Richard Bithell

Richard Bithell (March 22, 1821 – December 4, 1902) was an English agnostic philosopher and writer.

Richard Bithell
BornMarch 22, 1821
Lewes
DiedDecember 4, 1902
OccupationPhilosopher, writer

Bithell as born at Lewes, Sussex on March 22, 1821.[1] When he was 11, he worked at his father's smithy in Lewes.[2] Due to ill health he later took up teaching. He took courses at the Borough Road Training College to become a teacher of chemistry and mathematics.[2] In 1843, he was appointed master of the British School in Chesterfield. He was transferred to Brighton, Wolverton and London.[2]

Bithell obtained a BSc from London University and a PhD from University of Göttingen.[2] He took interest in philosophy and authored a series of books on agnosticism.[2] From 1865 he worked at the banking house of the Rothschilds until his retirement in 1898.[3] Bithell was a member of the Rationalist Press Association.[4]

Bithell has been cited as one of the few early agnostic popularizers of agnosticism during the late 19th-century.[3]

Selected publications
  • The Creed of a Modern Agnostic (1883)
  • Agnostic Problems (1887)
  • A Handbook of Scientific Agnosticism (1892)

References
  1. "Richard Bithell (1821—1902)". Oxford Reference. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  2. Grayling, A. C; Pyle, Andrew; Goulder, Naomi. (2006). Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 331-332. ISBN 978-1843711414
  3. Lightman, Bernard. Ideology, Evolution and Late-Victorian Agnostic Popularizers. In James R. Moore. (1989). History, Humanity and Evolution: Essays for John C. Greene. Cambridge University Press. pp. 285-310. ISBN 0-521-33511-6
  4. McCabe, Joseph. (1920). A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists. London: Watts & Co. pp. 77-78


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.