Dr Stanton Coit

Dr Stanton Coit (born George Stanton Coit) was born in Columbus, Ohio, USA on 11 August 1857. He was the son of Massachusetts-born dry goods merchant and money broker Harvey Coit and the former Elizabeth Greer, a native of Worthington, Ohio. He had at least four siblings. 

Studying in several prestigious colleges in the USA and also in Berlin, freethinking Coit became interested in philosophy, social ethics and reform. In 1888 he relocated from New York to London where he had a ministership of the South Place Religious Society, later the South Place Ethical Society. Authoring and compiling a number of publications, he also lectured at schools and colleges, speaking out on poverty and social injustice, as well as animal rights. He became founder of, among other societies: University Settlement in New York City; the Union of Ethical Societies in England; the Moral Education League; the Religious Drama League and at least twenty-five other English-based ethical societies. He toured all over Britain, Europe and North America to give his lectures. 

In 1898 he married wealthy German-born widow Fanny Adela Wetzlar née Gans (b. 1864) and they had five daughters: Margaret, Elizabeth, Adela, Gwendolen and Virginia. By 1911 the family lived at 30 Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, London, a household complete with eight servants. 

Following an extensive lecture tour of the USA, Stanton Coit was a first cabin passenger aboard the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic disaster.

In later years Coit continued to tour extensively; widowed in 1932, he divided his time between London and Eastbourne. He died in Eastbourne on 15 February 1944.