Howard Williams (humanitarian)

For other people named Howard Williams, see Howard Williams (disambiguation).

Howard Williams (6 January 1837 – 21 September 1931) was an English humanitarianism and vegetarianism activist, historian, and writer. He was noted for authoring The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism, which was influential on the Victorian vegetarian movement.

Howard Williams
Born	(1837-01-06)6 January 1837 Whatley, Mendip, England
Died	21 September 1931(1931-09-21) (aged 94) Aspley Guise, England
Education	St John's College, Cambridge (BA, 1860; MA, 1863)
Occupation(s)	Activist, historian, writer
Notable work	The Ethics of Diet (1883)
Spouse	Eliza Smith ​ ​ (m. 1860; died 1906)​
Family	Henry John Williams (brother)

Biography

Williams was a born on 6 January 1837, in Whatley, Mendip, the fifth son of the Reverend Hamilton John Williams and Margaret Sophia;^[1] one of his older brothers was the priest and animal rights and vegetarianism activist Henry John Williams.^[2][3] He was home educated,^[1] then went on to study history at St John's College, Cambridge;^[4] he earned his BA in 1860 and MA in 1863. Williams married Eliza Smith on 20 November 1860;^[1] she died around 1906.^[5]

Williams' first book was published in 1865, entitled The Superstitions of Witchcraft. Williams became a vegetarian in 1872, as well as an anti-vivisectionist; he published The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism, in 1883.^[1]

Williams was the inspiration for and one of the founding members of the Humanitarian League, in 1891, which "opposed all avoidable suffering on any sentient being".^[4][6] 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.^[1] He also served as the Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Society^[5] and was a board member of the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.^[4]

Williams died in Aspley Guise, on 21 September 1931.^[1]

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)^[1]

References

1. "Williams, Howard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/41000. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Grumett, David; Muers, Rachel, eds. (2011). Eating and Believing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vegetarianism and Theology. London: A&C Black. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-567-57736-8.
3. Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
4. Preece, Rod (2011). Animal Sensibility and Inclusive Justice in the Age of Bernard Shaw. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 167–168. ISBN 9780774821124.
5. "Mr. Howard Williams". Bedfordshire Times and Independent. 25 September 1931.
6. "Humanitarian League". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved 28 February 2020.

Further reading

• Henry S. Salt, "The Late Mr Howard Williams: An Appreciation", The Vegetarian News, October 1931
• Jaime de Magalhães Lima, O Vegetarismo e a Moralidade das raças, 1912
• Jon Gregerson, Vegetarianism: A History, Jain Publishing Company, California, 1994, p. 78, 89.
• Howard Williams and Carol J. Adams, The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-Eating, University of Illinois Press, 2003. ISBN 0-252-07130-1

External links

• Works by Howard Williams at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Howard Williams at the Internet Archive
• Works by Howard Williams at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• International Vegetarian Union - Howard Williams