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British historian, explorer, and philosopher

William Winwood Reade (26 December 1838 – 24 April 1875) was a British historian, explorer, novelist and philosopher. His two best known books, the universal history The Martyrdom of Man (1872) and the novel The Outcast (1875), were included in the Thinker's Library. Reade published one novel under the pseudonym Francesco Abati.

Born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1838, William Winwood Reade was a "scion of a wealthy landed family". Having failed at Oxford University and, despite having composed two novels, "failed in any conventional sense as a novelist", Reade decided to begin geographical exploration. In 1868 Reade secured the patronage of London based Gold Coast trader Andrew Swanzy to journey to West Africa. After failing to get permission to enter the Ashanti Empire, Reade set out north from Freetown to explore the areas past the Solimana capital of Falaba. He was detained in Falaba by the local King Seedwa, who imprisoned him for three months under conditions of physical and mental hardship. Legend has it that King Seedwa set four gruelling tasks for Reade each day of his captivity, all of which Reade completed with aplomb. Though Reade travelled over some unexplored territory, his findings excited little interest among geographers, due mostly to his failure to make accurate measurements of his journey as his sextant and other instruments had been left behind at Port Loko. However, his experiences of West Africa were not entirely lost to science, thanks to his correspondence with Charles Darwin. Darwin subsequently used information given by Reade for his publication The Descent of Man (1871). Soon after Reade's return, he published his The African Sketch Book (1873), an account of his travels that also recommended greater British involvement in West Africa. Reade returned to Africa in 1873 to serve as a correspondent for the Ashanti War, but died not long after. He was buried in Ipsden churchyard, Oxfordshire, close to the family home.

The Martyrdom of Man (1872)— whose summary line reads "From Nebula to Nation"— is a secular, "universal" history of the Western world. Structurally, it is divided into four "chapters" of approximately 150 pages each: the first chapter, "War", discusses the imprisonment of men's bodies, the second, "Religion", that of their minds, the third, "Liberty", is the closest to a conventional European political and intellectual history, and the fourth, "Intellect", discusses the cosmogony characteristic of a "universal history". He uses it to advance the philosophy of political liberalism and social Darwinism. The final section of the book provoked enormous controversy due to Reade's "outspoken attack on Christian dogma" and the book was condemned by several magazines. In 1872 William Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, denounced The Martyrdom of Man as one of several "irreligious works" (the others included work by Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and David Friedrich Strauss).

(1859). Charlotte and Myra: A Puzzle in Six Bits. (1860). Liberty Hall, Oxon. (A Novel)
(1861). The Veil of Isis or Mysteries of the Druids. The Druids. Druidism in Rustic Folklore. Druidism in the Emblems of Freemasonry. Druidism in the Ceremonies of the Church Of Rome. Rites And Ceremonies Of The Druids. Vestiges Of Druidism. The Destruction Of The Druids. Priestesses Of The Druids – Pamphlet. (1864). Savage Africa. (1865). See Saw: A Novel (Written under the pseudonym Francesco Abati). (1872). The Martyrdom of Man. (1873). African Sketch Book. (1874). The Story of the Ashantee Campaign. (1875). The Outcast. (1972). Religion in History.