George Bradburn
Encyclopedia
George Bradburn was an American
politician and Unitarian
minister in Massachusetts
known for his support for abolitionism
and women's rights
. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London
where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with Frederick Douglass
on a lecture tour in Indiana
when they were attacked. Lydia Maria Child wrote with regard to his work on anti-slavery that he had " a high place among the tried and true."
, a small town in Massachusetts. After his mother died, he was brought up by his half sister Fanny. He first took a trade as a machinist until he decided to pursue further studies at the age on nineteen. He continued his education at Phillips Exeter Academy
in New Hampshire
. After studying with Hosea Ballou
(the 2nd) he attended the Harvard Divinity School
.
His first ministerial position was in Nantucket in 1831, but oddly, his church was sold while he was away and his congregation was later disbanded in 1834. While in Nantucket he met and married his first wife, Lydia, but within a year of marriage she had died, and his only daughter died a year later. This cast a "shadow over his whole life." Moreover, Bradburn had begun to lose his sense of hearing. However, he was well regarded and was elected by the Whigs
to serve as the Massachusetts Legislature
in 1839 for three years.
He became associated with the American Anti-Slavery Society
in 1839 and he brought forward related radical legislation. He led a movement which repealed a marriage law. After this change, "People in Massachusetts, wishing to marry, are under no necessity of comparing complexions" in 1842.
became a full member of the business committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society at their annual convention. This was not without cost, and some of the members left the meeting, but others who were known as the "Garrisonian wing" believed in equal rights of all Americans, irrespective of gender. So when an invitation was received for the World Anti-Slavery Convention on June 12, 1840 in London
, it was not surprising that Massachusetts decided to not only send William Lloyd Garrison
, Wendell Phillips
and Bradburn, but also Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Martineau and Maria Weston Chapman
.
Bradburn travelled first class on the ship Roscoe on the May 7, 1840. Other anti-slavery delegates aboard the ship were Mary Grew, James
and Lucretia Mott
, Emily Winslow and her father Isaac, Abby South, Henry Grew
and Elizabeth Neall. After they arrived many took the opportunity to tour England. Bradburn was able to visit various places including Blenheim Palace
, Eaton Hall
, Stratford on Avon, Oxford University and Warwick Castle
. He was later able to call on these experiences in lectures later in life.
Just before the World's Anti-Slavery Convention opened, the British organiser Joseph Sturge
explained that female delegates would not be allowed. This "insane innovation, this woman-intruding delusion," was rebuked by the leading English Anti-Slavery members. Some of the male delegates from America sided with the women, including George Bradburn, Wendell Phillips, James Mott, William Adam
, Isaac Winslow, J. P. Miller and Henry B. Stanton
. William Lloyd Garrison
, who was not there until the 17th, refused to take his seat until there was equality in seating. Interestingly, Henry Grew
spoke in favour of the men's rights to exclude women despite his daughter being one of the excluded delegates. The American women had to join the other female observers like Lady Byron
and were not allowed to participate in the convention. Not only was the equality of the sexes debated, but Bradburn said that "introducing any such words as 'Christian,' 'Religious,' and the like, by which persons of any religion whatever, or of no religion whatever, should be excluded from the Anti-Slavery platform.
The portrait of Bradburn which is shown at the top of this article and in Haydon's picture of the 1840 World Anti-Slavery convention was completed in a small room at the Freemasons hall where the convention was held. Bradburn commented that he felt that he had been given "too much severity or sharpness," but Haydon assured him that he looked "revolutionary" when giving his speeches. Bradburn made time after a visit to France to complete a third sitting on August 3, 1840. Bradburn then visited Newcastle
, Scotland and Ireland, visiting people he had met at the convention including the Irish Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell
and Lady Byron, the mathematician (and the poet's estranged wife).
and William A. White on a lecture tour organised by the American Anti-Slavery Society and called "100 conventions." This was not a tour preaching to the converted and he was, subsequently, attacked. Douglass was attacked and his hand broken so badly that he never recovered its full use. Other sources also place Bradburn there at Pendleton
in Indiana on September 16, 1843 when the attack took place.
From 1846 to 1849, Bradburn edited the, "Pioneer and Herald of Freedom" in Lynn, Massachusetts
.
Douglass told a group in Ireland of a story about how Blackburn, who now was nearly completely deaf, was challenged for assuming that ministers could adopt the abolitionists message as they "must live." Bradburn said, "I deny any such necessity — I dispute your premises. I deny that it is necessary for any man to live, unless he can live honestly."
