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Barry Horne (17 March 1952 – 5 November 2001) was an English
animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...
activist. He became known around the world in December 1998, when he engaged in a 68-day
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
in an effort to persuade the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
to hold a public inquiry into
animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...
, something the Labour Party had said it would do before it came to power in 1997. The hunger strike took place while Horne was serving an 18-year sentence for planting incendiary devices in stores that sold fur coats and leather products, the longest sentence handed down to any animal rights activist by a British court. The hunger strike left Horne with kidney damage and failing eyesight, but it was neither the first nor the last he embarked upon, and when he died of liver failure three years later, he had not eaten for 15 days. Media reaction to his death in the UK was hostile, where he was widely described as a
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
by journalists and politicians. He is viewed as a
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
within the animal rights movement.


Early life

Horne was born in Northampton. His father was a postman. He left school at 15, and took a series of jobs as a road sweeper and dustman.Atkins, p. 134.


Activism


Northampton Animal Concern

Horne became interested in animal rights at the age of 35, when his second wife, Aileen, persuaded him to attend an animal liberation meeting. After watching videos of animal testing, he decided to become a vegetarian and
hunt saboteur Hunt sabotage is the direct action that animal rights activists and animal liberation activists undertake to interfere with hunting activity. Anti-hunting campaigners are divided into hunt saboteurs and anti-hunt monitors to monitor for cruelt ...
.Hernández Velasco, Irene. ''El Mundo'', date unknown, cited in Portocarrero 2005, p. 211. He became active with Northampton Animal Concern in the spring of 1987, which organised a raid of a
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
laboratory, and picketed
Beatties Beatties was a small British department store group located primarily in the Midlands of England. In 2005, when it had 12 stores, the group was acquired by House of Fraser. On 14 January 2006, the Birmingham store closed, because a similar Ho ...
, a department store that sold fur coats.Booth, undated.


Rocky the dolphin

Horne first came to public attention in 1988, when he tried to rescue Rocky, a bottlenose dolphin captured in 1971 off the Florida Panhandle then kept for 20 years, most of the time alone, in a small concrete pool at Marineland, in Morecambe, Lancashire. Horne and four other activists planned to move Rocky, who weighed , 200 yards from the pool to the sea, using a ladder, a net, a home-made stretcher, and a hired Austin-Rover Mini Metro.''Arkangel'' (a), undated. Horne and his friends had already been visiting the
dolphinarium A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums consist of one pool where dolphins pe ...
secretly at night, getting into the pool with the dolphin in an effort to get to know him. On the night of the action, after arriving at the poolside with their equipment, they realised the logistics of the operation were beyond them, and they left without Rocky. A police car stopped them on the way back to their car, which contained a large dolphin stretcher for which, as one of the activists put it, "we had no legitimate explanation." After a five-day trial, they were convicted of conspiracy to steal the animal. Horne, Jim O'Donnell, Mel Broughton, and Jim Buckner were fined £500, and Horne and Broughton were given an additional six-month suspended sentence. Horne and the others continued with their mission to free Rocky, and in 1989 launched the Morecambe Dolphinarium Campaign, picketing the dolphinarium, handing out leaflets to tourists, organising rallies, and lobbying the local council. Losing ticket sales, the management of Marineland eventually agreed to sell the dolphin for £120,000, money that was raised with the help of a number of animal charities, including the
Born Free Foundation The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". It protects wild animals in their natural habitat, campaigns against the keeping of wild animals in captivity and rescues wild animals in ...
, and supported by the ''Mail on Sunday'', which launched the "Into the Blue" campaign to free Britain's captive dolphins. In 1991, Rocky was transferred to an lagoon reserve in the
Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...
, then released, and within days was seen swimming with a pod of wild dolphins. Peter Hughes of the University of Sunderland cites Horne's campaign as an example of how promoting an animal rights perspective created a paradigm shift in the UK toward seeing dolphins as "individual actors" who should be viewed in the wild if tourists want to interact with them. As a result, Hughes writes, there are now no captive dolphins in the UK.Hughes 2001, pp. 321–329.


