L. Gordon Rylands

British criminologist and writer

Katherine Edwards

(m. 1887)

Children1FatherPeter RylandsRelativesPeter Rylands (brother)
Dadie Rylands (nephew)Writing careerGenreCrime, Christianity

Louis Gordon Rylands (10 July 1862 – 20 December 1942), best known as L. Gordon Rylands was a British criminologist and writer.

Biography

Rylands was born in Warrington, Lancashire. His father was the politician Peter Rylands.^[1] He was educated at Charterhouse and University College London (B.A., B.Sc). After completing his studies, he was secretary of the family business, Rylands Brothers wire manufacturers, from 1884 to 1887, then from 1897 to 1898 was science master at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked as a private tutor from 1898 to 1924. At the time of his death he was assistant registrar of Grimes's Manchester Tutorial College.^[2] In 1887, he married Katherine Edwards; they had a daughter. Rylands was an uncle of the academic Dadie Rylands.^[3]

Rylands authored the book Crime: Its Causes and Remedy (1889).^[4]^[5] Rylands was best known as an advocate of the Christ myth theory. He denied the historicity of Jesus.^[6]^[7]

Publications

Crime: Its Causes and Remedy (1889)
Correspondence and Speeches of Mr. Peter Rylands (Volume 1, Volume 2, 1890)
Croesus, King of Lydia: A Drama (1902)
The Evolution of Christianity (1927)
A Critical Analysis of the Four Chief Pauline Epistles: Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians (1929)
Did Jesus Ever Live? (1935)
The Christian Tradition: An Examination of Objections to the Opinion that Jesus Was Not an Historical Person (1937)
The Beginnings of Gnostic Christianity (1940)^[8]

References

^ "The Man of Philanthropy, Politics and Clogs". Warrington Museum & Art Gallery.
^ Who was Who: A companion to Who's Who, A. & C. Black, 1967, pg 1015
^ Who was Who: A companion to Who's Who, A. & C. Black, 1967, pg 1015
^ P. S. R. (1890). Reviewed Work: Crime; Its Nature, Causes, Treatment, and Prevention by Sanford M. Green. Harvard Law Review 3 (8): 383.
^ Falkner, Roland P. (1889). Reviewed Works: Penological and Preventive Principles, with Special Reference to Europe and America, etc. by William Tallack; Crime, its Causes and Remedy by L. Gordon Rylands. Political Science Quarterly 4 (2): 348-350.
^ McCabe, Joseph. (1950). A Rationalist Encyclopaedia: A Book of Reference on Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Science. Watts & Co. p. 334. "In England the philosophic writer T. Whittaker, and L. G. Rylands, supported Robertson in denying the historicity of Jesus."
^ Hawton, Hector. (1971). Controversy: The Humanist/Christian Encounter. Pemberton Books. p. 173
^ Marcus, Ralph. (1942). Reviewed Work: The Beginnings of Gnostic Christianity by L. Gordon Rylands. Jewish Social Studies 4 (2): 172-173.