CONGREVE, RICHARD

born Sept. 4, 1818, Leamington, Warwickshire, Eng. died July 5, 1899, London Positivist philosopher, a disciple of Auguste Comte and founder of the Church of Humanity in London. In 1878 he caused a schism among Positivists by repudiating the authority of Comte's successor, Pierre Laffitte. Afterward Congreve was especially concerned with the ceremonial elaboration of the Positivist religion. His Positivist writings include The New Religion in Its Attitude Toward the Old (1859), Essays, Political, Social and Religious, 3 vol. (18741900), Human Catholicism (187677), and translations from Comte. He also wrote some historical works (collected ed., Historical Lectures, 1900), a translation of Aristotle's Politics (1855), and occasional notes on current affairs, including pamphlets urging the British to evacuate Gibraltar and India.