Harlan Interfauna raid

Together with
Keith Mann Keith Mann is a British animal rights campaigner and direct action activist who acted as a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and was alleged by police in 2005 to be a ringleader for the ALF. He was imprisoned twice, and is the au ...
and Danny Attwood, Horne was part of a small
Animal Liberation Front The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. It originated in th ...
cell that raided Harlan Interfauna, a British company in Cambridge that supplies laboratory animals and organs, on 17 March 1990, Horne's 38th birthday. The activists entered Interfauna's animal units through holes they punched in the roof, removing 82 beagle puppies and 26 rabbits. They also removed documents listing Interfauna's customers, which included
Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer St ...
,
Glaxo GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...
,
Beechams The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with American pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beckman to become SmithKline Beecham, merged with Glaxo W ...
, and Huntingdon Research Centre, as well as a number of universities. A vet who was an ALF supporter removed the tattoos from the dogs' ears, and they were dispersed to new homes across the UK. As a result of evidence found at the scene and in one of the activists' homes, Mann and Attwood were convicted of conspiracy to burgle and were sentenced to nine months and 18 months respectively.


Exeter College raid

Early 1990s, Horne was one of a number of protesters who attacked an animal research conference at
Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...
. They overturned tables and smashed 50 bottles of vintage
claret Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...
, after fighting with police to enter the conference hall. Horne and five others were charged with violent disorder.


1991: Imprisonment

In 1991, Horne was sentenced to three years for possession of explosive substances. His attitude appeared to harden while in jail. In June 1993, he wrote in the ''Support Animal Rights Prisoners Newsletter'': "The animals continue to die and the torture goes on in greater and greater measure. Peoples' answer to this? More vegeburgers, more
Special Brew Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. T ...
and more apathy. There is no longer any Animal Liberation Movement. That died long ago. All that is left is a very few activists who care, who understand and who act ... If you don't act then you condone. If you don't fight then you don't win. And if you don't win then you are responsible for the death and suffering that will go on and on."


Firebombing and arrest

After his release in 1994, Horne reportedly began to operate alone.
Keith Mann Keith Mann is a British animal rights campaigner and direct action activist who acted as a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and was alleged by police in 2005 to be a ringleader for the ALF. He was imprisoned twice, and is the au ...
noted that the nature of police interest in animal rights activists was such that working alone was safer, and Horne was anyway a reserved man, happy to go out alone and "do stuff," as he put it. A number of night-time firebomb attacks, using home-made incendiary devices, took place over the next two years in Oxford, Cambridge, York, Harrogate, London, Bristol, as well as Newport and Ryde on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
. The attacks targeted Boots stores, Halfords, stores selling leather goods, and stores run by cancer research charities. Some of the attacks were claimed by the
Animal Rights Militia The Animal Rights Militia (ARM) is a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action utilizing a diversity of tactics that ignores the Animal Liberation Front's policy of taking all necessary precautions to avoid harm to human ...
, a name used by activists unwilling to abide by the
Animal Liberation Front The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. It originated in th ...
's policy of non-violence. Mann writes that it "wasn't rocket science" to deduce that Horne had something to do with the attacks, because very few activists were willing to plant incendiary devices, and Horne was known to be one of the hard core who would. The police were therefore watching him closely. According to Mann, Horne knew he would be caught, but he saw animal rights activism as a war, and he was willing to become a casualty. Police raided his home in Swindon, Wiltshire after the bombing campaign on the Isle of Wight, and reportedly found material advocating such attacks, but he was not charged. Police kept him under surveillance, and he was arrested in July 1996 and charged with planting two incendiary devices in the Broadmead shopping centre in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
—one in a charity shop and the second in
British Home Stores British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electro ...
, set to explode at midnight, when he assumed they would be empty. Police found a further four devices in his pockets.BBC News 2003.


