westminster Bridge and Russell Square 7 Arrivals: Frederick James Gould and Harry Snell 16 Arrivals: John Henry Muirhead and John Atkinson Hobson 21 Mentors: Henry Sidgwick, John Robert Seeley, Felix Adler 30 2 South Place in Finsbury and Holborn An open door, 1793-1853 41 Iconoclastic adventures, 1853-1891 48 Aims, principles and Appointed Lecturers, 1891-1912 58 Changing the chapel, 1912-1930 65 Conway Hall in Holborn, 193(}-1980 69 3 Bloomsbury and the Strand: the London Ethical Society By faith, not by sight 81 Philosophy in London 87 4 Bayswater: Stanton Coit's Ethical Church Wholesome objectivity 99 Some great and unique service? 107 Shall it be an Ethical Church? 117 A visit to the Ethical Church 121 A Platonist's church 124 5 The Ethical Movement The other ethical societies 138 Ethics to the front 147 Ethics in the class-room 162

Epilogue 174 Bibliographical notes 177

General index 193 Index of ethicists 195 v

Preface

The origin of The British Ethical Societies goes back to the chance pur• chase ofa collection of books in a south London furniture auction. They had belonged to an author and former London County Council inspector of schools, Frank H. Hayward (1872-1954). The tea-chests contained an annotated set of his own works (twenty-nine in all). An interest in Hayward's books led me back to the history of moral education in Britain and of relations between social class and the teaching profession, and thence to the societies which flourished at the turn of the century and were preoccupied with these things and many others. Frank H. Hayward did not, however, playa direct part in the life of the British ethical societies, and so with great regret I excluded him from this book. I shall be returning elsewhere to pay tribute to the career which disappointed him. There are other exclusions of which I am acutely aware. Two major figures are neglected, F. H. Bradley and J. A. Hobson. I know that others are better qualified to protect their interests, so it is perhaps enough that I have indicated that the first was continuously inspiring to the Idealist wing of the ethical movement, and that the second was active through a long life in several of its groups. There are several lesser figures to whom I would have liked to give some or greater presence, notably Mrs. Stephen Winkworth and Joseph McCabe. There are several regions, in my view adjacent to the movement, which go uncharted in this book: the largest is the history of organised British humanism and the smallest, in its degree of specialisation, is the history of the celebrated chamber music concerts at South Place Ethical Society. As to the ethical societies themselves, I have concentrated on three major groups in the metropolis, at the expense of provincial societies, for the sake of clarity, and in order to make a modest contribution to the history of London. This book itself will have to show whether its contents legitimise the omissions. Its aim is to defme the 'unformulated content' of the ethical movement, its 'active social conscience, always in contact with "pro• gressive" social action', to quote phrases by HaroldJ. Blackham, from a review in The Ethical Record (April 1968), used to characterise what a

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Preface study ofethicism should aim for. Especially, I have tried to show what in• dividuals were like. As to the individuals who have helped me, I would like to specify the following who looked things up or shared their expertise with me: Harold J. Blackham, Susan Budd, John Burrows, Peter Cadogan, John D'Entremont, Jeff Fiedorowicz, Kathleen Flynn, Sir Gilbert and Lady Virginia Flemming, Kenneth Furness, Sabine Hotho, David Joseph, Alan J. Lee, Ray Lovecy, David E. Muspratt, Athene Seyler (Hannan), Gillian Tindall, and Al and Martha Vogeler. I would also like to thank Sebastian Gardner and the staff of Cambridge University Press who pro• vided inestimable help; and also Mrs Iris Walkland, who helped with the index. I wish to thank the universities of Birmingham and Newcastle for allowing me to reproduce material in their care and especially the manuscript librarians of these universities, and the librarian of the Greater London History Library. I am indebted to the Research Fund Committee of Sheffield University. The British Ethical Societies would not have been started without the example of two graduates of Downing College, Cambridge: Emeritus Professor W. H. G. Armytage and Morris Shapira. My greatest debts are to my mother, Mrs D. E. MacKillop, who unstintingly supported my research in London, and to my wife, Jane Rawlingson MacKillop, who has blessed me for a decade with her professional knowledge of what writing is.

Ian Duncan MacKillop

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