George Bradburn (March 4, 1806-July 26, 1880), antislavery politician, was a journalist, lecturer, and Unitarian minister. He was a friend and co-worker in the abolitionist cause with William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Frederick Douglass, Richard Hildreth, Lucretia Mott, and Lysander Spooner.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. (August 18, 1807-November 21, 1886), a lifelong Unitarian, was an antislavery politician who later opposed radical reconstruction of the South. As ambassador to Britain during the Civil War he helped to prevent conflict between the United States and Europe.…
Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832-July 18, 1899), briefly a Unitarian minister, was a popular nineteenth-century author of juvenile fiction. His “rags to riches” stories portrayed poor boys in America making good.
Horatio’s parents were Olive Augusta Fenno and Horatio Alger, Sr.,
Gabriel Hojski (ca.1555-1632) and his son Roman Hojski (ca.1585-1635), nobles from Wolyn (Volhynia) in today’s Ukraine and politicians in 16th and 17th century Poland, were patrons and supporters of Arianism (Socinianism or Unitarianism) in their estates. Gabriel Hojski was one of the most devoted and generous benefactors of Arianism in Poland in his time.
Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882-March 11, 1944), a Dutch-American author and illustrator, was the first winner of the Newbery Medal for The Story of Mankind. He was beloved by the public during his lifetime as an engaging, energetic interpreter of the arts and humanities.
(May 16, 1836-December 15, 1913), educator and minister, was the third Unitarian minister to arrive in New Zealand. As a school inspector he influenced educational thought and policy in the Colony. As an educator he often wrote and spoke on religious issues.
Field Marshal Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain (January 10, 1820-February 3, 1902), a significant figure in Britain’s wars on the Indian subcontinent, was the only person to have been appointed to the highest rank in the British Army while a member of a Unitarian church.
Leon Milton Birkhead (April 28, 1885-December 1, 1954), a controversial Methodist and Unitarian minister, achieved national prominence in the 1940s as director of the Friends of Democracy in New York. From the late 1930s through the early 1950s, he battled those, on the right and the left, who spread totalitarian propaganda.
Edvard Grieg (June 15, 1843-September 4, 1907), considered Norway’s greatest composer, was the first to create an internationally celebrated body of musical works inspired by the folk-heritage and culture of Norway. Although most of his compositions were solo songs and short pieces for the piano, he contributed a few enduring Romantic-era classics to the orchestral and chamber repertoires.
Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799-March 4, 1888), educator, philosopher, utopian, and visionary, ran the progressive Temple School in Boston, founded the Fruitlands community in Harvard, Massachusetts, and led many public Socratic “conversations.” Although he belonged to no church, Alcott was influential both in the Transcendentalist wing of Unitarianism and in the Free Religion movement which followed.
Emily Howard Jennings Stowe (May 1, 1831-April 30, 1903), a path-breaking Canadian woman physician and suffragist, led campaigns to provide women access to medical schools and other professional education. Her efforts led to the organization of the woman’s movement in Canada and to the foundation of a medical college for women.
Henry Whitney Bellows (June 11, 1814-January 30, 1882) was minister of the First Congregational Church of New York City (now the Unitarian Church of All Souls), 1838-82. During the Civil War he was president of the United States Sanitary Commission.