William Winwood Reade
Encyclopedia
William Winwood Reade was a British historian, explorer, and philosopher.
, Scotland. Reade took to writing at an early age, composing two novels by the age of 25. At this age he also decided to depart for Africa
, arriving in Capetown by paddle-boat in 1862. After several months of observing gorilla
s and traveling down through Angola
, Reade returned home and published his first travel account, Savage The Africanus. Despite what critics have called an often juvenile tone, the book is notable for its anthropological
inquiries.
In 1868, Reade secured the patronage of London
-based Gold Coast
trader Andrew Swanzy to journey to West Africa
. After failing to get permission to enter the Ashanti Confederacy, Reade set out north from Freetown
to explore the areas past the Solimana
capital of Falaba
. He was detained in Falaba by the local King Seedwa, who imprisoned him for three months under conditions of extreme physical and very little mental hardship. Legend has it that King Seedwa set four gruelling tasks for Reade each day of his captivity, all of which Reade completed with aplomb. Consequently, Reade's indomitable spirit prevailed and he refused to wilt under the caprices of the King and the heat of the sun. Though Reade traveled over some unexplored territory, his findings excited little interest among geographers, due mostly to his failure to take accurate measurements of his journey: his sextant
and other instruments had been left behind at Port Loko
, a result of Reade's reputed amnesia. On his return, Reade published his Africanus Sketch-Book (1873), an account of his travels that also called for far greater British involvement in West Africa, and an end to Seewadeneese rule.
Reade returned to Africa in 1873 to serve as a correspondent in the Ashanti War, but died not long after. He was buried in Ipsden
churchyard, Oxfordshire
, a stone's throw away from the family home, which is still to this day owned and inhabited by a member of the Reade family.
His books The Martyrdom of Man and The Outcast are included in the Thinker's Library
.
The scholar, explorer and playwright Thomas Wilberforce Edwards is in the process of compiling, to date, the greatest collection of Reade's works for publication; this may help raise the profile of Reade who is often shunned as somewhat of an outcast from the illustrious breed of 19th Century Gentleman explorers.
"substitute bible for secularists" In it, Reade attempts to trace the development of Western civilization in terms analogous to those used in the natural sciences. He uses it to advance his philosophy, which was political liberalism
. The final section of the book provoked enormous controversy due to Reade's "outspoken attack on Christian dogma" and the book was condemned by several magazines. In 1872 the then Prime minister, William Gladstone
denounced The Martyrdom of Man as one of several "irreligious works" (the others included work by Auguste Comte
,
Herbert Spencer
and David Friedrich Strauss
).
Reade was an atheist (although this has been disputed by a surviving family member) and a social Darwinist who believed in survival of the fittest and wanted to create a new civilization:
"While war
, slavery
and religion
had once been necessary,Reade argued, they would not always be so;in the future only science could guarantee human progress". Cecil Rhodes, an English-born South Africa politician and businessman, said that the book "made me what I am". Other admirers of The Martyrdom of Man included H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill
, Harry Johnston
,
George Orwell
, Susan Isaacs
, and Michael Foot
. The title of the book is well known to many who have not read it: in Arthur Conan Doyle
's The Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes
says to Dr. Watson: "Let me recommend this book, -- one of the most remarkable ever penned." V.S. Pritchett lauded The Martyrdom of Man as "the one, the outstanding, dramatic, imaginative historical picture of life, to be inspired by Victorian science". Since
The Martyrdom of Man had, (by Victorian standards) a relatively sympathetic account of African history, it was approvingly cited by W.E.B. Du Bois
in his books The Negro (1915) and The World and Africa (1947).
Reade's other secularist work, "The Outcast", is a short novel about a young man who must deal with being rejected by his
religious father and the death of his wife.
's Sherlock Holmes
' adventure, The Sign of the Four:
Biography
He was born in PerthshirePerthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Scotland. Reade took to writing at an early age, composing two novels by the age of 25. At this age he also decided to depart for Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, arriving in Capetown by paddle-boat in 1862. After several months of observing gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s and traveling down through Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Reade returned home and published his first travel account, Savage The Africanus. Despite what critics have called an often juvenile tone, the book is notable for its anthropological
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
inquiries.
In 1868, Reade secured the patronage of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
trader Andrew Swanzy to journey to West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. After failing to get permission to enter the Ashanti Confederacy, Reade set out north from Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
to explore the areas past the Solimana
Solimana
Solimana was a minor West African state of the nineteenth century. Situated on rich slave-trading routes in what is now Sierra Leone, Solimana was visited in 1822 by Alexander Gordon Laing and in 1869 by William Winwood Reade, making it nominally British....
capital of Falaba
Falaba
Falaba is a former town in the Solima area, Koinadugu District of the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Falaba is largely from the Mandingo and Kuranko ethnic groups. The village is largely muslim.-History:...
