OLL Birthdays & Anniversaries

Each month, to coincide with his/her birthday, we’ll publish a short biography of an author featured in the OLL. Each piece will include some suggestions for further reading, as well as links to related content in the OLL.

Calendar of Anniversaries

Anniversaries of the Births and Deaths of Great Classical Liberal Thinkers and Other Authors in the OLL Collection

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Charles Darwin
(1809-1882)

Origin of Species (1859) in which he put forward the idea that all species evolve over time from common ancestors by a process which he called “natural selection.” It was based upon the evidence…

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859)

Sesquicentennial of the Publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859)

Origin of Species (1859) in which he put forward the idea that all species evolve over time from common ancestors by a process which he called…

Frank Taussig (1859-1940)

Sesquicentennial of the Birth of Frank Taussig
(1859-1940)

Some Aspects of the Tariff Question (1915) became a classic work on modern trade theory. The book is an elaboration of articles which he wrote for the Quarterly…

H.B. Acton (1908-1974)

Centennial of the Birth of H.B. Acton
(1908-1974)

H.B. Acton (1908-1974) taught at Bedford College (London), the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Chicago; was editor of Philosophy, the influential journal of…

J.A. Hobson (1858-1940)

Sesquicentenial of the Birth of J.A. Hobson
(1858-1940)

John A. Hobson (1858-1940) was an historian and economic journalist who was one of the so-called “New Liberals” who emerged at the end of the 19th century. The New…

James Mill, Commerce Defended (1808)

Bicentennial of the Publication of James Mill's Commerce Defended (1808)

James Mill (1773-1836) was an early 19th century Philosophic Radical, journalist, and editor from Scotland. He was very influenced by Jeremy Bentham’s…

Jane Marcet (1769-1858)

Sesquicentenial of the Death of Jane Marcet
(1769-1858)

Jane Marcet (1769-1858) was home-educated and became an author of popular works of chemistry, botany, religion, and economics. Her works on economics (sometimes…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712)

by Peter Mentzel

This month’s featured birthday anniversary is the Swiss-born French philosopher, author, composer, and political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Quincentennial of the Birth of John Calvin
(1509-1564)

The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1537). The ideas advanced in this work became the basis for the church and state Calvin would create in Geneva.

[For further…

John Milton (1608-1674)

John Milton's Quartercentenary
(1608-1674)

John Milton (1608-1674) ranks among the greatest poets of the English language. He is best known for the epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), but he also wrote prose works on history,…

John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859)

Sesquicentennial of the Publication of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1859)

(1859) is regarded as one of the key defences of individual liberty and classical liberal political thought of this period.

[For further reading…

Lord Macaulay (1800-1859)

Sesquicentennial of the Death of Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay
(1800-1859)

Mill's theory of utilitarianism.

[For further reading see 19th Century Utilitarianism]

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

Semiquincentennial of the Birth of Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-1797)

Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France with her Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790). She extended her analysis two years later to defend the…

Samuel Smiles' Self Help (1859)

Sesquicentennial of the Publication of Samuel Smile's Self-Help (1859)

Self Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct (1859) he combines Victorian morality with sound free market ideas into moral tales showing the…

Thomas Clarkson, History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1808)

Bicentennial of the Publication of Thomas Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1808)

After many years of struggle, a group of British abolitionists, including William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson…

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Bicentennial of the Death of Thomas Paine
(1737-1809)

Common Sense (1776) which was an early call for the independence of the American colonies from Britain. His other well known work is The Rights of Man (1791) which was a…

Vattel’s Law of Nations (1758)

Semiquincentennial of the Publication of Emer de Vattel's The Law of Nations (1758)

The Swiss juirist Emer de Vattel (1714-1767) was one of the foremost theorists of natural law in the 18th century. His writings were widely…

Voltaire’s Candide (1759)

Semiquincentennial of the Publication of Voltaire's Candide: ou l'Optimise (1759)

Candide, or Optimism (1759), a “philosophic tale”, is a clever satire of France in the mid-18th century. He makes fun of religious…

William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609)

Quartercentennial of the Publication of Skakespeare's Sonnets (1609)

facsimile version of this edition as well as an HTML version.

[For further reading see Literature]