Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding (; other married name Whiting; 22 March 1908 – 20 November 1993) was an English
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 ...
activist.
Biography
Lady Dowding was born in London, the daughter of John Angelo Albino (whose family came from the
Province of Como
The Province of Como ( it, Provincia di Como; german: Provinz Como; Comasco: ) is a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Sondrio and Le ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
) and his wife Hilda Gertrude Albino (''née'' Barnes).
Like her second husband
Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, she was a
vegetarian
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 m ...
,
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,
spiritualist
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century
The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...
and
Theosophist.
Lady Dowding used her prominent social position to advance animal welfare. She hosted regular Sunday lunch parties introducing influential people to vegetarian food, and her house was always a sanctuary for animals in need.
In 1959, she founded
Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC)
to highlight the suffering of animals. She won several awards from the
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
Lady Dowding died in 1993 and her ashes were buried with her second husband in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
.
Publications
*''The Psychic Life of Muriel, the Lady Dowding: An Autobiography'' (1980)
oreword by Victor Goddard">Victor_Goddard.html" ;"title="oreword by Victor Goddard">oreword by Victor Goddard
See also
* List of animal rights advocates
References
External links
Beauty Without CrueltyBeauty Without Cruelty USA
1908 births
1993 deaths
Anti-vivisectionists
British vegetarianism activists
Burials at Westminster Abbey
English activists
English animal rights activists
English autobiographers
British baronesses
English women activists
English spiritualists
English Theosophists
Organization founders
Parapsychologists
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