VegSocUK Information Sheet THE VEGETARIAN SOCIETY (UK) DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOVEMENT At various times throughout the history of humankind, people have registered their opposition to the cruel way in which animals are oppressed, and many have turned to a vegetarian way of life. For both ethical and economic reasons, countless millions of people throughout the world live on a vegetarian diet. A number of religions and beliefs have lent support to vegetarianism. Brahminism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism all advocated an abstention from flesh foods. More recently, the Seventh Day Adventists and The Order of the Cross have advocated a vegetarian diet and many Hindus and some Roman Catholic groups adhere to a vegetarian diet. Early ideas Some early writers express their opposition to meat eating in no uncertain terms. Plutarch stated: "I am astonished to think what appetite first induced man to taste of a dead carcass or what motive could suggest the notion of nourishing himself with the flesh of animals which he saw, just before, bleating, bellowing, walking, and looking about them." Ovid, in the fifteenth book of his "Metamorphoses", puts into the mouth of Medea a forcible disquisition upon the Golden Age: "Blest is the produce of the trees and in the herbs which the earth brings forth, and the human mouth was not polluted with blood." Seneca, the greatest of the Stoics wrote: "To abstain from the flesh of animals is to foster and to encourage innocence." In a later statement he claimed: "I resolved to abstain from flesh meat, and at the end of a year the habit of abstinence was not only easy but delightful." Pythagoras enjoined the abstention from the flesh of animals and his followers formed a vegetarian community. Other famous early vegetarians were Diogenes, Plato, Plotinus and Socrates. Vegetarianism was not uncommon among early Christians, and some monastic orders follow a vegetarian diet to this day. Famous writers such as Voltaire, Paley, Pope, Shelley, Bentham and Lamartine urged the desirability of a humane diet. Alexander Pope expressed the opinion that: "Nothing can be more shocking and horrid than one of our kitchens sprinkled with blood and abounding with the cries of expiring victims or with the limbs of dead animals scattered or hung up here and there." Sir Richard Phillips, who died in 1842 and was High Sheriff of the county of Middlesex, was an ardent vegetarian from the age of twelve when he visited a slaughterhouse. The philanthropist and prison reformer, John Howard, was a practising vegetarian whose influence and concern affected many aspects of life in his own time and since. He claimed that his diet gave him immunity against "gaol fever" which was prevalent in the many filthy prisons he visited. Formation of the Vegetarian Society Not until the nineteenth century was there any attempt to organise a vegetarian movement in this country. In 1807, the Reverend William Cowherd, the founder of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, advanced the principle of abstinence from flesh-eating. One of his followers was Mr Joseph Brotherton MP, who became prominent in the Vegetarian Society and became one of its presidents. Two followers of the Reverend Cowherd, the Reverend William Metcalfe and the Reverend James Clark, set sail for the United States with thirty-nine other members of the Bible Christian Church in 1817. Some of them remained vegetarian and provided a nucleus for the American vegetarian movement. The wife of Mr Joseph Brotherton wrote the first cookery book devoted to vegetarian recipes. This was published in 1812. The first vegetarian hospital was established in Ramsgate in 1846 with Mr and Mrs William Horsell, both prominent vegetarians in charge of it. The Vegetarian Society was formed as a result of a meeting held at the hospital, Northwood Villa, on 30 September 1847. A resolution was passed unanimously that a society be formed called the Vegetarian Society. Mr James Simpson became the president, Mr William Horsell the secretary and Mr William Oldham the treasurer. The following year the first annual meeting was held in Manchester at Hayward's Hotel. There were then 478 members of the Society and 232 people attended the dinner which followed the AGM. A meeting of London vegetarians was held in 1849, and they decided to form a committee to spread vegetarianism in London. The first issue of the Vegetarian Messenger, a monthly penny magazine, came out in September 1849, and nearly 5000 copies were circulated. Mr Isaac Pitman, of shorthand fame, spoke at the second annual meeting of the Society in 1849 and stated that he had been a vegetarian for eleven years. In the 1850s meetings were held in many parts of the country, and a number of local branches were formed. As early as 1851 the slogan "live and let live" was used in the Vegetarian Messenger, and alternatives were being suggested to leather shoes. The first president of the Vegetarian Society, Mr James Simpson, died in 1859. He had spent considerable sums of money helping the cause to develop in its early days. Alderman W Harvey JP followed as president. Another prominent vegetarian of the period was the Reverend James Clark. He became a vegetarian at the age of twenty-two and was associated with the movement for over forty years. For a long time he was the secretary of the Society. Professor F W Newman was president from 1873-84. He was a controversial character, influencing the Society to accept associate members and refusing to accept that anything else should be associated with vegetarianism. Until then, many had combined vegetarianism with a campaign against alcohol and smoking. In London in 1875 a Dietetic Reform Society was formed. Members abstained from alcohol and tobacco as well as being vegetarian. This was followed by the London Food Reform Society in 1877. A young doctor named T R Allinson was a member of the Society. Later, the Society dropped the word "London" from its title