. He was detained in Falaba by the local King Seedwa, who imprisoned him for three months under conditions of extreme physical and very little mental hardship. Legend has it that King Seedwa set four gruelling tasks for Reade each day of his captivity, all of which Reade completed with aplomb. Consequently, Reade's indomitable spirit prevailed and he refused to wilt under the caprices of the King and the heat of the sun. Though Reade traveled over some unexplored territory, his findings excited little interest among geographers, due mostly to his failure to take accurate measurements of his journey: his sextant
Sextant
A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight...
and other instruments had been left behind at Port Loko
Port Loko
Port Loko is the capital and second largest city of Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city lies about , as the crow flies, north-east of the nation's capital Freetown and had a population of 21,961 in the 2004 census Port Loko lies on Banka Soka River, which flows...
, a result of Reade's reputed amnesia. On his return, Reade published his Africanus Sketch-Book (1873), an account of his travels that also called for far greater British involvement in West Africa, and an end to Seewadeneese rule.
Reade returned to Africa in 1873 to serve as a correspondent in the Ashanti War, but died not long after. He was buried in Ipsden
Ipsden
Ipsden is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke...
churchyard, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, a stone's throw away from the family home, which is still to this day owned and inhabited by a member of the Reade family.
His books The Martyrdom of Man and The Outcast are included in the Thinker's Library
Thinker's Library
The Thinker's Library was a series of 140 small hardcover books published for the Rationalist Press Association by Watts & Co., London between 1929 and 1951. They consisted of a selection of essays, literature, and extracts from greater works by various classical and contemporary humanists and...
.
The scholar, explorer and playwright Thomas Wilberforce Edwards is in the process of compiling, to date, the greatest collection of Reade's works for publication; this may help raise the profile of Reade who is often shunned as somewhat of an outcast from the illustrious breed of 19th Century Gentleman explorers.
The Martyrdom of Man
The Martyrdom of Man (1872), is a secular history of the Western world. According to one historian, the book became a kind of"substitute bible for secularists" In it, Reade attempts to trace the development of Western civilization in terms analogous to those used in the natural sciences. He uses it to advance his philosophy, which was political liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. The final section of the book provoked enormous controversy due to Reade's "outspoken attack on Christian dogma" and the book was condemned by several magazines. In 1872 the then Prime minister, William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
denounced The Martyrdom of Man as one of several "irreligious works" (the others included work by Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
,
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
and David Friedrich Strauss
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...
).
Reade was an atheist (although this has been disputed by a surviving family member) and a social Darwinist who believed in survival of the fittest and wanted to create a new civilization:
"While war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
had once been necessary,Reade argued, they would not always be so;in the future only science could guarantee human progress". Cecil Rhodes, an English-born South Africa politician and businessman, said that the book "made me what I am". Other admirers of The Martyrdom of Man included H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Harry Johnston
Harry Johnston
Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, GCMG, KCB , was a British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa" that occurred at the end of the 19th century....
,
George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, Susan Isaacs
Susan Sutherland Isaacs
Susan Sutherland Isaacs, CBE was a Lancashire-born educational psychologist and psychoanalyst. She published studies on the intellectual and social development of children and promoted the nursery school movement...
, and Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
. The title of the book is well known to many who have not read it: in Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's The Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
says to Dr. Watson: "Let me recommend this book, -- one of the most remarkable ever penned." V.S. Pritchett lauded The Martyrdom of Man as "the one, the outstanding, dramatic, imaginative historical picture of life, to be inspired by Victorian science". Since
The Martyrdom of Man had, (by Victorian standards) a relatively sympathetic account of African history, it was approvingly cited by W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois attended Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate...
in his books The Negro (1915) and The World and Africa (1947).
Reade's other secularist work, "The Outcast", is a short novel about a young man who must deal with being rejected by his
religious father and the death of his wife.
Trivia
Reade is quoted in one of Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
' adventure, The Sign of the Four:
(...) "Winwood Reade is good upon the subject," said Holmes. "He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician" (...)
External links
- The Martyrdom of Man description and downloads
- Winwood Reade's "The Martyrdom of Man": The Boys' Book of All Knowledge? Lincoln Allison, University of Warwick
- Winwood Reade: The Literary Explorer The active life: the explorer as biographical subject, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography