This bust of Robert Owen is one of five busts which adorn the front of Leicester's Secular Hall. Owen is known as the father of the co-operative movement and in 1839 he gave a series of four lectures in Leicester, supporting the already strong tradition of free thought in the town.
Leicester Secular Society was founded in 1851 and moved to the Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate, in 1881. The other busts on the Hall are Socrates, Jesus Christ, Voltaire, & Thomas Paine. To find out more about the Secular Society, the busts, the campaign to raise money for the Hall, and the list of upcoming speakers, have a look at their website: http://www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/
