Born at
Largs,
Ayrshire, on 23 February 1812, he was eldest son of John Maccall, a tradesman, and his wife Elizabeth Murdoch. He was intended for the Presbyterian ministry of the
Secession Church, and entered
Glasgow University in 1827, graduating M.A. in 1833.
George Harris was an early influence. He then passed two years in a theological academy at
Geneva, but, convinced by Unitarianism, he joined its ministry. He took a position at
Greenock, obtained for him by Harris. Maccall officiated at
Bolton,
Lancashire (1837–1840), where he was a
Chartist opposed to
Feargus O'Connor. He had taken on the Moor Lane Chapel congregation founded by Harris, but it dwindled away. He was then at
Crediton in
Devon (1841–6). Coming to London in 1846, Maccall lived first at 4 Carburton Street, and preached, lectured, and wrote for the press.
John Stuart Mill gave him introductions to
The Spectator and
The Critic; he wrote also for the ''
Gentleman's Magazine. He used the pseudonym Atticus, reviewing Ralph Waldo Emerson in The Critic'' in 1860. In January 1854, Maccall established the Brotherhood of the Religious Life and took on the role of president. This association was founded upon three principles: "1. That there is a God; 2. That the religious sentiment is eternal; 3. That God supplied the religious sentiment in all ages with suitable and sufficient food." The main object of Brotherhood meetings, which ceased in the mid-1860s, was to "To cultivate and feed the sense of the divine life and the divine love in each brother's soul." The Brotherhood sought to do this by meeting on Sunday mornings to contemplate the lives of holy men and study sacred, mystical, devotional, and philosophical books from across the world. Members were expected to endeavour to be "a living gospel in the midst of men." Later Maccall lived in the suburbs of London, and in 1861 settled at
Bexley Heath. Also in 1864 he was writing in the
National Reformer, to advocate a National Land League. In the late 1870s he was a frequent contributor of prose and poetry to
The Secular Chronicle, edited by
Harriet Law. An autobiographical sketch accompanied by a portrait appeared on the front page of
The Secular Chronicle in 1878, with a note from Harriet T. Law praising "his brilliant abilities, his brave and noble life, and his long and honourable connection with the Secular Party". However, Timothy Larsen has identified some ambivalence towards Maccall within the freethought circle around
George Holyoake, which placed him as a
pantheist, rather than an
atheist. Maccall died on 19 November 1888. He had had constant financial troubles. ==Works==