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On our way back from Church of Holy Sepulchre, we had lunch at The Charles Bradlaugh (1 Earl Street, Northampton, NN1 3AU), a former shoe factory. It seems to call itself TCB.
We hadn't heard of Charles Bradlaugh. We saw that his statu was round the corner, in Abington Square.
Not many statues have a "Vote for" notice on them! So we looked him up on Wikipedia. "Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891) was an English politician and atheism activist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866. In 1880, Bradlaugh was elected as the Liberal MP for Northampton. His attempt to affirm as an atheist ultimately led to his temporary imprisonment, fines for voting in the House of Commons illegally, and a number of by-elections at which Bradlaugh regained his seat on each occasion. He was finally allowed to take an oath in 1886. Eventually, a parliamentary bill which he proposed became law in 1888, which allowed members of both Houses of Parliament to affirm, if they so wished, when being sworn in. The new law resolved the issue for witnesses in civil and criminal court cases."
An interesting man!
My Facebook Feed immediately told me about a walk round Northampton about "the well-known aetheist" Charles Bradlaugh.
Also, someone from Northampton told me that Northampton would never becme a city because Charles Bradlaugh refused to swear an oath of allegiance!
So Northampton seems (justly) proud of Charles Bradlaugh.
© Jo Edkins 2026