1997: 18-year sentence

Horne's trial for arson began on 12 November 1997, six weeks after the end of the second hunger strike, at
Bristol Crown Court The Bristol Crown Court is a Crown Court venue in Bristol, England. It is located at the Law Courts in Small Street. Until 1993 the Crown Court met in the Guildhall, on the opposite side of the road. The new Crown Court, which has ten courtrooms ...
. He pleaded guilty to attempted arson in Bristol, but denied involvement in the Isle of Wight attacks. Although there was no direct evidence to link Horne to the Isle of Wight incidents, the prosecution argued successfully that the devices used in Bristol and the Isle of Wight were so similar that Horne should be regarded as responsible for both. He was put through 14 ID parades but was picked out in none of them. Judge Simon Darwall-Smith described him as an "urban terrorist," though he also said, "I do accept that you did not intend an attack on human life." On 5 December 1997, the judge handed down an 18-year sentence, the longest given to any animal-rights protester. Because of the similarity between the Bristol devices and others used on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, Horne was also accused of having caused damage estimated at £3 million in 1994 by destroying a branch of
Boots the Chemists Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand a ...
in Newport, because the company tests its products on animals. He was further accused of having set fire to department stores on the island that sold fur coats. At his trial, he admitted the Bristol charges, but denied involvement in the Isle of Wight attacks, which had been claimed by the Animal Rights Militia.
Robin Webb Robin Webb (born c. 1945) is an English animal rights activist. He is a former member of the ruling council of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), and former director of Animal Aid. A British court ruled in 2006 ...
of the
Animal Liberation Press Office Animal Liberation Press Offices relay anonymous communiques, photos, and videos to the media about direct action undertaken by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Animal Rights Militia (ARM), Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade, Jus ...
writes that he himself narrowly escaped a conspiracy charge over the same incidents.Webb 2004, p. 78.


Hunger strikes


January 1997: 35 days

On 6 January 1997, six months after being jailed on remand for the
firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...
s, as a
Category A prison In the United Kingdom, prisoners are divided into four categories of security. Each adult is assigned a category, depending on the crime committed, the sentence, the risk of escape, and violent tendencies. The categories are single letters, in a ...
er, Horne announced that he would refuse all food unless John Major's
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
pledged to withdraw its support for animal testing within five years. Because Labour was regarded as likely to win the next general election, due to be held in May 1997, Horne ended his action on 9 February after 35 days without food, when
Elliot Morley Elliot Anthony Morley (born 6 July 1952) is a British former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by ''The D ...
, then Labour animal welfare spokesperson, wrote that "Labour is committed to a reduction and an eventual end to
vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...
.""Barry Horne"
, ''BarryHorne.org''.
The hunger strike sparked an increase in animal rights activism, including the removal of cats from Hill Grove farm in Oxfordshire, which bred cats for laboratories; damage to Harlan breeding centre and the removal of beagles from Consort Kennels; the destruction of seven lorries at Buxted poultry plant in
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
; a blockade of the port of Dover and heavy damage to a
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
in the town; and the removal of rabbits being bred for
vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...
in Homestead Farm.


August 1997: 46 days

The second hunger strike began on 11 August 1997. Horne's aim was that the new Labour government withdraw all animal testing licences within an agreed timeframe. There was another increase in animal-rights activism in his support. On 12 September 1997, protests were held in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
in the UK, in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, US and at
Umeå University Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami: ) is a public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders. As of 2 ...
in Sweden, where activists tried to storm the university's laboratories. Four hundred people marched on
Shamrock Farm Shamrock Farm was the United Kingdom's only non-human primate importation and quarantine centre, located in Small Dole, near Henfield in West Sussex. The centre, owned by Bausch and Lomb and run by Charles River Laboratories, Inc. for Shamrock ...
, a primate-holding facility near Brighton, 300 on Wickham Laboratories, a contract testing facility, and Labour Party offices were picketed, as was the home of
Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
, the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
. Activists set up a camp opposite
Huntingdon Life Sciences Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) was a contract research organisation (CRO) founded in 1951 in Cambridgeshire, England. It had two laboratories in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. With over 1,600 staff, it was until 2015 the largest ...
on the A1 in
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
, digging tunnels to make eviction harder. Newchurch guinea pig farm was raided in September and 600 guinea pigs removed.Mann 2007, p. 538. Horne ended the hunger strike on 26 September, after 46 days without food, when
Lord Williams of Mostyn Gareth Wyn Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn, (5 February 1941 – 20 September 2003), was a Welsh barrister and Labour politician who was Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council and a member of the Cabinet from 2001 until ...
, then a Home Office minister and later Attorney-General, contacted Horne's supporters with an offer of talks between them and the government. This was the first time a member of the government had agreed formally to talk to the animal liberation movement, and it was seen by Horne and his supporters as an important step forward.Mann 2007, p. 540.


