O’Toole (Adam Duff), Irish Freethought martyr, burnt to death at Hogging (now College) Green, Dublin, in 1327. Holinshed says he “denied obstinatelie the incarnation of our savior, the trinitie of persons in the vnitie of the Godhead and the resurrection of the flesh; as for the Holie Scripture, he said it was but a fable; the Virgin Marie he affirmed to be a woman of dissolute life, and the Apostolic see erronious.”
“Ouida,” See Ramée (Louise de la).
Ouvry (Henry Aimé), Col., translator of Feuchterslebens, Dietetics of the Soul and Rau’s Unsectarian Catechism, and author of several works on the land question.
Overton (Richard), English Republican, who wrote a satire on relics, 1642, and a treatise on Man’s Mortality (London, 1643, Amsterdam, 1644) a work designed to show man is naturally mortal.
Owen (Robert), social reformer, b. Newton, Montgomeryshire, Wales, 14 March, 1771. At 18 he was so distinguished by his business talents that he became partner in a cotton mill. In 1797 he married the daughter of David Dale, and soon afterwards became partner and sole manager at New Lanark Mills, where he built the first infant schools and improved the dwellings of the workmen. From 1810–15 he published New Views on Society, or, Essays on the Formation of Character. In ’17 he caused much excitement by proclaiming that the religions of the world were all false, and that man was the creature of circumstances. In ’24 he went to America and purchased New Harmony, Indiana, from the Rappists to found a new community, but the experiment was a failure, as were also others at Orbiston, Laner, and Queenswood, Hants. In ’28 he debated at Cincinatti with Alex. Campbell on the Evidences of Christianity. He published a numerous series of tracts, Robert Owen’s Journal, and The New Moral World, ’35. He debated on his Social System with the Rev. J. H. Roebuck, R. Brindley, etc. As his mind began to fail he accepted the teachings of Spiritism. Died Newton, 17 Nov. 1858. Owen profoundly influenced the thought of his time in the direction of social amelioration, and he is justly respected for his energy, integrity and disinterested philanthropy.
Owen (Robert Dale), son of the above, b. Glasgow 9 Nov. 1800. Was educated by his father till 1820, when he was sent to Fellenberg’s school, near Berne, Switzerland. In ’25 he went to America to aid in the efforts to found a colony at New Harmony, Indiana. On the failure of that experiment he began with Frances Wright, in Nov. ’28, the publication of the Free Inquirer, which was continued till ’32. In that year he had a written discussion with O. Bachelor on the existence of God, and the authenticity of the Bible, in which he ably championed the Freethought cause. He wrote a number of tracts of which we mention Situations, 1839; Address on Free Inquiry, 1840; Prossimo’s Experience, Consistency, Galileo and the Inquisition. He was elected to Congress in ’43. After fifteen years of labor he secured the women of Indiana independent rights of property. He became charge d’affaires at Naples in ’53. During the civil war he strongly advocated slave emancipation. Like his father he became a Spiritualist. Died at Lake George, 17 June, 1877.
Paalzow (Christian Ludwig), German jurist, b. Osterburg (Altmark), 26 Nov. 1753, translated Voltaire’s commentaries on The Spirit of the Laws and Burigny’s Examination of the Apologists of Christianity (Leipzic, 1793), and wrote a History of Religious Cruelty (Mainz, 1800). Died 20 May, 1824.
Paepe (Cesar de). See [De Paepe].
Pagano (Francisco Mario Saverio Antonio Carlo Pasquale). Italian jurist, philosopher and patriot, b. Brienza, 1748. He studied at Naples, and became the friend of Filangieri. Was made professor of criminal law in 1787. For his Political Essays in three volumes (1783–92) he was accused of Atheism and impiety. He wrote on Criminal Process and a work on God and Nature. Taking part in the Provisional Government of the Neapolitan Republic in 1791, he was taken prisoner by the royalists and executed 6 Oct. 1800.
Page (David). Scotch geologist, b. 29 Aug. 1814. Author of introductory and advanced text-books of geology, which went through many editions. He gave advanced lectures in Edinburgh, and edited Life Lights of Song, ’64. His Man Where, Whence, and Whither?, ’67, advocating Darwinian views, made some stir in Scotland. He became professor of geology at Durham University. A friend of Robert Chambers, he was for some time credited with that writer’s Vestiges of Creation, in the scientific details of which he assisted. Died at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 9 March, 1879.