Edmund Sidney Pollock Haynes (26 September 1877 – 5 January 1949), best known as E. S. P. Haynes was a British lawyer and writer.

Biography

The son of a London solicitor, Haynes was a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar is a foundation scholar (elected on the basis of good academic performance and usually qualifying for reduced fees) of one of certain public schools. These include Eton College; The King's School, Canterbury; The King's School ...

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

and a winner of a

Brackenbury Scholarship Hannah Brackenbury (1795–1873) was an English philanthropist. She was unmarried and had inherited wealth from James Brackenbury, a solicitor from Manchester, England, who had made money through involvement with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rai ...

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

. John Moore later said that Haynes at Oxford was "witty, polished, ndbrilliant". Haynes formed a close friendship with Edward Thomas, who recorded in his diary (22 February 1899): "I like Haynes & yet detest the brilliant, vicious society at Balliol. Haynes himself is utterly immoral; but still with many fine feelings & purposes, I think..." Haynes practised as a lawyer in the same offices at 9 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, where his father had practised. A prolific author, he was a well-known figure in London's literary circles from 1900 to his death in 1949. His daughter was novelist Renée Haynes.

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. ...

's 1912 work ''

The Servile State ''The Servile State'' is a 1912 book by Hilaire Belloc, primarily a history of capitalism in Europe, and a repudiation of the convergence of big business with the state. Belloc lays out two alternatives: distributism and collectivism. Overview ...

'' is dedicated to Haynes.W. H. Greenleaf, ''The British Political Tradition, Volume Two: The Ideological Heritage'' (London: Methuen, 1983), p. 95. In ''The Decline of Liberty in England'' (1916), Haynes lamented the growth of a "vast and irresponsible bureaucracy" and the decline in respect for personal rights by the state, the press and public opinion. He said that the state should run

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or adminis ...

but rejected the way in which "from modern Berlin Mr Lloyd George and his friends have imported their experiments in establishing the Servile State". He also advocated the decriminalisation of

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

.'Books', ''The English Review'', ed. Austin Harrison (September 1916), p. 287. He ended the book with a dystopian view of England's collectivist future. '' The English Review'' said in its review: "Mr. Haynes is a rational anarchist, or shall we say an anarchistic rationalist? It is not a bad configuration, and when he lets fly he is good reading, pleasingly fermentative, ardently cynical, almost religiously personal. He dislikes virginity, he disdains fidelity. Altogether a stimulant, for Mr. Haynes is a palpable man".

Skepticism

Haynes was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He was also a rationalist, his book ''The Belief in Personal Immortality'' (1913) was skeptical of the claims of psychical research and life after death. McCabe, Joseph. (1950). ''A Rationalist Encyclopaedia: A Book of Reference on Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Science''. Watts. p. 311

Publications

*''Standards of Taste in Art'' (1904). *''

Religious Persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or their lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within societies to alienate o ...

, a Study in Political Psychology'' (1904; popular edition, 1906).
''Early Victorian and Other Papers''
(1908).
''Divorce Problems of To-Day''
(1912).
''The Belief in Personal Immortality''
(1913 and 1925). *''A Study in Bereavement, a Comedy in One Act'' (1914). *''Divorce as it might be'' (1915).
''The Decline of Liberty in England''
(1916).
''Personalia''
(1918 and 1927).
''The Case for Liberty''
(1919). *''Concerning Solicitors'' (1920). *''The Enemies of Liberty'' (1923). *''Fritto Misto'' (1924). *''Lycurgus or The Future of Law'' (1925). *''Much Ado about Women'' (1927). *''A Lawyer's Notebook'' (1932). *''More from a Lawyer's Notebook'' (1933). *''The Lawyer's Last Notebook'' (1934). *''Divorce and its Problems'' (with Derek Walker-Smith, 1935). *''Life, Law, and Letters'' (1936).

Biography

Skepticism

Publications

References

Further reading