George Whale (freethinker) explained

George Whale
Birth Date:	25 November 1849
Occupation:	Solicitor, freethinker

George Whale (25 November 1849 – 4 May 1925) was a former English solicitor and freethinker.

Biography

Whale worked as a solicitor in Huntingdon and Woolwich. He was the Mayor of Woolwich (1908–1909) and was a Liberal parliamentary candidate for Marylebone. He was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and member of the Folklore Society, Johnson Club, Omar Khayyam Club, National Liberal Club and Samuel Pepys Club.^{[1] [2]} He lived at York Terrace and had a library of 60,000 books.^{[1] [2]}

Whale was Chairman of the Rationalist Press Association, 1922–1925.^[3]

Whale was a friend of H. G. Wells.^[1] He was married to author Winifred Stephens.^[4]

Whale collapsed and died after giving a speech at the Annual Dinner of the Rationalist Press Association in 1925.^[5]

Publications

• A Fragment on Political Education (1882)
• Greater London and Its Government: A Manual and Yearbook (1888)
• Johnson Club Papers by Various Hands (1899)

Further reading

• Edward Clodd, Clement Shorter and Winifred Stephens Whale. (1926). George Whale 1849–1925. London: Jonathan Cape.

Notes and References

1. Gissing, George; Mattheisen, Paul F; Young, Arthur C. (1995). The Collected Letters of George Gissing: 1897–1899. Ohio University Press. p. 230
2. Waller, Philip. (2006). Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 509.
3. Whyte, Adam Gowans. (1949). The Story of the R.P.A. 1899–1949. London: Watts & Co. p. 93
4. [Frederick James Gould|Gould, Frederick James]
5. Cooke, Bill. (2003). The Gathering of Infidels: A Hundred Years of the Rationalist Press Association. Prometheus Books. p. 85.