In
1860, two members of the Sheffield Secular
Society, Charles Bradlaugh, and
Joseph Barker, formed a new journal called the National Reformer.
Bradlaugh and Barker believed that religion was blocking progress
and advocated what they called an atheistic Secularism. The newspaper
advocated a whole range of reforms including universal suffrage and
republicanism.
Sales of the National Reformer reached 5,000 but in 1861 Joseph
Barker left the journal because he disagreed with Bradlaugh's advocacy
of birth control. Bradlaugh became ill in 1863 and John Watts became
the new editor. Charles Bradlaugh returned
in 1866 and soon afterwards helped form the National
Secular Society.
In 1874 met Annie Besant, a member of the
Secular Society in London and an advocate
of women's rights. Bradlaugh recruited Besant to work on the National
Reformer, and over the next few years wrote a series articles
on marriage and the political status of women. In the 1880s Edward
Aveling also contributed a large number of articles on science
and religion.
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