Sunday 14th September 6.30pm- Leicester's Victorian Infidels

Ned Newitt Ned will look at Leicester’s early Victorian ‘heretics’ and ‘infidels.’ He traces the history of the irreligious in Leicester from the supporters of Richard Carlile’s ‘seditious’ press, through Robert Owen's socialists to the secularists of the 1850s. The talk shows how Leicester's hall of science, the 'Social Institution,' outraged religious opinion. It looks at how the infidels’ fight for free speech and freedom of conscience was bound up with the wider movement for political reform and the right to vote. He also examines the conflict between the Evangelising clergy and local radicals and freethinkers.   Ned was born in Southend-on-Sea in 1946. He studied at Cardiff College of Art and came to Leicester in 1971. From 1984-2003, he was a Leicester City Councillor. He is a long standing member of the Society and is the current Chair.   Ned has written several books, most relating to the history of Leicester, including -   The Secular Hall - A History The Anthology of Leicester Chartist Song, Poetry & Verse  The Slums of Leicester  My London Bomb Squad: An Eye Witness Account of Bomb Disposal During the London Blitz A People's History of Leicester Leicester's Victorian Infidels: A History of Rationalism & Secularism in Leicester 1830-1867   All welcome - admission free . Tea & biscuits. Donations welcome.