Did you know that the freethinking poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne, specifically asked that his 1909 funeral at Bonchurch be free from religious ceremony? Or that the first woman to study archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University, humanist Jacquetta Hawkes, lived for years at Brook with her husband J.B. Priestley? Have you ever heard of Dr. Ivor Lloyd Tuckett, who became well-known for debunking the claims of spiritualists and mediums, and who spent his last years at Cowes?

Madeleine's talk draws on research carried out as part of the Humanist Heritage Project which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Project focusses on the history and influence of the non-religious in the UK. Madeleine Goodall is the Humanist Heritage Coordinator for Humanists UK, and their Wikimedian in Residence. Maddy has worked since 2019 to uncover and share the rich history of humanism in the UK.

Pictured above, left: photo of Jacquetta Hawkes and J.B. Priestley, should be credited as: Jacquetta Hawkes; J.B. Priestley by Howard Coster, 1953. NPG x2081 © National Portrait Gallery, London. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.