October 1998: 68 days

Horne's longest hunger strike began on 6 October 1998 and ended 68 days later on 13 December. It brought the issue of animal experimentation to the forefront of British politics, while his deteriorating condition made headlines around the world, as activists threatened further disruption should he die, with some issuing death threats against several scientists. This time, Horne's demands were extensive and specific. He asked for an end to issuing licences for animal experiments, and that no current licences be renewed; a ban on all vivisection conducted for non-medical purposes; a commitment to end all vivisection by 6 January 2002; an immediate end to all animal experimentation at the
Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...
defence establishment; and the closure of the Animal Procedures Committee, a government advisory body that Horne regarded as a "Government sponsored front for the vivisection industry."Mann 2007, p. 544. He issued a statement, now quoted by the movement as a rallying cry:
The fight is not for us, not for our personal wants and needs. It is for every animal that has ever suffered and died in the vivisection labs, and for every animal that will suffer and die in those same labs unless we end this evil business now. The souls of the tortured dead cry out for justice, the cry of the living is for freedom. We can create that justice and we can deliver that freedom. The animals have no one but us. We will not fail them.
Keith Mann writes that, this time, Horne found the hunger strike tougher going, perhaps because of the physical damage from the first two. He was in D Wing in Full Sutton prison to begin with, then was moved to the hospital wing on day 10 without food, where he was reportedly placed in the "hunger strike cell" with no toilet or sink and with just a cardboard chair and cardboard table. He was moved to a regular cell after pressure from supporters. Mann, Keith. ''From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement''. Puppy Pincher Press, 2007, p. 545. He was read the
Last Rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...
on day 43, having lost 25 percent of his body fat.Mann 2007, p. 546. The Labour government publicly refused to give in to what it called blackmail, and said it would not negotiate with Horne or his supporters, but privately, it held talks with them. Horne's MP,
Tony Clarke Anthony or Tony Clarke may refer to: * Tony Clarke (British politician) (born 1963), English Labour Party politician, MP for Northampton South from 1997 to 2005 * Anthony Clarke (judoka) (born 1961), Australian athlete *Tony Clarke (activist) (born ...
, visited Horne in prison on 12 November to negotiate another meeting between Horne's supporters and the Home Office, which took place on 19 November 44 days into the strike. After the meeting, Horne released a statement saying there was nothing new on offer, and that his hunger strike would continue. He then reduced his demands to asking for a Royal Commission on animal testing, which the Labour Party had indicated that it would hold if elected. On day 46, he was moved to
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
General Hospital, suffering from
dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
after having spent the week vomiting. By day 52, he was reportedly in severe pain, was finding it hard to see, and was danger of falling into a coma. According to Mann, his supporters were bringing him tape recordings of the talks with the government, which he was having difficulty concentrating on. Mann writes that Horne decided to take some orange juice and sweet tea for three days, in order to stave off the coma so that he could understand the negotiations. This later caused the media to refer to the hunger strike as a fraud.Johnston 2001.Mann 2007, p. 547.


Activism in support of Horne

There was an international response by activists in support of Horne. In
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and London, protesters kept vigil outside the hospital, and opposite the
Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
in
Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, holding candles, placards, and photographs of Horne, joined at one point by
Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tr ...
, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament, who despite his support for the cause referred to the protesters in his diary as "dysfunctional." On 24 November, at the State Opening of Parliament, activists dropped a banner in support of Horne in front of
the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...
's official car as it drove towards the Houses of Parliament. Shortly after this, two activists parked a car at the end of
Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk f ...
, slashed its tyres, and used D-Locks to attach themselves by the neck to the steering wheel, while protesters demonstrated nearby. Activists marched on BIBRA labs in south-west London and at Windmill mink farm in
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
. In Finland, 400 foxes and 200 racoons were released from a fur farm. The offices of the
Research Defence Society The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group, founded by Stephen Paget, in 1908, to fight against the anti-vivisectionist "enemies of reason" at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of 2008, after being a ...
in London were raided. Demonstrations were held outside British embassies and consulates around the world, laboratories were raided, and government buildings picketed.Mann 2007, p. 548.


