The Chief Humanitarians of the Nineteenth Century, by Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace : Alfred Wallace : A. R. Wallace :
Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)

The Chief Humanitarians of the
Nineteenth Century (circa October 1907)

Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: In late 1907 Wallace was contacted by the Editor of Altruria, a New York magazine, and asked to submit a list of his favorite ten humanitarians of the nineteenth century for a special issue they were planning. Wallace acceded, but the magazine apparently folded before the project could reach print. Both the request letter and the one page handwritten manuscript from which this transcription is drawn are part of the Alfred Russel Wallace collection at the Natural History Museum (London), items WP1/8/218. (I have determined since writing the preceding that it did appear in print, in the August 1908 issue of The Medico-Pharmaceutical Guide and Critic.) To link directly to this page, connect with: http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/Altruria.htm

The Chief Humanitarians of the Nineteenth Century,
in the opinion of Alfred Russel Wallace

1. Robert Owen, of New Lanark, the truest philanthropist, one of the wisest and most practical of workers.

2. Leo Tolstoy, a grand writer, and perhaps the only true follower of Christ.

3. Edward Bellamy, the first and best expounder of theoretical and practical Socialism.

4. Robert Blatchford, the greatest English exponent of Socialism and Humanity.

5. Elizabeth Fry, the great Prison reformer.

6. John Ruskin, the great prose poet and ideal Socialist.

7. Shelley, the poet of freedom and nature.

8. Walt Whitman, the poet and friend of Man.

9. William Watson, the poet of international Justice.

10. Edwin Markham, the poet of Brotherhood.

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