In 1850 in Boston, Bradburn married Frances H. Parker. Although she later would became an invalid and prevent him from taking up overseas positions, she was the one who eventually completed his memoirs. That year he was working for the Boston Chronotype and he attended the two day National Woman's Rights Convention which was held in Brinley Hall, Worcester
. The convention was called to order by Sarah H. Earle, and chaired by Paulina Wright Davis of Rhode Island
on October 23, 1850. There were 268 delegates, but the vast majority were from Massachusetts. The news of the convention was widely reported, but frequently in a disparaging way. Only four local newspapers were thought to deal with the subject well and one of those was the Lynn Pioneer (which was edited by Bradburn).
In 1851, George and Frances moved to Cleveland, Ohio
where Bradburn helped to edit the True Democrat, a daily newspaper. After two years he went on lecture tours where he would sometimes speak every night for 26 days. His lectures at this time were not only political but drew on his experiences in Europe in 1840. He was able to use his trip to London as the basis of entertaining and informative lectures.
In 1859, he occupied the pulpit of a Unitarian church in Athol, Massachusetts
and resided there for another two years. He made good friends there and returned to visit ever summer for the next twenty years. He took a job in a customs house which had been organised by his friend Samuel Chase
, but he sadly missed his ability to work. At the end of his life he called out to William A. White, who his wife remembered as a friend from his time lecturing to thousands.
read a eulogy and was a pallbearer. His wife published his biography in 1883. Lydia Maria Child wrote "Surely in this country, and within this century, no other cause has so tested the moral natures of men and women, as did the anti-slavery cause in its early days: and no one who knew George Bradburn at that time will doing question his right to a high place among the tried and true."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician and Unitarian
American Unitarian Association
The American Unitarian Association was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it merged with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.According to Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary...
minister in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
known for his support for abolitionism
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in 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...
where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
on a lecture tour in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
when they were attacked. Lydia Maria Child wrote with regard to his work on anti-slavery that he had " a high place among the tried and true."
Biography
Bradburn was born March 4, 1806 to James and Sarah Bradburn in AttleboroAttleboro, Massachusetts
Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States and is immediately north of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers, Attleboro had a population of 42,068 at the 2000 census, and a population of 43,645 as of...
, a small town in Massachusetts. After his mother died, he was brought up by his half sister Fanny. He first took a trade as a machinist until he decided to pursue further studies at the age on nineteen. He continued his education at Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. After studying with Hosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou II
Hosea Ballou II was an American Universalist minister and the first president of Tufts University from 1853 to 1861. He promoted the establishment of seminaries for religious training, something which was at that time opposed by a number of influential Universalists including his uncle Hosea...
(the 2nd) he attended the Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
.
His first ministerial position was in Nantucket in 1831, but oddly, his church was sold while he was away and his congregation was later disbanded in 1834. While in Nantucket he met and married his first wife, Lydia, but within a year of marriage she had died, and his only daughter died a year later. This cast a "shadow over his whole life." Moreover, Bradburn had begun to lose his sense of hearing. However, he was well regarded and was elected by the Whigs
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
to serve as the Massachusetts Legislature
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
in 1839 for three years.
He became associated with the American Anti-Slavery Society
American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...
in 1839 and he brought forward related radical legislation. He led a movement which repealed a marriage law. After this change, "People in Massachusetts, wishing to marry, are under no necessity of comparing complexions" in 1842.
The year of the "World's Convention"
In 1840, a woman's right to serve on an American anti-slavery committee was established when Abby KelleyAbby Kelley
Abby Kelley Foster was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-Slavery Society, where she worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison and other radicals...
became a full member of the business committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society at their annual convention. This was not without cost, and some of the members left the meeting, but others who were known as the "Garrisonian wing" believed in equal rights of all Americans, irrespective of gender. So when an invitation was received for the World Anti-Slavery Convention on June 12, 1840 in 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...
, it was not surprising that Massachusetts decided to not only send William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
, Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator. He was an exceptional orator and agitator, advocate and lawyer, writer and debater.-Education:...
and Bradburn, but also Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Martineau and Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston Chapman
Maria Weston or Maria Weston Chapman was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery journal, Non-Resistant.-Family:Weston was born in 1806 in Weymouth,...
.
James Mott
James Mott was a Quaker leader, teacher, and merchant as well as an activist for anti-slavery and women's rights. He was born in Cowneck in North Hempstead on Long Island, to a Quaker family...
and Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights.- Early life and education:...
, Emily Winslow and her father Isaac, Abby South, Henry Grew
Henry Grew
Henry Grew was a Christian teacher and writer whose studies of the Bible led him to conclusions which were at odds with doctrines accepted by many of the mainstream churches of his time...
and Elizabeth Neall. After they arrived many took the opportunity to tour England. Bradburn was able to visit various places including Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
, Eaton Hall
Eaton Hall (Cheshire)
Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is set within a large estate south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England . The house is surrounded by formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers an area of about .The first substantial house was...
, Stratford on Avon, Oxford University and Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...
. He was later able to call on these experiences in lectures later in life.
Just before the World's Anti-Slavery Convention opened, the British organiser Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...
explained that female delegates would not be allowed. This "insane innovation, this woman-intruding delusion," was rebuked by the leading English Anti-Slavery members. Some of the male delegates from America sided with the women, including George Bradburn, Wendell Phillips, James Mott, William Adam
William Adam
William Adam was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. He was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland, designing and building numerous country houses and public buildings, and often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near...
, Isaac Winslow, J. P. Miller and Henry B. Stanton
Henry Stanton
Henry Brewster Stanton was a 19th century abolitionist and social reformer.-Biography:Stanton was born in Preston, Connecticut, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster...
. William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
, who was not there until the 17th, refused to take his seat until there was equality in seating. Interestingly, Henry Grew
Henry Grew
Henry Grew was a Christian teacher and writer whose studies of the Bible led him to conclusions which were at odds with doctrines accepted by many of the mainstream churches of his time...
spoke in favour of the men's rights to exclude women despite his daughter being one of the excluded delegates. The American women had to join the other female observers like Lady Byron
Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron
Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron was the wife of the poet Lord Byron, and mother of Ada Lovelace, the patron and co-worker of mathematician Charles Babbage.-Name:Her names were unusually complex...
and were not allowed to participate in the convention. Not only was the equality of the sexes debated, but Bradburn said that "introducing any such words as 'Christian,' 'Religious,' and the like, by which persons of any religion whatever, or of no religion whatever, should be excluded from the Anti-Slavery platform.
The portrait of Bradburn which is shown at the top of this article and in Haydon's picture of the 1840 World Anti-Slavery convention was completed in a small room at the Freemasons hall where the convention was held. Bradburn commented that he felt that he had been given "too much severity or sharpness," but Haydon assured him that he looked "revolutionary" when giving his speeches. Bradburn made time after a visit to France to complete a third sitting on August 3, 1840. Bradburn then visited Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, Scotland and Ireland, visiting people he had met at the convention including the Irish Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
and Lady Byron, the mathematician (and the poet's estranged wife).
100 conventions
In 1843 Bradburn accompanied Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
and William A. White on a lecture tour organised by the American Anti-Slavery Society and called "100 conventions." This was not a tour preaching to the converted and he was, subsequently, attacked. Douglass was attacked and his hand broken so badly that he never recovered its full use. Other sources also place Bradburn there at Pendleton
Pendleton, Indiana
Pendleton is a town in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in Indiana on September 16, 1843 when the attack took place.
From 1846 to 1849, Bradburn edited the, "Pioneer and Herald of Freedom" in Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
.
Douglass told a group in Ireland of a story about how Blackburn, who now was nearly completely deaf, was challenged for assuming that ministers could adopt the abolitionists message as they "must live." Bradburn said, "I deny any such necessity — I dispute your premises. I deny that it is necessary for any man to live, unless he can live honestly."
1850
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. The convention was called to order by Sarah H. Earle, and chaired by Paulina Wright Davis of Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
on October 23, 1850. There were 268 delegates, but the vast majority were from Massachusetts. The news of the convention was widely reported, but frequently in a disparaging way. Only four local newspapers were thought to deal with the subject well and one of those was the Lynn Pioneer (which was edited by Bradburn).
In 1851, George and Frances moved to Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
where Bradburn helped to edit the True Democrat, a daily newspaper. After two years he went on lecture tours where he would sometimes speak every night for 26 days. His lectures at this time were not only political but drew on his experiences in Europe in 1840. He was able to use his trip to London as the basis of entertaining and informative lectures.
In 1859, he occupied the pulpit of a Unitarian church in Athol, Massachusetts
Athol, Massachusetts
Athol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,584 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called Pequoiag, the area was first settled by five families in September 1735. When the township was incorporated in 1762, the name was changed to Athol...
and resided there for another two years. He made good friends there and returned to visit ever summer for the next twenty years. He took a job in a customs house which had been organised by his friend Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland. Early in life, Chase was a "firebrand" states-righter and revolutionary...
, but he sadly missed his ability to work. At the end of his life he called out to William A. White, who his wife remembered as a friend from his time lecturing to thousands.
Death
At Bradburn's funeral in 1880, Lysander SpoonerLysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, political philosopher, Deist, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, legal theorist, and entrepreneur of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S...
read a eulogy and was a pallbearer. His wife published his biography in 1883. Lydia Maria Child wrote "Surely in this country, and within this century, no other cause has so tested the moral natures of men and women, as did the anti-slavery cause in its early days: and no one who knew George Bradburn at that time will doing question his right to a high place among the tried and true."