In his Reminiscences of Charles Bradlaugh he recalls coming to London in January 1868 with "plenty of health and very little religion". He was taken to Cleveland Hall by a friend, and "heard Mrs. Harriet] Law knock the Bible about delightfully. She was not what would be called a woman of culture, but she had what some devotees of 'culchaw' do not posses-a great deal of natural ability..." A few weeks later Foote heard Charles Bradlaugh speaking at the hall. He became involved with the secularism, freethought and republicanism, joining the Young Men's Secular Association, the National Secular Society, and contributing to Bradlaugh's National Reformer.