Person
Chidley, William James (1860? - 1916)
- Born
- 1860?
Victoria, Australia - Died
- 21 December 1916
Callan Park, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Philosopher
Summary
William Chidley was a philosopher and eccentric who had original theories including one on how to deal with human misery: he recommended vegetarianism, fresh air, sunlight and unrestrictive clothing. He also criticised money-making and class distinction. Another of Chidley's postulates was that there was a "correct" method of sexual intercourse and published a book, The Answer, which he sold in the street. Because of this and because of his bizarre method of dressing he was deemed insane and several times committed to mental hospitals. He also suffered from intermittent spells of alcoholism.
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Published resources
Book Sections
- McInerney, Sally, 'Chidley, William James (1860?-1916), sex reformer and eccentric' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 635-636. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chidley-william-james-5579. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q17308884. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/91596662. Details
- 'Chidley, William James (1860-19161221)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-478566. Details
See also
- Dahlitz, Ray, Secular who's who : a biographical directory of freethinkers, secularists, rationalists, humanists and others involved in Australia's secular movement from 1850 onwards (Balwyn, Victoria: R. Dahlitz, 1994), 192 pp. p.88. Details
Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 5 March 2018