John Goodwyn Barmby | |
|---|---|
 John Goodwyn Barmby | |
| Born | |
| Baptised | 12 November 1820 |
| Died | 18 October 1881(1881-10-18) (aged 60) Yoxford, Suffolk, England |
| Spouses | |
John Goodwyn Barmby (Bapt. 12 November 1820 – 18 October 1881)[1] was an EnglishVictorianutopian socialist thinker. He and his wifeCatherine Barmby (1816/17–1853)[2] were influential supporters ofRobert Owen in the late 1830s and early 1840s before moving into the radicalUnitarian stream ofChristianity in the 1840s. Both had established reputations as staunchfeminists and proposed the addition ofwomen's suffrage to the demands of theChartist movement.
Barmby was born at Yoxford in Suffolk and educated atWoodbridge School. He was involved as an editor, writer, and organiser ofcommunitarian ventures aroundLondon from 1838 to 1848. He is often associated with the growth ofsocialist andutopian projects during the rise of Chartism. He founded a utopian community on theChannel Islands and at times corresponded with radicals includingWilliam James Linton andFriedrich Engels.
Barmby also authored the first attested writing (1841) ofcommunist in English;[3] having translated it fromcommuniste in French while claiming he first spoke the word in 1840 in Paris, France,[4] the same year he went there to meet the advocates ofle communisme as had been written in at least a French article and pamphlet by then, the former byÉtienne Cabet and latter by bothThéodore Dézamy andJean-Jacques Pillot.[5] By his claim, he first discussed "communism" with some followers ofFrançois-Noël Babeuf, describing them as "some of the most advanced minds of the French metropolis".[4] He introduced Engels to the Frenchcommuniste movement.[6] They founded the London Communist Propaganda Society in 1841 and in the same year the Universal Communitarian Association. Barmby founded theCommunist Chronicle, a monthly newspaper later published byThomas Frost. By 1843, the Barmbys had recast their movement as achurch. The term "communism" was used slightly later, but certainly by the 1840s. As Donald F. Busky wrote, "Barmby may have thought that he invented the wordscommunism andcommunist, but he was mistaken ... [I]n all probability [communist andcommunism were in use] by the 1830s or 1840s".[7]
Researchers at Rutgers University explain:
Seeking a richer spiritual life thanOwenite socialism orChartism offered, soon after their marriage Catherine and Goodwyn Barmby founded the Communist Church. Although the church expired in 1849, in the mid-1840s it had more than ten congregations.[8]
Disillusioned with communism, Barmby became involved with Unitarianism in 1848. After leading congregations at Southampton, Topsham, Lympstone and Lancaster, he was minister of Wakefield Unitarian Chapel from 1858 to 1879. He continued to contribute to liberal politics and published poetry and hymns.[9]
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