Frederic Harrison was born in 1831, the son of a wealthy London merchant. As a man of considerable means, he was able to support himself in his endeavours and, despite being called to the Bar in 1858, expended most of his working energies on his writing; he was, however, always involved in legal reform and study. He had arrived at Wadham College, Oxford a devout Catholic, but left that home of Richard Congreve and English positivism dedicated to scientistic and rational philosophy. Amongst his most important intellectual influences were Thomas Arnold, George Grote and J. S. Mill.

When the positivists split in 1878, Harrison was one of the leaders of the anti-Congreve faction that went on to dominate the English Positivist Committe

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First published 21 March 2002

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