Hardinge Gifford Quotes
I say that this is a dirty, filthy book, and the test of it is that no human being would allow that book on his table, no decently educated English husband would allow even his wife to have it…the object of it is to enable a person to have sexual intercourse, and not to have that which in the order of Providence is the natural result of that sexual intercourse. That is the only purpose of the book and all the instruction in the other parts of the book leads up to that proposition.
In 1877 Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh attempted to publish The Fruits of Philosophy in Britain. It was a book on Birth Control. The two were immediately arrested and charged with publishing an ‘obscene’ book. Gifford was the Public Prosecutor. The authors were convicted and sentenced to 6 months in prison. However, they appealed and were exonerated in the appeal. The case was good for Gifford who went on to become Lord Chancellor of Britain. The trial was a strong motivator for Annie Besant to have a very activist career thereafter.
Hardinge Gifford, 1823–1921, 1st Earl of Halsbury, English Solicitor General, Lord Chancellor of Britain, Member of Parliament (Conservative), Explanation of why Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh were arrested and on trial for publishing a book on Birth Control, 1877
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There were few reformers who had such a long, extensive, and activist career in both England and India. She began her career as a minister’s wife but was literally turned out of her house by her husband for whom she was not religiously orthodox enough. This started her religious activism which ended with her as an atheist. She led a match-girl’s strike, founded a Hindu college in India, and was even arrested for pornography in England when she wrote a book advocating birth control. She is on many lists of “Great Indians” along with Gandhi and Nehru. She was Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teacher.
Kenyans were dying in droves from AIDS and the abstinence programs had not stemmed the spread of AIDS.
Addressing a group of religious leaders who were objecting to sex education to reduce teen-age pregnancy:
In Canada the Reform Party is a very culturally conservative party, unlike the American Reform Party which is libertarian.
Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury, PC (3 September 1823 – 11 December 1921) was a British barrister and Conservative politician. He served three times as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, for a total of seventeen years, a record not equaled by anyone except Lords Hardwicke and Eldon.[1]