Death threats

When it appeared that Horne might die, the
Animal Rights Militia The Animal Rights Militia (ARM) is a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action utilizing a diversity of tactics that ignores the Animal Liberation Front's policy of taking all necessary precautions to avoid harm to human ...
(ARM) issued a statement through
Robin Webb Robin Webb (born c. 1945) is an English animal rights activist. He is a former member of the ruling council of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), and former director of Animal Aid. A British court ruled in 2006 ...
of the
Animal Liberation Press Office Animal Liberation Press Offices relay anonymous communiques, photos, and videos to the media about direct action undertaken by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Animal Rights Militia (ARM), Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade, Jus ...
, threatening to assassinate four named individuals and six unnamed scientists, should Horne die.''New Scientist'' 1998. The named targets were Colin Blakemore, a British scientist who studies vision;BBC News, 8 December 1998. Clive Page of
King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...
, a professor of
pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of ...
pharmacology and chair of the animal science group of the British Biosciences Federation;BBC Radio 4, 2002. Mark Matfield of the
Research Defence Society The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group, founded by Stephen Paget, in 1908, to fight against the anti-vivisectionist "enemies of reason" at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of 2008, after being a ...
; and Christopher Brown, owner of Hillgrove Farm in Oxfordshire, who was breeding cats for laboratories. Those on the ARM's list were given immediate police protection, which in some cases lasted years, and Special Branch increased its surveillance of activists, in particular of Robin Webb. Clive Page told the BBC that he was in Italy when he heard his name was on the list. He had to return home to explain the situation to his family. "It's difficult to tell your children, 'Daddy's going to be murdered'," he said. The police wired his home up directly to Special Branch, he was advised to take different routes each day to work, and he had to speak to his children's schools about the possibility of abduction.


Moved back to prison

By day 63, Horne was deaf in one ear, blind in one eye, his liver was failing, and he was in considerable pain. A meeting was arranged for day 66 at noon with his supporters to show him the documents that were being faxed through by the Home Office regarding offers the government might be willing to make. It was agreed that, if there was any substance to them, Horne would call off the strike. Early on the morning of 10 December 1998, the 66th day of his hunger strike, Horne was moved out of hospital and back to Full Sutton Prison. The Home Office said that, because he was refusing treatment, there was no need for him to be in hospital. By now, Horne was hallucinating and could no longer remember why he was on hunger strike.


End of the hunger strike

There are two versions of why Horne ended the hunger strike. Mann wrote that Horne called it off without explanation two days after being moved back to prison, and was promptly returned to the hospital. The media reported that a Labour MP had arranged for Michael Banner, the chair of the Animal Procedures Committee, to agree to attend a meeting with Ian Cawsey, head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare, to discuss animal testing practices in the UK. This was interpreted by Horne as a concession on the part of the government, and he agreed to start eating again on 13 December 1998.Copley 1998. His friends suspect that something happened to him during the two days he was back in Full Sutton out of contact with them. Mann writes: "Whatever happened to him between leaving the hospital and returning to prison may never be known, but all those close to him suspect something did and he was never the same again."Mann 2007, p. 551. The British media response to the end of the hunger strike was hostile. Newspapers focused on the period Horne had been drinking orange juice and sweet tea, writing that the hunger strike had been a fraud throughout. Mann wrote that the media turned three days of trying to stabilise his condition with sips of sweet liquid into "68 days of feasting."


