John William Gott

1866 - 4 November 1922

The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy. He was a clothing salesman from Bradford, and led a group called the Freethought Socialist League. He was sentenced four times for publishing antichristian pamphlets. Four months in 1911, two weeks in 1916, four weeks 1917 and finally nine months with hard labour in 1921, which broke his health. The appeal judge stated that his sentence was because a christian "might be provoked to a breach of the peace".


Sources and Links


Facebook John William Gott Memorial Society
Wikipedia biography
BBC On blasphemy law