Author Description

Moses B. Cotsworth, a grey-bearded, seventy-one-year-old, was more than hopeful as he entered the League of Nations, on 12th October 1931. Over thirty years after the start of his one-man campaign for a thirteen-month calendar, and following a decade on the road away from his family, his dream of an international conference on calendar reform was being realised. Over forty countries were present to debate his plan. His goals were ambitious. Early life in a farm labourer’s hovel and a charity school for destitute boys inspired him to dedicate his life to relieving hardship. He believed that his Yearal calendar would unite the world while helping businesses to prosper and the poverty-stricken to thrive. His often-outspoken philanthropy resulted in redundancy and, after his emigration to British Columbia, forced him to face assault, burglary and manufactured court cases as the authorities fought to silence him. But Cotsworth never gave up the battle for his calendar or for what he thought was right, although his self-imposed mission strained his family life, cost him his life-savings and almost his liberty.