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Peace and Harmony

  • Adrian Desmond (author)
Chapter of: Reign of the Beast: The Atheist World of W. D. Saull and his Museum of Evolution(pp. 397–404)
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Title Peace and Harmony
ContributorAdrian Desmond (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0393.20
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0393/chapters/10.11647/obp.0393.20
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightAdrian Desmond
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-05-08
Long abstract

Far from the police raids in London, Owenites now put their faith in a new communitarian idyll, “Harmony”, a thousand-acre estate in Hampshire. It proved anything but harmonious, with failure built in from the first. Money was lavished on its mansion, built in 1841-1842, and a farm and “delightful villa” was purchased, Rose Hill, which was to be Owen’s new home. Bad management, over-spend, crop uncertainties, all contributed to the flop. Once again Saull stepped in; he paid £2,900 to buy up Rose Hill’s deeds. But the whole venture was draining funds from the Halls of Science. To make up, social missionaries were fired, which caused branches to lose local support and eventually collapse. Tawdry infighting, Owen’s departure for America, and the last socialist congress being held ignominiously in a tent in1846, marked the end of Owenism. Saull was left with Rose Hill, which he kept for life.

Page rangepp. 397–404
Print length8 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
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Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0393/chapters/10.11647/obp.0393.20Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0393.20.pdfFull text URL
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0393/chapters/10.11647/obp.0393.20Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0393/ch20.xhtmlFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Adrian Desmond

(author)

Adrian Desmond was educated at University College London and Harvard University, where he was Stephen Jay Gould's first history of science PhD student. He has two MSc's, one in history of science, another in vertebrate palaeontology, and a PhD for his work on radical Victorian evolutionists. For twenty years he was an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London. He is the multi-award-winning author of nine books, which include: The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs, Archetypes and Ancestors: Palaeontology in Victorian London 1850-1875, The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London, Darwin, Huxley: The Devil’s Disciple, Huxley: Evolution’s High Priest, Darwin’s Sacred Cause (with James Moore)

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