Edith Carrington (1853–1929) was a prominent English

animal rights activist The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals ...

and promoter of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

. She was for sometime an artist, but began to write books on animals from 1889. She was a vocal opponent of

Eleanor Anne Ormerod Eleanor Anne Ormerod (11 May 182819 July 1901) was a pioneer English entomologist. Based on her studies in agriculture, she became one of the first to define the field of agricultural entomology. She published an influential series of articles on ...

's campaign seeking the extermination of the

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, a ...

and was an anti-

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 experiment ...

ist.

Life and work

Carrington was born in Swainswick, Bath, Somerset to Henry Edmund Carrington and Emily Heywood Johns (1814–1890). Coming from a wealthy family, she was influenced by

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...

who introduced her to study natural history and took on herself the "wish for no higher mission than to live and die in the cause of God's beautiful and sinless mute creatures." She wrote regularly in ''The Animals' Friend'' (established in 1894) and was a collaborator of

Henry Stephens Salt Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt (; 20 September 1851 – 19 April 1939) was an English writer and campaigner for social reform in the fields of prisons, schools, economic institutions, and the treatment of animals. He was a noted ethical vegeta ...

and was a participant in the

Humanitarian League The Humanitarian League was a British radical advocacy group formed by Henry S. Salt and others to promote the principle that it is wrong to inflict avoidable suffering on any sentient being. It was based in London and operated between 189 ...

(established 1891)''.Edith Carrington (1894). ''Miss Edith Carrington: Portrait and Autobiography''. The Animals' Friend (August), 1:24.'' Carrington's first book ''Stories for Somebody'' was written when she was thirty-five. She later wrote a number of animal stories for children. One series ''Animal Life Readers'' edited by Carrington and Ernest Bell was illustrated by

Harrison Weir Harrison William Weir (5 May 18243 January 1906), known as "The Father of the Cat Fancy", was a British artist. He organised the first cat show in England, at the Crystal Palace, London, in July 1871. He and his brother, John Jenner Weir, bo ...

and others. She also ran a children's magazine called ''Our Animal Brothers''.

Selected publications

* ''Workers Without Wage'' (1893) * ''The Farmer and the Birds'' (1898) * ''Spare the Sparrow'' (1897) * ''Man's Helpers'' (1897) * ''Wonderful Tools'' (1897) * ''Nobody's Business'' (1891) * ''Stories for Somebody'' * ''Flower Folk'' * ''Friendship of Animals'' * ''Ten Tales Without a Title'' * ''Bread and Butter Stories'' * ''Appeals on behalf of the Speechless: A Series of Tracts'' * ''The Extermination of Birds'' * ''A Narrow, Narrow World'' * ''A Story of Wings'' * ''Five Stars in a Little Pool'' * ''The Dog: His Rights and Wrongs'' * ''The Cat: Her Place in Society and Treatment'' * ''Animals in the Wrong Place'' * ''Anecdotes of Horses'' * ''The Ass, his Welfare, Wants, and Woes'' * ''Ages Ago'' * ''Mrs Trimmer's History of the Robins and Keeper's Travels'' (1895) * ''From Many Lands'' (1895) * ''Dick and His Cat'' (1895)

References

External links

*
Henry S. Salt, "Edith Carrington’s Writings", Vegetarian Review, November 1896
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Edith 1853 births 1929 deaths Anti-vivisectionists British vegetarianism activists English animal rights activists English children's writers English nature writers