and became the National Food Reform Society. This led to some antagonism with the Vegetarian Society, but the National Food Reform Society merged with the Vegetarian Society in 1885, and it then became the London branch of the Vegetarian Society. Problems followed, and in 1888 the London branch broke away from the Vegetarian Society and formed the London Vegetarian Society, which soon flourished as a second national society. A paper known as "The Vegetarian" was brought out in 1888 and was followed by the "Vegetarian News" in 1921. "The Vegetarian Messenger" was renamed "The Vegetarian" in 1953, and in 1958 the two societies decided to combine their magazines; the "Vegetarian News" and "The Vegetarian" were replaced by "The Britsh Vegetarian". This continued as a bi-monthly magazine until 1971. In October 1971 the new national Society launched a monthly newspaper called "The Vegetarian" which rapidly grew in popularity so that it achieved a circulation in the region of 50,000 copies each month. In 1977 the newspaper was replaced by an A4 format magazine. The "New Vegetarian" continued as such until it was renamed "Alive" in 1978 with a view to increasing the magazine's general appeal. However, this change of title was not popular with many vegetarians, and there was not the degree of support among non-vegetarians as had been hoped for. It ceased to be a monthly magazine and became bi-monthly, and in 1979 the Society's AGM decided that it wished the magazine to revert to its former title; so it once again became "The Vegetarian" in late 1980, becoming monthly in 1992 and after the advent of three rival magazines on the bookstalls reverting to a quarterly members only magazine in the spring of 1993 known as VQ. In the nineteenth century other famous vegetarians were Mr and Mrs Bramwell Booth and Mr Frank Smith of the Salvation Army, Dr Anna Kingsland, Mrs Annie Besant, Lady Florence Dixy, George Bernard Shaw and Count Lyof N Tolstoi. Count Tolstoi, the eminent Russian novelist wrote: "The consumption of animal food is plainly immoral beccause it demands an act which does violence to our moral sentiments." The IVU and other organisations In 1889 the Vegetarian Federal Union was established with the aim of bringing together all vegetarian societies, local, national and overseas. Mr A F Hills was the first chairman and Mr R E O'Callaghan was secretary. Mr Josiah Oldfield became secretary in 1896, and in 1897 a second International Congress took place in London. The International Vegetarian Union succeeded the Vegetarian Federal Union in 1908, and a Congress was held in Nice. Since then, Congresses have taken place in many parts of the world. The 28th World Vegetarian Congress was held at Cavtat, near Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia in 1986 and the 1990 World Congress was held near Tel Aviv, Israel, from 17th-25th April 1990. In 1985 the Italian Vegetarian Society put on a very successful European Vegetarian Congress and from it developed the European Vegetarian Union. Since then, a European Congress has been held at Ostend, Belgium in 1987, Strasbourg, France in 1989 and Chester, England in 1991. Both the Vegetarian Society and the London Vegetarian Society flourished as national societies during this century. However, many people regretted that we did not have a single unified national society. Mr Montague Haines, a keen advocate of unification, led the move towards a single national vegetarian society. Finally, on 1 October 1969, the two societies amalgamated and the assets of the societies were taken over by the new society, The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom Limited. The Society has a property in Altrincham, Cheshire, and the work of the Society and its influence continue to grow. The growth of the vegetarian movement has led to the development of other organisations which, although not part of the Society, are nevertheless directly associated with our work. The Vegan Society, with its aim of excluding all animal products from the diet, goes further than the Vegetarian Society, which accepts the use of eggs and dairy produce. Elderly vegetarians are catered for by the homes established in various parts of the country and run by Homes for Elderly Vegetarians and by the home in Edinburgh run by the Abbeyfield Society. Homes for Elderly Vegetarians became the Vegetarian Housing Association in 1990. The Vegetarian Home for Children in Jersey cared for children in need, and the Vegetarian Children's Charity, which developed from a former Home in Rainhill, Liverpool, adminsitered funds to help needy vegetarian children. Unfortunately, the Jersey Children's Home had to be wound up in the late 1980s. The assets were combined with the Vegetarian Children's Charity in 1986 to form a new charity, the Vegetarian Charity which aims to help young vegetarians up to the age of 25. Research into the vegetarian diet was undertaken by the Vegetarian Nutritional Research centre, based at Watford, under the direction of Dr Frank Wokes. More recently, since the passing of Dr Wokes, research activity has been under the guidance of the Research Section of the Vegetarian Society, which has now been fully incorporated into The Vegetarian Society. It sponsors research in hospitals, universities and other institutions of higher education into various aspects of the vegetarian diet and way of life. Its work has been greatly encouraged by the growing evidence of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Maxwell Lee ___________________________________ // This article is copyright to the Vegetarian Society (UK), but may be freely copied for non-commercial use provided it is kept intact, not altered and these lines are included. For futher information contact: The Vegetarian Society, Parkdale, Dunham Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4QG, England. Tel: (England) 061 928 0793 email: vegsoc@vegsoc.demon.co.uk // [The text of this file was obtained from the Vegetarian Society (UK) in March 1995.]