Charles Bradlaugh's importance in the Victorian Age is as a man of radical ideas and actions, not as a belletrist. According to his obituary in the Yorkshire Evening Post, "His place in the history of the nineteenth century will be very distinct, more distinct, perhaps, than that of any single figure to be met with in its annals." Bradlaugh's most recent biographer, David Tribe, succinctly summarizes the reason for Bradlaugh's profound historical impact: Bradlaugh "laid the foundation of lasting political and social change. He deserves at least a portion of the credit for obtaining the rubber-stamp House of Lords and monarchy, the freedom of speech and publication, the planned families, the television satire, even the 'permissive society'; ... not only did he make myriads of silent converts and marginally stir the great apathetic masses, he forced the opposition to rethink their basic positions and rephrase their apologetics."

Bradlaugh expressed...