George Whale (25 November 1849 – 4 May 1925) was an English

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

, local politician and

freethinker 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 ...

Biography

Whale worked as a solicitor in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

and

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

. He was the Mayor of Woolwich (1908–1909) and was a Liberal parliamentary candidate for

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

. He was a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

and member of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. It wa ...

, Johnson Club, Omar Khayyam Club,

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate f ...

and

Samuel Pepys Club The Samuel Pepys Club is a London club founded in 1903 to do honour to the memory of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament now best known as a diarist. Origin On 26 May 1903, at the Garrick Club in ...

.Gissing, George; Mattheisen, Paul F; Young, Arthur C. (1995). ''The Collected Letters of George Gissing: 1897–1899''.

Ohio University Press Ohio University Press (OUP) is a university press associated with Ohio University. Founded in 1947, it is the oldest and largest scholarly press in the state of Ohio. Ohio University Press is also a member of the Association of University Presses ...

. p. 230Waller, Philip. (2006). ''Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain 1870–1918''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. p. 509. He lived at

York Terrace York Terrace overlooks the south side of Regent's Park in Marylebone, City of Westminster, London, England. York Terrace West is a Grade I listed building. York Terrace East contains Grade II listed buildings. 1–18 York Terrace East is listed a ...

and had a library of 60,000 books. Whale was Chairman 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 ...

, 1922–1925. Whale was a friend of

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

. He was married to author Winifred Stephens. Whale collapsed and died after giving a speech at the Annual Dinner of the Rationalist Press Association in 1925.Cooke, Bill. (2003). ''The Gathering of Infidels: A Hundred Years of the Rationalist Press Association''.

Prometheus Books Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). The publ ...

. p. 85.

Publications

*''A Fragment on Political Education'' (1882) *''Greater London and Its Government: A Manual and Yearbook'' (1888)
''Johnson Club Papers by Various Hands''
(1899)

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading