Moral Instruction in the Provinces: F.J. Gould in Leicester

Abstract

In this chapter Wright examines the activities of F. J. Gould in Leicester from 1899 to 1910. While employed as Organiser at the Leicester Secular Society (LSS), Gould was elected to Leicester’s School Board and Town Council. He promoted a programme of non-theological moral instruction in the town’s elementary schools, drawing on support from secularists, Labour allies, and a few liberal Christians. Gould’s proposals for moral instruction lessons were adopted. He also aimed to reform the educational activities of LSS itself. But teachers and many local Christians were critical, while Gould’s increasing sympathy for the Positivism of Auguste Comte alienated fellow LSS members. Wright’s analysis thus reveals both alliances and divisions between secularists and Christians, and within secularism and Christianity too.