Move over, John Stuart Mill! 20 May might be the birthday of that great humanist philosopher, but this event will shine the spotlight squarely on the formidable Harriet Taylor Mill. Join Madeleine Goodall and Professor Helen McCabe as we dive into Taylor Mill's profound philosophical legacy, highlighting the groundbreaking new research that finally recognizes her as a co-author of the iconic text On Liberty.

Professor Helen McCabe works on John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor's socialism and feminism, and on their writing relationship, as well as on Harriet Taylor as a philosopher in her own right. Helen's 2021 John Stuart Mill, Socialist explored Mill's statement, in his Autobiography, that he and Harriet Taylor were 'under the general designation of Socialists' by the mid-1840s, as well as her (supposed) influence on his economic thought. Helen has also written a Cambridge Element (2023) on Harriet Taylor.

Most recently, Helen has been part of an international interdisciplinary team exploring the authorship of On Liberty, which has led to a new edition (Hackett, 2026) which, for the first time in English, includes Harriet Taylor as co-author of this foundational text in political philosophy. Helen works at the University of Nottingham, where she also uses insights from Mill and Taylor's feminism to inform work on forced marriage and modern slavery in the Rights Lab.

Madeleine Goodall is Humanist Heritage Manager at Humanists UK.