Peter Holton Roberts,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(7 June 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an animal welfare activist and the founder of

Compassion in World Farming Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation. It campaigns against the live export of animals, certain methods of livestock slaughter, and all systems of factory farming. It has received celebr ...

, which he led from 1967 – 1991.

Biography

Peter Roberts was the son of a Staffordshire doctor and was raised in

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

. After serving in World War II, he attended an agricultural college and established a dairy farm in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. As demand in Britain rose for meat, Roberts saw increasing use of factory farming, which had been imported from the United States. Encouraged by popular support for his letter-writing campaign, Roberts unsuccessfully attempted to convince existing animal welfare organizations to protest

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ...

. As a result, he founded

in 1967. He gave up dairy farming the same year, and he established a health food shop in

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

in 1978. He led the organization until 1991, when he retired and was replaced by Joyce D'Silva. Although Roberts was a vegetarian, he did not push for others to change their eating habits. He was an advocate of reasoned debate and sought change through peaceful means. He was awarded an

in 2002 for his work associated with Compassion in World Farming.

References

1924 births 2006 deaths British animal welfare workers English activists Members of the Order of the British Empire British military personnel of World War II {{Activist-stub