Howard Williams (6 January 1837 – 21 September 1931) was an English

humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

and

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 ...

activist, and writer. He was noted for authoring '' The Ethics of Diet'', a

history of vegetarianism The earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people are from ancient India, especially among the Hindus and Jains.Spencer, Colin: ''The Heretic's Feast. A History of Vegetarianism'', London 1993 ...

, which was influential on the Victorian vegetarian movement.

Biography

Williams was a born on 6 January 1837, in

Whatley, Mendip Whatley is a small rural village and civil parish about west of Frome in the English county of Somerset. The parish lies south of Mells and north of Nunney, and includes the hamlets of Lower Whatley and Chantry. History According to Robinson, ...

, the fifth son of the Reverend Hamilton John Williams and Margaret Sophia; one of his older brothers was the priest and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

and

activist

Henry John Williams Henry John Williams (8 February 1838 – 1 April 1919) was an English Anglican priest and activist for humanitarianism, animal rights and vegetarianism. He was the founder of the Order of the Golden Age; an international animal rights society. ...

.Gregory, James. (2007). ''Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain''. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 109. He was home educated, then went on to study history at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

; he earned his BA in 1860 and MA in 1863. Williams married Eliza Smith on 20 November 1860; she died around 1906. Williams' first book was published in 1865, entitled ''The Superstitions of Witchcraft''. Williams became a vegetarian in 1872, as well as an

anti-vivisectionist 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 ...

; he published '' The Ethics of Diet'', a

, in 1883. Williams was the inspiration for and one of the founding members of 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 ...

, in 1891, which "opposed all avoidable suffering on any sentient being". He remained on the board for several years and authored the "Pioneers of humanity" section for the league's journal, which was later published as a popular pamphlet. He also served as the Vice-President of the

London Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom is a British registered charity which was established on 30 September 1847 to promote vegetarianism. History In the 19th century a number of groups in Britain actively promoted and followed mea ...

and was a board member of the

Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by the animal rights advocates Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish-British feminist, and the English peeress Nina Do ...

. Williams died in

Aspley Guise Aspley Guise is a village and civil parish in the west of Central Bedfordshire, England. In addition to the village of Aspley Guise itself, the civil parish also includes part of the town of Woburn Sands, the rest of which is in the City of Milto ...

, on 21 September 1931.

Publications

*'' The Superstitions of Witchcraft'' (1865) *'' The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating'' (1883) *'' Lucian's Dialogues, namely the Dialogues of the Gods, of the Sea-Gods, and of the Dead; Zeus the Tragedian, the Ferry-Boat etc.'' (translated with notes and a preliminary memoir, 1888) *"Pioneers of Humanity" (''The Humanitarian'', 1907; later published as a pamphlet)

References

External links

* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Howard 1837 births 1931 deaths 19th-century English historians 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English historians 20th-century English male writers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Anti-vivisectionists British vegetarianism activists English humanitarians Historians of vegetarianism People associated with the Vegetarian Society People from Mendip District

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links