Edward Truelove
Edward Truelove | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date |
| Died | April 21, 1899 (aged 89) |
| Occupation(s) | Publisher, bookseller, freethought advocate |
| Known for | Radical publishing, advocacy of freethought, birth control literature distribution |
Edward Truelove (29 October 1809 – 21 April 1899) was a notable English radical publisher and advocate of freethought.
Life
As a devoted Owenite, Truelove spent the years 1844 to 1845 living at the communal settlement of Queenwood in Hampshire, followed by a year in New Harmony, Indiana, before returning to London in 1846. For nine years, he held the position of secretary at the John Street Institution, a center for Chartist activity, and he also served as secretary for the final London Owenite festival in 1871. In his work On Liberty, John Stuart Mill mentioned that both Truelove and George Jacob Holyoake were dismissed as jurors at the Old Bailey in 1857 due to their openly declared absence of religious faith.
Truelove was editor of the Reformer's Library series and acted as a publisher for the International Workingmen's Association. In July 1877, he co-established the Malthusian League, collaborating with individuals from the National Secular Society. He remained an active member of this League until it stopped holding formal meetings around 1899, alongside associates such as Thomas Owen Bonser, J. K. Page, and William Hammond Reynolds.
By 1847, Truelove was distributing Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation and other titles from John Street in London. Between 1852 and 1867, his publishing operations were based at 240 Strand, London, later relocating by 1874 to 256 High Holborn, which also functioned as the First International’s office from approximately 1870.
In The Book-Hunter in London (1895), Truelove was described as "agnostic" and noted to have retired from his High Holborn shop several years earlier. Following his passing, his personal book collection was sold at auction with an accompanying catalogue.
He is interred alongside his wife and daughter on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.
Prosecutions
Truelove encountered legal proceedings connected to his distribution of political materials and birth control literature.
Tyrannicide pamphlet
In 1858, after the Orsini affair, Truelove faced prosecution for issuing Tyrannicide: Is it justifiable? authored by William Edwin Adams, on charges of seditious libel; however, accusations of blasphemy were dropped. After spending six months under scrutiny, Lord Chief Justice Campbell admonished him and subsequently dismissed the case.
Obscenity charge
In 1878, Truelove underwent trial for publishing Robert Dale Owen's Moral Physiology, which led to a four-month sentence served at Coldbath Fields Prison. The initial prosecution in 1877, initiated by the Society for the Suppression of Vice, was deferred to give precedence to a more prominent contraception trial involving Charles Bradlaugh, Annie Besant, and Charles Knowlton's The Fruits of Philosophy. The first trial ended without a verdict due to a hung jury; however, he was convicted after a subsequent trial.
These legal actions during the 1870s were primarily governed by the Obscene Publications Act 1857, largely driven by Charles Hastings Collette, Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. The Society itself disbanded in 1880. Truelove had openly exhibited Moral Physiology in his High Holborn shop window. Witnesses supporting his defense included John Morrison Davidson and W. A. Hunger from the English Dialectical Society. The initial trial was overseen by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, while Baron Pollock presided over the second trial.
Contraception Publications
Truelove's engagement with birth control publishing commenced in 1855 when he released George Drysdale's The Elements of Social Science; or Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion, after Drysdale encountered difficulty securing a publisher. This influential work, produced inexpensively, had reached its 14th edition by 1876 and amassed a total of 35 editions by 1905. In addition to distributing literature, Truelove also retailed contraceptive apparatus. Although Bradlaugh was erroneously credited as the author of Drysdale's book, Truelove preserved the author's anonymity until Drysdale's identity was disclosed posthumously in 1904.
Prior to this, birth control writings such as Owen's Moral Physiology (1830), initially published in the United States, were available. A condensed pamphlet version of Drysdale's text, entitled Individual, Family, and National Poverty, was employed in legal proceedings against Truelove.
Family
In 1840, Truelove wed Harriett Potbory from Sidmouth, Devon. Both his spouse and their daughter Harriett became actively involved in the suffragist movement. The couple had a son named Maurice H., and reportedly gave another son the name "Mazzini" in 1849 during a secular baptism officiated by George Jacob Holyoake. Subsequently, Edward Truelove and his family took on the responsibility of raising their grand-niece Louisa.
Harriett Truelove corresponded with Florence Nightingale, who made occasional visits to their bookstore located near the John Street Institution during the late 1840s.