ABSTRACT
[Abram Combe (1785–1827) was an Edinburgh tanner and early proponent of Robert Owen’s theories. His conversion to the “new view of society” can be traced back to 1820, when he visited New Lanark with his younger brother George (1788–1858), the leader of the phrenological movement in Britain. One year later, Combe opened the Edinburgh Practical Society, which served as a school, co-operative shop and discussion group for local Owenites, including Archibald Hamilton of Dalzell (see Part 2, Chapter 15). In addition to this practical experiment, Combe sought out to publicise Owen’s “new view”, and especially to defend his unorthodox religious opinions. His Religious Creed of the New System (1823) followed an earlier pamphlet, Address to the Conductors of the Periodical Press upon the Causes of Religious and Political Disputes (1823). Both publications defended Owen with the help of classical deist arguments, which were known, in Combe’s parlance, as “Divine Revelation”. According to Combe, Owen was no infidel, but a secular prophet, whose theories were inspired by the laws of nature, which were themselves the laws of God (Harrison 1969, 104–105). In 1825, Combe established the community, the “First Society of Adherents to Divine Revelation” at Orbiston to put these principles to the test (Harrison 1969, 129; Garnett 1972, 68–73).]
