Named after Queen Victoria who ruled over Britain in a period of peace and prosperity, The Victorian Era (1837 – 1901) was a time of great innovation and change. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, Victorian England is depicted as being rather dark, which in fact is was. The intensive use of coal fires mixed with exhaust from coal gas works blocked out approximately three-quarters of the sunshine in the city of London.
Concerns of hygiene swept through Britain as the population soared from 13.9 million in 1831 to 32.5 million in 1901. Denser populations in the city meant that sanitation was a serious issue. Rats monopolized the city’s sewers. The cholera epidemic of 1832 caused widespread panic, as the root of the disease was unknown and an effective treatment was yet to be developed. Consequently, reforms in sanitation took place and led to the Public Health Acts of 1848 and 1869. Should it be any wonder that commercial marketing made its heyday during this time and that some of the more popular advertisements were for soap?
In medicine, anesthetics were discovered and applied in surgery, albeit in an experimental way. The use of chloroform became prevalent after Queen Victoria was administered it for the birth of her eighth child. Joseph Lister introduced antiseptics in 1867, and his hospital regulations insisted that clinic staff wear gloves, wash their hands, and use sterilized instruments.
Another notorious hallmark of the Victorian period was child labor. Due to poverty, children as young as four were often sent out to work long hours in dangerous jobs for paltry wages. The Victorian workday was far cry from the eight-hour-day we’ve come to know. Domestic servants worked up to 80 hours a week.
And one cannot forget the dark days of Jack the Ripper, the nefarious serial killer who murdered and mutilated at least five prostitutes and haunted the streets of East London during the late 1800’s.
Although ruled by a woman, English women in The Victorian Era did not have the right to vote or own their own property. Once married, women lost the ownership of their wages, any property or land they held, and rights to their own bodies. Wives became the property of their husbands and the law gave these men ownership of their spouses’ bodies. In England it was still illegal for women to become doctors, but in America Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to gain a medical degree in 1849.
Dark and muddled with issues of social justice, the Victorian Era was known for a number of developments in sports (bicycling, roller skating, tennis), transportation (stagecoaches, canals, steam ships, railways), and other societal arenas.
Into this world of bustles and corsets stepped women who became loud voices in the fight against vivisection. Vivisection, from the Latin vivus (alive) and section (cutting), increased dramatically during this period and was yet to be checked in all of its cruelty.
Leading Ladies
Frances Power Cobbe (4 Dec 1822 – 5 April 1904) Born into an influential Irish family at her family estate, Newbridge House in Donabate, Co. Dublin, Cobbe became a formidable force in the anti-vivisection movement. Cobbe was a prolific writer, journalist, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women’s suffrage campaigner.
Her books and essays include: “The Intuitive Theory of Morals” (1855), “On the Pursuits of Women” (1863), “Cities of the Past” (1864), “Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors” (1869), “Darwinism in Morals (1871), the Scientific Spirit of the Age” (1888) and “Light In Dark Places” (1923).
In 1875 she founded the world’s first organization dedicated to campaigning against vivisection called the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection (SPALV). In 1898 she founded the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), both groups are still active today; SPALV later became the National Anti Vivisection Society (NAVS).
Cobbe was very active in the women’s suffrage movement and in 1867 she joined the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage.
One of Cobbe’s most important essays, "Wife-Torture in England" directly influenced the U.K Parliament in passing the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1878. The act enabled working-class women to gain child custody and legal separation from abusive husbands.
In 1884, Cobbe retired to Wales with her partner, Mary Lloyd. At the age of 81, Cobbe died of heart failure on 5 April 1904 at her home Hentwrt, in Wales. She was buried in Llanelltyd churchyard alongside Mary Lloyd who had died in 1896.
Her books and essays include: “The Intuitive Theory of Morals” (1855), “On the Pursuits of Women” (1863), “Cities of the Past” (1864), “Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors” (1869), “Darwinism in Morals (1871), the Scientific Spirit of the Age” (1888) and “Light In Dark Places” (1923).
In 1875 she founded the world’s first organization dedicated to campaigning against vivisection called the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection (SPALV). In 1898 she founded the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), both groups are still active today; SPALV later became the National Anti Vivisection Society (NAVS).
Cobbe was very active in the women’s suffrage movement and in 1867 she joined the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage.
One of Cobbe’s most important essays, "Wife-Torture in England" directly influenced the U.K Parliament in passing the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1878. The act enabled working-class women to gain child custody and legal separation from abusive husbands.
In 1884, Cobbe retired to Wales with her partner, Mary Lloyd. At the age of 81, Cobbe died of heart failure on 5 April 1904 at her home Hentwrt, in Wales. She was buried in Llanelltyd churchyard alongside Mary Lloyd who had died in 1896.
Caroline Earle White (1833 – 1916) was one of the most influential U.S animal protection activists in the early years of the movement. Born on September 28, 1833 in Philadelphia, White was a philanthropist, writer, feminist, vegetarian and anti-vivisection activist. She was educated on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts at a time when education was not commonly available to women. Earle studied astronomy, and Latin and spoke German, French, Italian and Spanish.
Earl married attorney Richard P. White in 1856 and they had one son, Thomas Earle White. After witnessing horses being severely beaten by their drivers in Philadelphia, White became inspired to start the Philadelphia chapter of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RPSCA.) On June 21, 1868 the society was officially established but White was excluded from holding an official position because of the status of women at that time.
Along with Mary Frances Lovell, White founded the Women’s Humane Society in 1869 also known as the Women’s Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals so she could play an active leadership role.
After receiving a letter from physician S. Weir Mitchell requesting the WPSPCA hand over homeless dogs from their shelter to the vivisection labs, White traveled to England to seek advice from anti-vivisection campaigner, Frances Power Cobbe.
Cobbe advised that she start an organization dedicated to the vivisection issue and in 1883, White founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) with Mary Frances Lovell. The organization was the first of its kind in the U.S. and was also one of the first to utilize celebrities such as Mark Twain to raise awareness for the issue.
White was also an acclaimed author and wrote several travel guides and novels including; A Holiday In Spain and Norway, Love in the Tropics: A Romance of the South Seas, and An Ocean Mystery. She also penned several articles to the Women’s Progress publication. White’s work, although most well known for her animal rights advocacy, also extended to other concerns, she was president of the St. Vincent Aid Society, who donated medical services and supplies to the poor and orphaned children, chaired the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Catholic Historical Society and served on the board and as vice president for the women’s literary club, the Browning Society
After a lifetime of dedication to animal rights issue, White died at the age of 83, at her summer home in Nantucket, MA on Sept 7, 1916.
Earl married attorney Richard P. White in 1856 and they had one son, Thomas Earle White. After witnessing horses being severely beaten by their drivers in Philadelphia, White became inspired to start the Philadelphia chapter of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RPSCA.) On June 21, 1868 the society was officially established but White was excluded from holding an official position because of the status of women at that time.
Along with Mary Frances Lovell, White founded the Women’s Humane Society in 1869 also known as the Women’s Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals so she could play an active leadership role.
After receiving a letter from physician S. Weir Mitchell requesting the WPSPCA hand over homeless dogs from their shelter to the vivisection labs, White traveled to England to seek advice from anti-vivisection campaigner, Frances Power Cobbe.
Cobbe advised that she start an organization dedicated to the vivisection issue and in 1883, White founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) with Mary Frances Lovell. The organization was the first of its kind in the U.S. and was also one of the first to utilize celebrities such as Mark Twain to raise awareness for the issue.
White was also an acclaimed author and wrote several travel guides and novels including; A Holiday In Spain and Norway, Love in the Tropics: A Romance of the South Seas, and An Ocean Mystery. She also penned several articles to the Women’s Progress publication. White’s work, although most well known for her animal rights advocacy, also extended to other concerns, she was president of the St. Vincent Aid Society, who donated medical services and supplies to the poor and orphaned children, chaired the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Catholic Historical Society and served on the board and as vice president for the women’s literary club, the Browning Society
After a lifetime of dedication to animal rights issue, White died at the age of 83, at her summer home in Nantucket, MA on Sept 7, 1916.
Anna Kingsford, M.D (16 September 1846 – 22 February 1888). Born Annie Bonus in Stratford, Essex, England, Anna was one of the first recorded anti-vivisection leaders. She famously held a bold philosophical stance against the current scientific narrative of materialism, and believed all lives were valuable and had a capable, inner being worthy of respect. Inspired by this philosophy, Anna was also vegetarian (even beginning one of the UK’s first societies for vegetarianism), a women’s rights campaigner, and very active in the (otherwise largely male) theosophical movement.
In 1867, at the age of 21, Anna married her cousin, Algernon Godfrey Kingsford, who later became the Vicar of Atcham. She soon had a daughter, Eadith. But, defying the gender norms of the day, Anna continued to pursue her own career as an intellectual and activist.
In 1872, Anna bought “The Lady’s Own Paper,” and became editor and chief of the preeminent women’s magazine of the time. In this position Anna made contact with other prominent feminist and anti-vivisectionist thinkers, including Frances Power Cobbe, and campaigning against vivisection and other animal experimentation became her primary concern.
To help build the case against vivisection more thoughtfully and scientifically, and in order to speak from a position of authority, Kingsford became one of the first English women to obtain a degree in medicine. However, because it was illegal in England for women to be Doctors, after passing her first medical examination at the Apothecary’s Hall in 1873, Anna chose to continue her education in Paris—the epicenter of intellectual activity and science,.
Yet even during her studies in Paris, Anna was often the only female student. Though this would have been isolating enough, Anna also refused to allow any creature to be vivisected in any classes she undertook, despite the fact that this often led to further criticism, ostracization, and the need to pursue her studies privately.
Finally, in 1880, Anna successfully earned her medical degree, and devoted the rest of her life to writing and speaking on behalf of animals—ceaselessly advocating against their use through meat eating, testing, and vivisection. Many still regard her book, “Addresses and Essays on Vegetarianism” to be one of the best and most thorough books written on the subject.
Anna died at the age of 41, on February 22, 1988, after a two-year struggle with pneumonia, and pulmonary tuberculosis, the results of getting caught in a torrential downpour. She died in London near her family and was buried in the Saint Eata’s churchyard in Atcham by the River Severn.
In 1867, at the age of 21, Anna married her cousin, Algernon Godfrey Kingsford, who later became the Vicar of Atcham. She soon had a daughter, Eadith. But, defying the gender norms of the day, Anna continued to pursue her own career as an intellectual and activist.
In 1872, Anna bought “The Lady’s Own Paper,” and became editor and chief of the preeminent women’s magazine of the time. In this position Anna made contact with other prominent feminist and anti-vivisectionist thinkers, including Frances Power Cobbe, and campaigning against vivisection and other animal experimentation became her primary concern.
To help build the case against vivisection more thoughtfully and scientifically, and in order to speak from a position of authority, Kingsford became one of the first English women to obtain a degree in medicine. However, because it was illegal in England for women to be Doctors, after passing her first medical examination at the Apothecary’s Hall in 1873, Anna chose to continue her education in Paris—the epicenter of intellectual activity and science,.
Yet even during her studies in Paris, Anna was often the only female student. Though this would have been isolating enough, Anna also refused to allow any creature to be vivisected in any classes she undertook, despite the fact that this often led to further criticism, ostracization, and the need to pursue her studies privately.
Finally, in 1880, Anna successfully earned her medical degree, and devoted the rest of her life to writing and speaking on behalf of animals—ceaselessly advocating against their use through meat eating, testing, and vivisection. Many still regard her book, “Addresses and Essays on Vegetarianism” to be one of the best and most thorough books written on the subject.
Anna died at the age of 41, on February 22, 1988, after a two-year struggle with pneumonia, and pulmonary tuberculosis, the results of getting caught in a torrential downpour. She died in London near her family and was buried in the Saint Eata’s churchyard in Atcham by the River Severn.
Mary Frances Lovell (1843 – June 25, 1932) - A dedicated animal advocate, orator, writer, and vegetarian, Mary Frances Lovell was born in London, but moved - just five years later - across the pond to Pennsylvania with her family.
Like other women anti-vivisectionists, Lovell was as passionate as they come. She was not only concerned with the animal cause, but other important social concerns such as prison reform, Christianity, and temperance, the effort to prohibit the consumption of alcohol. As the superintendent for the Department of Mercy for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the largest women’s organization of the day, she and other animal advocates had an effective platform to disseminate the gospel of anti-vivisection to women’s clubs throughout the States.
In this era, Chicago was a central hub for the processing of cattle in the United States. Journalist Upton Sinclair wrote his inflammatory exposé, The Jungle, on the horrid working conditions, unsanitary environment, and poor animal treatment in such facilities. It was in one of these Chicago abattoirs where Lovell witnessed the animals’ suffering firsthand, which led her to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. She also objected to wearing fur, an ethical correlation several other anti-vivisectionists, such as Francis Power Cobbe (BUAV), seemed not to have observed.
Not as much is known about Lovell as her contemporary, Caroline Earle White, whom she worked closely with her entire adult life. In 1869, Mary helped Caroline form the Women’s Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (WPSPCA). She served as the Vice President and Corresponding Secretary for the organization until she co-founded the American Anti-vivisection Society (AAVS) with Caroline in 1883.
Known as an exceptionally compassionate person, Lovell continued to dedicate her life to activism, even traveling to meetings well into her eighties. She was an ardent fan of Charles Dickens books, enjoyed gardening and partook in needlework. She was particularly fond of feeding the birds that came every morning to her garden for breakfast.
On June 25, 1932, Lovell died at the age of 88 due to a fall from the porch of her home.
Like other women anti-vivisectionists, Lovell was as passionate as they come. She was not only concerned with the animal cause, but other important social concerns such as prison reform, Christianity, and temperance, the effort to prohibit the consumption of alcohol. As the superintendent for the Department of Mercy for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the largest women’s organization of the day, she and other animal advocates had an effective platform to disseminate the gospel of anti-vivisection to women’s clubs throughout the States.
In this era, Chicago was a central hub for the processing of cattle in the United States. Journalist Upton Sinclair wrote his inflammatory exposé, The Jungle, on the horrid working conditions, unsanitary environment, and poor animal treatment in such facilities. It was in one of these Chicago abattoirs where Lovell witnessed the animals’ suffering firsthand, which led her to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. She also objected to wearing fur, an ethical correlation several other anti-vivisectionists, such as Francis Power Cobbe (BUAV), seemed not to have observed.
Not as much is known about Lovell as her contemporary, Caroline Earle White, whom she worked closely with her entire adult life. In 1869, Mary helped Caroline form the Women’s Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (WPSPCA). She served as the Vice President and Corresponding Secretary for the organization until she co-founded the American Anti-vivisection Society (AAVS) with Caroline in 1883.
Known as an exceptionally compassionate person, Lovell continued to dedicate her life to activism, even traveling to meetings well into her eighties. She was an ardent fan of Charles Dickens books, enjoyed gardening and partook in needlework. She was particularly fond of feeding the birds that came every morning to her garden for breakfast.
On June 25, 1932, Lovell died at the age of 88 due to a fall from the porch of her home.
Louise Lind af Hageby (c.1878 – 1963) Animal rights campaigner, feminist and humanitarian, Lind af Hageby was born in Sweden, the granddaughter of the chamberlain of Sweden. In Sweden, she had been the honorary secretary of the Swedish Women’s Committee for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice and lectured on the white slave trade, prison reform, and social questions and by 1901 was honorary secretary of the Scandinavian Anti-Vivisection Society.
Hageby was a determined international campaigner against vivisection and member of the London Anti-Vivisection Society, giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Vivisection, which sat between 1906 and 1912. A vegetarian and anti-vaccinationist, she opposed all forms of cruelty to animals. She situated anti-vivisection work in ‘ a chain of reforms, prompted by the new spirit of compassion, and fellow feeling towards animals’.
She established both the campaigning Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society in 1906, working closely with Nina, Duchess of Hamilton, and its journal Anti-Vivisection Review. In its name she organised an important international congress in London in July 1909, managing to gain the support - in Britain alone - of many organisations including the Humanitarian League, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Anti-Vivisection Society, and Our Dumb Friends’ League.
Although a key figure in the anti-vivisection movement, throughout the first half of the twentieth century she is probably best known today for her exposé of animal experiments at University College London, particularly the vivisection of a terrier dog which she had witnessed with her friend Liesa Schartau. She subsequently publicised this in a notorious book, The Shambles of Science.
A formidable organiser, debater and administrator, she relentlessly tackled injustice on all fronts. Active throughout her long life, she addressed an international conference of anti-vivisection societies in London just a few weeks before her death, reiterating the demand which had underpinned her investigative campaigning, namely that people should be allowed to see for themselves that there was supposedly no cruelty in laboratories, especially if they were told there was none. While holding a spiritual outlook on life, she nevertheless advocated a ‘true science,’ which could be developed without cruelty to humans or animals.
As one obituary declared, Louise Lind af Hageby was more than a person, she was a tradition.
Text written by: Dr Hilda Kean FRHistS
Hageby was a determined international campaigner against vivisection and member of the London Anti-Vivisection Society, giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Vivisection, which sat between 1906 and 1912. A vegetarian and anti-vaccinationist, she opposed all forms of cruelty to animals. She situated anti-vivisection work in ‘ a chain of reforms, prompted by the new spirit of compassion, and fellow feeling towards animals’.
She established both the campaigning Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society in 1906, working closely with Nina, Duchess of Hamilton, and its journal Anti-Vivisection Review. In its name she organised an important international congress in London in July 1909, managing to gain the support - in Britain alone - of many organisations including the Humanitarian League, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Anti-Vivisection Society, and Our Dumb Friends’ League.
Although a key figure in the anti-vivisection movement, throughout the first half of the twentieth century she is probably best known today for her exposé of animal experiments at University College London, particularly the vivisection of a terrier dog which she had witnessed with her friend Liesa Schartau. She subsequently publicised this in a notorious book, The Shambles of Science.
A formidable organiser, debater and administrator, she relentlessly tackled injustice on all fronts. Active throughout her long life, she addressed an international conference of anti-vivisection societies in London just a few weeks before her death, reiterating the demand which had underpinned her investigative campaigning, namely that people should be allowed to see for themselves that there was supposedly no cruelty in laboratories, especially if they were told there was none. While holding a spiritual outlook on life, she nevertheless advocated a ‘true science,’ which could be developed without cruelty to humans or animals.
As one obituary declared, Louise Lind af Hageby was more than a person, she was a tradition.
Text written by: Dr Hilda Kean FRHistS
