brought up in the Church of England, but he now came into contact
with a group of free-thinkers who were disciples of Richard Carlile. He
was hastily labelled an "atheist," and was turned out of his situation.
Thus driven into the arms of the secularists, he managed to earn a
living by odd jobs, and became further immersed in the study of
free-thought. At the end of 1850 he enlisted as a soldier, but in 1853
was bought out with money provided by his mother. He then found
employment as a lawyer's clerk, and gradually became known as a
free-thought lecturer, under the name of "Iconoclast." From 1860 he
conducted the _National Reformer_ for several years, and displayed much
resource in legal defence when the paper was prosecuted by the
government on account of its alleged blasphemy and sedition in
1868-1869. Bradlaugh became notorious as a leading "infidel," and was
supported by the sympathy of those who were enthusiasts at that time for
liberty of speech and thought. He was a constant figure in the law
courts; and his competence to take the oath was continually being called
in question, while his atheism and republican opinions were adduced as
reasons why no jury should give damages for attacks on his character. In
1874 he became acquainted with Mrs Annie Besant (b. 1847), who
afterwards became famous for her gifts as a lecturer on socialism and
theosophy. She began by writing for the _National Reformer_ and soon
became co-editor. In 1876 the Bristol publisher of an American pamphlet
on the population question, called _Fruits of Philosophy_, was indicted
for selling a work full of indecent physiological details, and, pleading
guilty, was lightly sentenced; but Bradlaugh and Mrs Besant took the
matter up, in order to vindicate their ideas of liberty, and
aggressively republished and circulated the pamphlet. The prosecution
which resulted created considerable scandal. They were convicted and
sentenced to a heavy fine and imprisonment, but the sentence was stayed
and the indictment ultimately quashed on a technical point. The affair,
however, had several side issues in the courts and led to much prejudice
against the defendants, the distinction being ignored between a protest
against the suppression of opinion and the championship of the
particular opinions in question. Mrs Besant's close alliance with
Bradlaugh eventually terminated in 1886, when she drifted from
secularism, first into socialistic and labour agitation and the