The life-size,
bronze statue sits atop a Portland stone plinth. The plinth has the name 'John
Stuart Mill' carved on the top front edge but it is very difficult to read as
the stone has
weathered.
The statue shows
Mill seated, wearing a calf length coat. The coat is buttoned up. His feet, in
shoes or boots, are placed flat on the ground with his knees parted. His right
arm is resting on the back of the chair and his left hand is resting on his left
knee. He is bareheaded and that reveals that he is bald towards the front of the
head. He is looking directly ahead and slightly to the right. A cravat fills the
space between his coat
lapels.
The Spartacus
Educational website (visit link) tells of
Mill:
"John Stuart Mill, the eldest son of the
philosopher, James Mill, was born in London on 20th May, 1806. Educated a home
by his father, John Stuart had studied the works of Aristotle, Plato, Jeremy
Bentham, Thomas Hobbes, David Ricardo and Adam Smith by the time he had reached
the age of twelve.
Mill was
especially impressed by the work of Jeremy Bentham. He agreed with Bentham when
he argued in Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789),
that the proper objective of all conduct and legislation is "the greatest
happiness of the greatest number". Mill became a Utilitarian and at the age of
seventeen formed a discussion group called the Utilitarian
Society.
Mill also
began having articles published in the Westminster Review, a journal founded by
Jeremy Bentham and James Mill to propagate Radical views. John Stuart Mill also
wrote for other newspapers and journals including the Morning Chronicle and
Parliamentary History & Review. Jeremy took an active role in the campaign
for parliamentary reform, and was one of the first to suggest that women should
have the same political rights as men.
In an article
in the Westminster Review in 1824 Mill revealed his commitment to women's
equality. He disagreed with his father, James Mill, who had argued that women
did not need the vote. He also supported the views of William Thompson, whose
book, Appeal of One Half the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the
Other Half, Men, to Retain Them in Political, and thence in Civil and Domestic
Slavery, was published in 1825.
In 1830 John
Stuart Mill became a close friend of Harriet Taylor. Taylor was attracted to
Mill, the first man she had met who treated her as an intellectual equal. Mill
was impressed with Taylor and asked her to read and comment on the latest book
he was working on. Over the next few years they exchanged essays on issues such
as marriage and women's rights. Those essays that have survived reveal that
Taylor held more radical views than Mill on these subjects. She argued: "Public
offices being open to them alike, all occupations would be divided between the
sexes in their natural arrangements. Fathers would provide for their daughters
in the same manner as their sons."
Harriet Taylor
was attracted to the socialist philosophy that had been promoted by Robert Owen
in books such as The Formation of Character (1813) and A New View of Society
(1814). In her essays Taylor was especially critical of the degrading effect of
women's economic dependence on men. Taylor thought this situation could only be
changed by the radical reform of all marriage laws. Although Mill shared
Taylor's belief in equal rights, he favoured laws that gave women equality
rather than independence.
In 1833
Harriet negotiated a trial separation from her husband. She then spent six weeks
with Mill in Paris. On their return Harriet Taylor moved to a house at
Walton-on-Thames where John Start Mill visited her at weekends. Although Harriet
Taylor and Mill claimed they were not having a sexual relationship, their
behaviour scandalized their friends. As a result, the couple became socially
isolated.
John Roebuck
later argued: "My affection for Mill was so warm and so sincere that I was hurt
by anything which brought ridicule upon him. I saw, or thought I saw, how
mischievous might be this affair, and as we had become in all things like
brothers, I determined, most unwisely, to speak to him on the subject. With this
resolution I went to the India House next day, and then frankly told him what I
thought might result from his connection with Mrs. Taylor. He received my
warnings coldly, and after some time I took my leave, little thinking what
effect my remonstrances had produced. The next day I again called at the India
House. The moment I entered the room I saw that, as far he was concerned, our
friendship was at an end. His manner was not merely cold, but repulsive; and I,
seeing how matters were, left him. His part of our friendship was rooted out,
nay, destroyed, but mine was untouched."
In 1834 Mill
founded the Radical journal, The London Review with William Molesworth. Two
years later, Mill purchased the Westminster Review and merged the two journals.
As proprietor of the Westminster Review, Mill used the journal to support those
politicians such as Thomas Wakley, Joseph Brotherton, Thomas Duncombe and Thomas
Attwood, who were advocating further reform of the House of
Commons.
After the
death of John Taylor in 1849, Mill married Harriet Taylor. A few months after
the wedding the Westminster Review published The Enfranchisement of Women.
Although the article had been mainly written by Taylor, it appeared under John
Stuart Mill's name. The same happened with the publication of an article in the
Morning Chronicle (28th August, 1851) where they advocated new laws to protect
women from violent husbands. A letter written by Mill in 1854 suggests that
Harriet Taylor was reluctant to be described as joint author of Mill's books and
articles. "I shall never be satisfied unless you allow our best book, the book
which is to come, to have our two names on the title page. It ought to be so
with everything I publish, for the better half of it all is
yours".
