Annie Besant broke with Christianity and separated from her husband in 1873 and quickly affiliated herself with various social causes. She wrote extensively on and actively organized in support of atheism, Irish Home Rule, women’s rights, birth control, socialism, workers’ rights, Malthusianism, and secular education. With Charles Bradlaugh she republished a foundational book about birth control and faced prosecution under obscenity laws in Victorian England. As a member of the London School Board, she sought free secular education, free meals, and free medical exams for poor children. An essay she wrote exposing the harsh working conditions in a match factory led to the Match Girls’ Strike, and she subsequently helped the workers organize a trade union.
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