Barbara Mary Smoker (2 June 1923 – 7 April 2020)"Former NSS president Barbara Smoker dies at 96", ''National Secular Society'', 8 April 2020
Retrieved 8 April 2020 was a British

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

and

freethought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

advocate. She was also President of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. The Soc ...

(1972–1996), Chair of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society (now known as Dignity in Dying) (1981–1985) and an Honorary Vice President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Biography

Barbara Smoker was born in

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdivi ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1923 into a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family. She served in the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the World War I, First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in ...

from 1942 to 1945 in southeast Asia. In 1949 she became 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 ...

, inspired by the writing of Hector Hawton, managing director of the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK. The original Rationalist Press ...

and editor of ''

The Humanist ''The Humanist'' is an American bi-monthly magazine published in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1941 by American Humanist Association. It covers topics in science, religion, media, technology, politics and popular culture and provides ethica ...

''. In 1950 Smoker joined the humanist movement when she became a member of the South Place Ethical Society, and the West London Ethical Society. As a volunteer with the Ethical Union (later known as the British Humanist Association and as

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

), she became a close friend of Harold Blackham and worked with him to organise the first World Humanist Congress in London, in 1952, to follow the conference in Amsterdam where

Humanists International Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Fou ...

had been founded. In this time she also worked closely with Ashton Bural, who ran the Progressive League, a humanist campaigning organisation that worked closely with the Ethical Union. She became a popular humanist celebrant at non-religious funerals, wedding ceremonies, gay and lesbian commitments, and baby-namings, as well as a trainer of celebrants for the British Humanist Association. She also wrote the popular children's textbook ''Humanism'', which saw widespread use in schools. Her longest stint in her career as an activist was her tenure as President of the

, spanning nearly 25 years (1972 –1996). In that capacity, she represented atheist and secularist viewpoints in print, on lecture platforms, speaking tours, on radio and television. As well as leading the NSS, she was also active in various social campaigns, such as the abolition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

, legalisation of abortion and for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society; she served as chair of the latter organisation from 1981 to 1985. She claimed to have financed the manufacture of the first Make Love, Not War badges that were popular in Britain during the 1960s. Barbara Smoker became the South Place Ethical Society's last and only female Appointed Lecturer in 1986. As of May 2014, with the death of Dr Harry Stopes-Roe, she became the only living Appointed Lecturer. In 2005 Barbara Smoker received the Distinguished Humanist Service Award from

. She was also awarded Honorary Member of

(formerly the British Humanist Association) at some stage in recognition of her activism. Smoker lived in southeast London and in 2012 was elected the Honorary life president of the South East London Humanist Group in recognition that she was its last surviving founder member. She died in Lewisham Hospital on 7 April 2020, aged 96, from COVID-19.

Publications

*''Good God! a string of verses to tie up the deity'' (1977) B & T, London, *''Atheism on a Soap-Box'' (1985). London:

. *''Humanism'' (2017, 7th edition), Barbara Smoker. G. W. Foote & Co. Ltd. (an introduction to Humanism for secondary education) *''Blackham's Best'' (2007, 3rd edition), edited by Barbara Smoker. Published by British Humanist Association. (Excerpts from the work of Harold John Blackham). *''Freethoughts'' (2002), Barbara Smoker. G.W. Foote & Co. . (Selections of contributions to The Freethinker). *''My Godforsaken Life - Memoir of a Maverick'' (2018) Thornwick Press (autobiography) Editor: *''The Future of our Past: from Ancient Greece to Global Village'', by Harold Blackham (1996). Prometheus Books. Contributor: * * * *

References

* Biography based on an entry i
Rationalist International

External links

Barbara Smoker

National Secular Society

Dignity in Dying
(formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society)
Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (UK)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smoker, Barbara 1923 births 2020 deaths 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists British abortion-rights activists British anti–death penalty activists British anti–nuclear weapons activists British atheism activists British critics of religions British women activists British critics of Christianity Critics of the Catholic Church English anti–nuclear weapons activists English atheists English humanists English women activists Euthanasia activists Former Roman Catholics Freethought writers English LGBTQ rights activists People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society British prison reformers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England

Biography

Publications

See also

References

External links