There are 3 entries for this date: Georges Clemenceau, Robert Stout and Prosper Merimee.

Portrait by Manet

On this date in 1841, French statesman and journalist Georges Clemenceau was born in France. Clemenceau followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a physician and a freethinker. At 16, he was briefly suspended from school for debating Christianity with a teacher. Clemenceau began writing for Emile Zola's newspaper, Travail, advocating a republic and free speech, and served 63 days in jail in 1862 as a student demonstrator under the reign of Napoleon III. As a foreign correspondent for Le Temps, he went to New York City in 1865. He met his wife-to-be teaching French at a ladies seminary in Connecticut. Clemenceau's book, The Great God Pan (1869), described how superstitions live on under new guises. Clemenceau also translated John Stuart Mill's book, Auguste Comte and Positivism. Returning to France, he became Mayor of Montmartre, served as a member of the Paris Municipal Council (1871-76) and was elected five times to the National Assembly. During an interlude when he left politics, Clemenceau returned to journalism. His newspaper articles, permeated with anti-clericalism and the promotion of rationalism, eventually were bound into 19 volumes. Clemenceau contributed to L'Aurore, and worked tirelessly for the release of Alfred Dreyfuss, writing more than a thousand influential articles about the case. Known as "The Tiger," the politician returned to the Chambre in 1902, became Minister of the Interior, then premier (1906-1909). Clemenceau was again elected Prime Minister in 1917-1920, and was toasted as "Pere Victoire" (Father Victory) at the close of World War I. Clemenceau was a connoisseur of the arts, and a personal friend of Rodin. He was buried, per instructions, with no rites. D. 1929.

On this date in 1844, New Zealand statesman Sir Robert Stout was born in the Shetland Isles, Scotland. He was educated in parish schools, qualified as a student teacher at age 13, then as a surveyor in 1860. Stout emigrated to New Zealand in 1863. After teaching in Dunedin, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He served as a member of the Provincial Council of Otago in 1872, was Provincial Solicitor from 1873-1876, and was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1875 as a Liberal. He served as Attorney General and Minister for Lands and Immigration from 1878-79. He became president of the Dunedin Freethought Association in 1880, and also defended the Auckland Rationalist Association when it was threatened with prosecution for selling its magazine on Sundays. Stout eventually introduced a bill, which passed, reducing Blue Law fines and restrictions. He was often described at New Zealand's version of Charles Bradlaugh, a correspondent, and America's Robert Ingersoll. He was returned to Parliament in 1884, and was Premier, Attorney-General and Minister of Education from 1884-1887. He was knighted in 1886. Stout promoted secondary schools, medical and welfare services, and was sympathetic to the Maori and land reform. He passed the Married Women's Property Act while Prime Minister. During his entire political career he championed a secular educational system. Stout returned to Parliament in time to finally see passage of women's suffrage in 1893, a reform he had promoted. He was appointed Chief Justice, serving from 1899-1926. He was also chancellor of the New Zealand University (1903-1923). When he retired as Chief Justice, Stout was appointed to the Legislative Council, where he immediately defended secular education, which was under attack by religionists seeking to introduce bible reading and prayers in school: "I fear that parliament may set up a little state church to make people morally good . . . it will make them immoral, for it will inaugurate bitterness and ill feeling." He married Anna Paterson Logan, the daughter of social reformers and freethinkers, and they had six children. D. 1930.

On this date in 1803, writer and dramatist Prosper Merimee was born in Paris, France. The son of an artist, Merimee initially studied law, then switched to the humanities. His first play, "Cromwell," was published in 1822, followed by several famed literary "hoaxes," more plays and a travel book. A student of language, Merimee made the first translations into French of many Russian classics. In the 1830s, he was appointed chief of cabinet to two ministers, then inspector-general of historical monuments, where his archaeological interests could be explored. His most famous novella, Carmen, was published in 1845, and later made into an opera by fellow rationalist Georges Bizet in 1869. Merimee was made a senator in 1853 by Eugenie of France, the daughter of his Spanish friend, the Countess of Montigo of Spain. Freethought historians Joseph McCabe, and J.M. Robertson describe Prosper Merimee as an atheist and a rationalist. D. 1870.