Thomas Scott (1808–1878) was an English

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

publisher 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 ...

. He is known for a series of books and pamphlets published in the 1860s and 1870s on topics around religion.

Life

Born on 28 April 1808, Scott was brought up in France as 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 ...

. He attended the court of

Charles X of France Charles X (Charles Philippe; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported th ...

. Independently wealthy, he travelled widely, and spent some time with Native Americans. Around 1856 Scott grew dissatisfied with

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

beliefs. In 1862 he started issuing tracts advocating "free enquiry and the free expression of opinion". These were printed at his own expense, and given away mostly to the clergy and intellectuals. Scott made his house a salon for freethinkers. Supporting Charles Voysey, deprived of his living in 1871 and subsequently preaching at St. George's Hall, London, he set up a theistic church in 1870, and moved to

Upper Norwood Upper Norwood is an area of south London, England, within the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borough of Croydon, Croydon, London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth and London Borough of Southwark, Southwark. It is north ...

to be near it. Through Voysey,

Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...

met Scott and his wife in 1872, and encountered the salon. When she separated from her husband in 1873, the Scotts found her a small house in Colby Road, Upper Norwood. Thomas Scott died at Upper Norwood on 30 December 1878. His wife survived him.

Publishing

Between 1862 and 1877 Scott issued, firstly from

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, and later from Norwood, over 200 titles, as pamphlets and books. He also reprinted such works such as

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.

5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S. 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...

's ''Church of England Catechism Examined'' and

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

's ''Dialogues on Natural Religion''. Among the writers who contributed to the series were

Francis Newman Francis Newman ( 1605 – 18 November 1660) was an English colonist in America. He served as Governor of the New Haven Colony from 1658 to 1659. Early life and career Newman was born in England in 1605 and married Mary Newman Street Leete in 1 ...

William Rathbone Greg William Rathbone Greg (1809 – 15 November 1881) was an English essayist. Life Born in Manchester, the son of Samuel Greg, the creator of Quarry Bank Mill, and Hannah Greg, he was brother to Robert Hyde Greg and the junior Samuel Greg. ...

, Robert Willis, Samuel Hinds, Charles Voysey, Moncure D. Conway,

Richard Davies Hanson Sir Richard Davies Hanson (6 December 1805 – 4 March 1876), was the fourth premier of South Australia, from 30 September 1857 until 8 May 1860, and was a chief judge from 20 November 1861 until 4 March 1876 on the Supreme Court of South Aust ...

Marcus Kalisch Marcus Kalisch (or Moritz) (May 16, 1828 – August 25, 1885) was a Jewish scholar born in Treptow, Pomerania, and died in Derbyshire, England. He was educated at Berlin University, where he studied classics, philology, and the Semitic languages ...

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

, Thomas Lumisden Strange, Edward Maitland,

Edward Vansittart Neale Edward Vansittart-Neale (1810–1892) was an English barrister, cooperator, and Christian socialist. Early life and education Edward was born on 2 April 1810 in Bath, one of the eight children of Anne (née Spooner) (1780–1873) and Edwar ...

, Charles Bray, George Gustavus Zerffi, and Robert Rodolph Suffield. The series was ultimately collected in 16 volumes. Scott's contributions to it were not major, but he was an active editor. Scott also saw through the press John Colenso's works on the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

and

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

while the latter was out of the country. He revised ''Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names'', by

Thomas Inman Thomas Inman (27 January 1820 – 3 May 1876) was a house-surgeon to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. In his lifetime he had numerous medical papers published. He was also an amateur mythologist, and wrote ''Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Sym ...

Works

Scott put his name on ''The English Life of Jesus'', 1872, a work thought to have been written in part by

George William Cox George William Cox (Benares, 10 January 1827 – Walmer, 10 February 1902) was a British historian. He is known for resolving the several myths of Greece and the world into idealisations of solar phenomena. The French poet Stéphane Mallarmé has ...

. He also wrote: * ''An Address to the Friends of Free Enquiry and Expression'', 1865 * ''Questions, to which Answers are respectfully asked from the Orthodox'', 1866 * ''A Letter to H. Alford, Dean of Canterbury'', 1869 * ''A Challenge to the Members of the Christian Evidence Society'', 1871 * ''The Tactics and Defeat of the Christian Evidence Society'', 1871 * ''The Dean of Ripon on the Physical Resurrection, 1872'' * ''A Farewell Address'', 1877, in which he stated that "the only true orthodoxy is loyalty to reason, and the only infidelity which merits censure is disloyalty to reason."

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Thomas 1808 births 1878 deaths English publishers (people) British critics of religions