Richard Carlile

Richard Carlile

Richard Carlile (born December 9, 1790 in Ashburton , Devonshire, † February 10, 1843 in London ) was an English publisher. He was a major activist for universal suffrage , freedom of the press , and women's and children's rights .

Life

Carlile grew up in a simple family, but was able to attend church school for six years. The experience he gained there later made him an advocate of the secular school system. After an apprenticeship as a pewter maker , Carlile moved to London. When the economic recession meant that Carlile could barely support his family, he began to become politically active. In doing so, he came across the writings of the reformer Thomas Paine . In order to spread this, he founded a small publishing house with a printer friend, in which they published political papers, pamphlets and progressive magazines. Carlile also began to write himself and expressed his criticism of the prevailing political and social conditions.

In 1819 Carlile was one of the spokesmen for a demonstration against grain tariffs and for reform of British parliamentarism that led to the Peterloo massacre . That year he was sentenced to six years in prison for his social criticism and the publication of banned literature. He had not only published Thomas Paine's work Age of Reason , a work critical of religion , but also represented deist views in his own articles . His wife and sister, who continued his magazine The Republican after he was arrested , were also convicted.

After his release he remained active in journalism and politics. A meeting place he opened in London developed into a meeting place for Republicans and critics of religion. In 1826 he published the book Every Woman , which advocated birth control and the sexual emancipation of women. After the riot broke out in London in 1830, he was sentenced again, this time to two and a half years in prison. At the same time, the government had managed to ruin his economic existence through fines and targeted taxes on newspapers, since a large part of his readership could no longer afford these newspapers. As a result, he lived in extreme poverty for a long time after his release.

literature

• Richard Carlile. (Calendar sheet) Twice convicted of criticism of religion. In: Humanistic press service. Volker Panzer , December 9, 2014, accessed December 10, 2014 .