He advocated for a number of causes, including sex reform, freethought, secularism, eugenics, animal rights, vegetarianism, and free love.

[12] On 31 May 1898, Bedborough was arrested, along with the sex-radical feminist Lillian Harman and charged with obscenity for attempting to "corrupt the morals of Her Majesty's Subjects".

2, a book on homosexuality, by Havelock Ellis, to an undercover agent, as well as selling other pamphlets considered to be indecent, including one by Oswald Dawson, the founder of the Legitimation League.

[16] A Free Speech Defence Committee was formed to attempt to fight the case; members included Henry Seymour, Frank Harris, Edward Carpenter, George Bernard Shaw, G. W. Foote, Mona Caird and Grant Allen.

[18] He agreed to no longer be associated with the League or The Adult,[17] writing in the December issue "I adhere to my resolution not to excuse myself.

[23] Bedborough wrote extensively for the magazine, aiming to instill empathy and kindness in young readers, drawing parallels between the suffering of animals and oppressed humans.

His stories and essays highlighted the emotional connections between humans and animals, critiquing societal cruelty and promoting respect for all living beings, though his views were shaped by the imperialist norms of his time.

[21]: 106–109 In the story "The Isle of Vegetariana", featured in The Children's Realm in September 1913, Bedborough narrates an allegory centred on animal welfare and vegetarian ethics.

The tale unfolds on an island inhabited solely by animals, discovered or perhaps imagined by an unnamed elderly man.

[25] Bedborough published The Atheist in 1919, a poem which advocated for atheism and was critical of the killing of animals for human consumption.

[26] During the 1920s and 30s, Bedborough reconnected with the secular movement, writing for The Freethinker, he published an attack on the Ku Klux Klan in 1936 and a reflection on Havelock Ellis after his death in 1939.

[29] In 1927, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago and applied to be naturalised, with his occupation listed as "author and literary advisor"; his wife was recorded as living in Mayville, Wisconsin.