October 2001: 15 days

Horne did not recover his physical health. Mann wrote that he continued to go on countless hunger strikes in prison without any cohesive strategy and with little support. It got to the point where no one apart from the guards knew whether he was eating or not.Mann 2007, p. 552. He embarked on his final hunger strike on 21 October 2001, and died 15 days later of liver failure. He had signed a directive refusing medical treatment, and was regarded by psychiatrists as of sound mind, which caused the prison authorities not to intervene.Hall 2001. The hostile media response continued after his death. Kevin Toolis wrote in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'':
In life he was a nobody, a failed
dustman A waste collector, also known as a garbageman, garbage collector, trashman (in the US), binman or (rarely) dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of municipal solid waste (refuse) and r ...
turned firebomber. But in death Barry Horne will rise up as the first true martyr of the most successful terrorist group Britain has ever known, the animal rights movement.Toolis 2001.
He was buried in his home town of Northampton under an oak tree in a woodland cemetery, wearing a
Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
football shirt. Seven hundred people attended the pagan funeral service and accompanied the coffin through the town, carrying a banner that read: "Labour lied, Barry died".Vidal 2001.


See also

* List of animal rights advocates


Notes


References

*'' Arkangel'' (undated a)., accessed 13 October 2009. *''Arkangel'' (undated b)
"The man, the activist"
accessed 13 October 2009. *Atkins, Stephen E. (2004)
"Horne, Barry (1952–2001) (Great Britain)"
''Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. *''BarryHorne.org'' (undated)

accessed 13 October 2009. *BBC News (11 March 2003)
Barry Horne: The background
accessed 4 December 2009. *BBC News (8 December 1998)
"Death-threat vivisector calls for industry support"
accessed 4 December 2009. *BBC Radio 4 (25 March 2002)
"Professor Clive Page describes life under Special Branch protection"
accessed 4 December 2009. * Best, Steven and Nocella, Anthony J. II (2004). ''Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals''. Lantern 2004. *Boggan, Steve (2001)
Ministers to blame for bombings, say animal protesters
13 January 2001. *Booth, Steve (2009)

European Social Ecology Institute, accessed 13 October 2009. *Copley, John (1998)
"Hunger striker pulls back from the brink"
''New Scientist'', 19 December 1998. *Hall, Sarah (2001)
"Animal activists mourn their martyr"
''The Guardian'', 6 November 2001. *Higgins, Wendy (2008)
Labour's vivisection 'failure'
''New Statesman'', 21 July 2008. *Hughes, Peter. "Animals, values and tourism – structural shifts in UK dolphin tourism provision," ''Tourism Management'', Volume 22, Issue 4, August 2001. *Johnston, Philip (2001)
"Bomber dies on hunger strike"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 6 November 2001. *Labour Party (1996)
''New Labour, New Britain, New Life for Animals''
December 1996. *''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'' (2001)

8 November 2001. * Mann, Keith (2007). ''From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement'', Puppy Pincher Press. *''New Scientist'' (1998)
A martyr in the making
12 December 1998. *Portocarrero, Gustavo (2005). ''Earth's Destruction and Our Hope in the Ecologist''. Gustavo Portocarrero. *''The Independent (7 December 1998)

*''The Independent'' (11 December 1998). "Hunger striker sent back to prison." *Toolis, Kevin (2001)

''The Guardian'', 7 November 2001. *Vidal, John (2001)
"Animal rights activist buried"
''The Guardian'', 17 November 2001. * Webb, Robin (2004). "Animal Liberation—'By Whatever Means Necessary'," in Best, Steven and Nocella, Anthony J. II. ''Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals'', Lantern.


Further reading


Barry Horne Tribute Website
'' Bite Back'', first published in '' Arkangel Magazine'' ()
Barry Horne: Animal Liberationist"
''
Animal Liberation Front The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. It originated in th ...
tribute page'' *Farrell, Stephen and Jenkins, Russell (1998). "Hunger striker's life in hands of a believer," ''The Times'', 12 December 1998. *Ford, Richard, and Elliott, Valerie (2001). "Fanatic who revelled in his notoriety," ''The Times'', 6 November 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, Barry 1952 births 2001 deaths 20th-century English criminals Animal Liberation Front Arson in the 1990s British people convicted of arson Eco-terrorism English animal rights activists English male criminals People from Northampton People who died on hunger strike Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention