Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society

History

It was based for many years at Animal Defence House, 15 St James's Place, London, and ran a 237-acre animal sanctuary at Ferne House near Shaftesbury, Dorset, an estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.

An early member of the Society's executive council was Alice Drakoules who was a lifelong campaigner for animal welfare and a keen supporter of the Society. She helped the Society campaign for humane slaughter, licensed slaughterhouses and for an end to performing animals.

The Society came to widespread attention during the Brown Dog affair (1903–1910), which began when Lind af Hageby infiltrated the vivisection in University College London of a brown terrier dog. The subsequent description of the experiment in her book, The Shambles of Science (1903) – in which she wrote that the dog had been conscious throughout and in pain – led to a protracted scandal and a libel case, which the accused researcher won. The affair continued for several years, making a name both for Lind af Hageby and for the Society.

The Society was associated with Hageby's International Humanitarian Bureau. It published The Anti-Vivisection and Humanitarian Review in 1929 and Progress Today: The Humanitarian and Anti-Vivisection Review in the 1930s. In 1933, members of the Society's executive council included Sara Blomfield, Charlotte Despard, Douglas S. S. Steuart and Janette Ranken Thesiger.

In 1959, the Society protested against a mass pigeon shoot throughout the East of England the Midlands.

Slaughter reform

Despite supporting total abolition of vivisection the Society advocated reform of animal slaughter. The Society called for legislation making humane slaughter compulsory. The Society advertised its own "humane killer" for sale, a type of captive bolt pistol. In 1923, the Society advocated a statement of minimum slaughter reform that was sent to the Cabinet Committee. Their proposal was that local authorities should be under obligation to approve only types of human killers for use in the slaughterhouse within their districts and that inspectors should be allowed to enter the slaughterhouse to enforce the Act. They urged that all slaughtermen should be licensed and that any other method of killing animals for food should be prohibited.

The Society opposed the use of the knife and poleaxe in slaughter. Lizzy Lind af Hageby and Duchess Nina Douglas-Hamilton both visited slaughterhouses and tested the "humane killer" and criticized the cruelty of the poleaxe. In 1924, a report they signed had found that a pig had to be hit four times on the head before it was rendered unconscious and that the humane killer rendered twenty animals unconscious by the first shot. In 1925, it was reported that the Duchess of Hamilton had witnessed 52 animals being slaughtered in a single afternoon in pursuance of the statutory use of the humane killer. The Society supported the Slaughter of Animals Act 1933. The humane killer gained support from slaughterhouse workers. John Dodds, superintendent of the Carlisle abattoir became an expert adviser to the Society in their campaign for compulsory use of the humane killer. The Society's Slaughter Reform Department consisted of John Dodds and Constance Warner.

In 1937, the Society organized an exhibition in London with demonstrations of humane killers. In 1939, the Society angered the poultry industry by campaigning against the use of battery cage hens. The Society stated that the hens are imprisoned in the battery system in a confined space with no contact with fresh air and grass.

Model Humane Abattoir

The Society campaigned for the abolition of private slaughterhouses and the creation of humanely-conducted public abattoirs. In 1929, the Society opened the "Model Humane Abattoir" in Letchworth. The building was owned by the Society and was used to demonstrate humane slaughter and hygienic treatment of meat. It was designed by R. Stephen Ayling between 1925 and 1926. The humane model abattoir was built on a site covering two acres and planned to deal with 20,000 animals a year. The site contained a slaughter hall, lairs, cooling hall for cattle, general loading stage, chill rooms, engine room, a large lecture theatre and a veterinary inspection area. The Society also planned to build a bacon factory in which pigs were shot with the humane killer. The model humane abattoir gained support from the National Council for Animals' Welfare.

The Society stated that meat from the abattoir was to be sold by their own company. Duchess Nina Douglas-Hamilton was a vegetarian in her personal life but in 1928 became the head of a humane butcher's shop.

The Animal Defence Trust

Following Lind af Hageby's death in December 1963, the Society's assets were transferred to a trust, The Animal Defence Trust, which continues to offer grants for animal-protection projects. The Animal Defence Trust registered as a charity in 1971. It describes itself as a "charity whose main aims are the welfare of animals and protection of them from cruelty and suffering, the promotion of research to discover ways of reducing the use of animals in scientific research, and the establishment of inspections of animal transportation to ensure proper and humane accommodation".

Legacy

NC State University Libraries holds a large collection of pamphlets from the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.

Selected publications

References

References

1. Bazlinton, Chris. (1977). "The Guardian Directory of Pressure Groups & Representative Associations". Gale Research Company.
2. Kean, Hilda. (1995). "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection". History Workshop Journal.
3. (1935). "Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society Report for the Year 1933".
4. (December 7, 1921). "Humane Killing". Pall Mall Gazette.
5. (January 12, 1924). "Our Case for Slaughter Reform". The Daily Herald.
6. (2023). "About".
7. Smith, Andy. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jun/13/theobserver.uknews2 "Press dynasty is coming home from exile to a '£6m' mansion"], ''The Observer'', 13 June 1999.
8. Kean, Hilda. (2004-09-23). "Drakoules [née Lambe; other married name Lewis], Alice Marie (c. 1850–1933), humanitarian and campaigner for animal welfare". ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''. Retrieved 30 Dec. 2017, see [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-50748 link]
9. [http://www.lonsea.de/pub/org/780 "The International Humanitarian Bureau"]. lonsea.de. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
10. (March 6, 1959). "Pigeon shoot success". Lincoln Rutland & Stamford Mercury.
11. (April 20, 1923). "Animal Defence Society". The Courier.
12. (July 10, 1925). "Humane Slaughter". The Nuneaton Chronicle.
13. (January 20, 1922). "An Urgent Appeal to Women". The Vote.
14. (April 9, 1923). "Humane Slaughtering: Animal Defence Society's Minimum Points of Reform". The Daily Herald.
15. (January 16, 1924). "The Slaughter of Cattle". The Western Morning News and Mercury.
16. (August 7, 1925). "Humane Slaughter". The Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder and South London Gazette.
17. (August 13, 1925). "Forty Years in Slaughterhouse". The Observer.
18. (March 15, 1937). "Animal Defence Society Critics of Ox-Roasting". The Shields News.
19. (May 15, 1939). "Give Hens A Social Life Says Society". The Daily Mirror.
20. (January 6, 1926). "A Model Abattoir". The Evening News.
21. (April 23, 1925). "Women and Slaughterhouses". The Edinburgh Evening News.
22. Crawford, Elizabeth. (2003). "The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928". Taylor & Francis.
23. (August 8, 1928). "Duchess as Butcher". The Falkirk Herald.
24. (August 11, 1928). "A Ducal Butcher's Shop". The Observer.
25. "History".
26. [https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog?f%5Bnames_facet%5D%5B%5D=Animal+Defence+and+Anti-Vivisection+Society&to=catalog%23show_metadata Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society]. d.lib.ncsu.edu. Retrieved 8 December 2023.