John Stuart
Mill had always favoured the secret ballot but Harriet Taylor disagreed and
eventually changed her husband's views on the subject. Taylor feared that people
would vote in their own self-interest rather than for the good of the community.
She believed that if people voted in public, the exposure of their selfishness
would shame them in voting for the candidate who put forward policies that were
in the interests of the majority.
After reading
a copy of Thomas Hare's book on democracy John Stuart Mill also became a strong
supporter of proportional representation. In his autobiography Mill described
this as a "great practical and philosophical idea, the greatest improvement of
which the system of representative government is susceptible."
Harriet Taylor
suffered from tuberculosis and while in Avignon, seeking treatment for this
condition in November, 1858, died. Helen Taylor decided to give up her desire to
become an actress and devoted herself to caring for her step-father, acting both
as his housekeeper and secretary. She also helped him to finish The Subjection
of Women. The two worked closely together for the next fifteen years. In his
autobiography Mill wrote that "Whoever, either now or hereafter, may think of me
and my work I have done, must never forget that it is the product not of one
intellect and conscience but of three, the least considerable of whom, and above
all the least original, is the one whose name is attached to
it."
Mill wrote a
large number of books on philosophy and economics. This includes: A System of
Logic (1843), Principles of Political Economy (1848), On Liberty (1859),
Considerations on Representative Government (1861) and Utilitarianism
(1861).
In the 1865
General Election John Stuart Mill was invited to stand as the Radical candidate
for the Westminster seat in Parliament. Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies and
Bessie Rayner Parkes were enthusiastic supporters of his campaign as he spoke in
favour of women having the vote. One politician campaigning against Mill claimed
that "if any man but Mr Mill had put forward that opinion he would have been
ridiculed and hooted by the press; but the press had not dared to do so with
him."
John Stuart
Mill won the seat. The Times commented: "The very circumstances that this
eminent writer declared his most controverted opinions in his address, and in
his subsequent speeches, makes his return the more significant. Hundreds who
voted for Mr Mill probably disagreed with him philosophically, and a still
greater number politically. But it is creditable to the electors, and a hopeful
sign for the metropolitan boroughs, that Westminster people will rather have a
man who thinks for himself, even though his conclusions may be different from
their own."
In the House
of Commons Mill campaigned with Henry Fawcett and Peter Alfred Taylor for
parliamentary reform and in 1866 presented the petition organised by Barbara
Bodichon, Emily Davies, Elizabeth Garrett and Dorothea Beale in favour of
women's suffrage. Mill, added an amendment to the 1867 Reform Act that would
give women the same political rights as men.
During the
debate on Mill's amendment, Edward Kent Karslake, the Conservative MP for
Colchester, said in the House of Commons that the main reason he opposed the
measure was that he had not met one woman in Essex who agreed with women's
suffrage. Lydia Becker, Helen Taylor and Frances Power Cobbe, decided to take up
this challenge and devised the idea of collecting signatures in Colchester for a
petition that Karslake could then present to parliament. They found 129 women
resident in the town willing to sign the petition and on 25th July, 1867,
Karslake presented the list to parliament. Despite this petition the Mill
amendment was defeated by 196 votes to 73.
Mill's attacks
on colonialism in the West Indies made him unpopular and he was defeated in the
1868 General Election. After leaving the House of Commons, Mill was now able to
finish off the book he had been writing for some time, The Subjection of Women
(1869).
Frances Power
Cobbe commented that Mill's attitude towards Helen was "beautiful to witness,
and a fine exemplification on his own theories of the rightful position of
women". As well as helping Mill with his books and articles, Helen Taylor was
active in the women's suffrage campaign. In December 1868, Mill and his
step-daughter, resigned from the Manchester National Society in protest against
the leadership of Lydia Becker.
Mill retained
his interest in women's suffrage and on 7th October 1869, he wrote: "The cause
has now reached a point at which it has become extremely desirable that the
ladies who lead the movement should make themselves visible to the public, their
very appearance being a refutation of the vulgar nonsense talked about women's
rights women."
Although he
was in favour of universal suffrage he was against it being mixed with women's
suffrage. He wrote to Charles Dilke on 28th May 1870: "Women's suffrage has
quite enemies enough, without adding to the number all the enemies of universal
suffrage. To combine the two questions would practically suspend the fight for
women's equality, since universal suffrage is sure to be discussed almost solely
as a working men's question: and when at last victory, comes, there is sure to
be a compromise, by which the working men would be enfranchised without the
women."
John Stuart
Mill died on 8th May, 1873."