Wikipedia

Robert H. Perks

Robert Howell Perks (June 1854 – 11 February 1929) was an English naturalist, physician and anti-vivisection activist.

Robert H. Perks
Born
Robert Howell Perks

June 1854
Monkton Combe, England
Died11 February 1929 (aged 74)
London, England
Alma materGuy's Hospital
Occupation(s)Naturalist, physician, activist
Spouse
Frances Mary Tregaskis
​
​
(m. 1889)​

Biography

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Perks was born in June 1854.[1] He was the eldest son of Henry Perks of Monkton Combe.[2] He was educated at Guy's Hospital where he was house physician and surgeon.[3] He was appointed resident medical officer at Royal Albert Hospital. He qualified MRCS in 1881, FRCS in 1884 and LRCP in 1882.[3] Perks married Frances Mary Tregaskis in October 1889.[2]

In 1890, he became medical superintendent and principal executive officer of Adelaide Hospital in South Australia.[4] He resigned in 1895. After his resignation he became medical attendant and private secretary to Sir Thomas Elder at Birksgate, Glen Osmond.[5] After the death of Elder in 1897, he returned to England with his wife and settled in Torquay.[3][5] Perks was a naturalist and ornithologist. In 1893, he worked with Edward Charles Stirling Director of the South Australian Museum.[5] He was chairman of the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia in 1895.[6] In 1897, he was thanked by the museum for his gift of a number of photographs of bird nests.[5] He also donated aboriginal skeleton remains and insects.[5] The Natural History Museum purchased 197 of his bird skin specimens.[7]

A species of sea snail Surcula perksi was named after Perks in 1896.[8] In 1898, he was elected a member of the Malacological Society of London.[9]

Perks died on 11 February 1929 at Guy's Hospital, London.[10] He was buried on 15 February in Camden.[11]

Activism

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Anti-vivisection

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Perks was an opponent of vivisection on ethical grounds. He considered it a criminal offense.[12] He authored Why I Condemn Vivisection, first published in The Herald of the Golden Age in 1904 which went through seven editions. He commented that "I condemn vivisection because it is productive of a vast amount of severe suffering to animals without any corresponding advantage to them".[13] He was a vice-president of the International Anti-Vivisection and Animal Protection Congress and attended meetings in July 1909.[14][15][16]

Perks was a speaker at meetings of the London Anti-Vivisection Society and British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection with Walter Hadwen.[17][18][19]

Vegetarianism

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Perks became a vegetarian in 1898 and was a speaker at Vegetarian Society conferences.[20][21][22] In the early 1900s, Perks was elected a member of the Order of the Golden Age's General Council and was its Honorary Secretary. He wrote articles supportive of a vegetarian diet for their journal Herald of the Golden Age.[23] In 1907, thirteen medical men including Perks signed a manifesto stating that vegetarianism is "scientifically a sound and satisfactory system of dietetics" and superior to health than meat eating.[24] In 1914, Perks argued for vegetarianism from an ethical basis, commenting that it is the duty of humanitarians to regard animals as friends and not a food source.[25]

Selected publications

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References

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  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Medical News". The British Medical Journal. 2 (1503): 904–906. 1889. JSTOR 20221164.
  3. ^ a b c "Perks, Robert Howell (1855 - 1929)". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2012. Archived from the original on September 20, 2024.
  4. ^ "Fights by doctors and board plus crowding and sanitation concerns blight Adelaide Hospital in the 19th Century". 2024. Archived from the original on March 2, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Whittell, Hubert Massey. (1954). The Literature of Australian Birds: A History and a Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Paterson Brokensha. p. 581
  6. ^ "Field Naturalist's Section of the Royal Society of South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 19 (2): 289–290. 1895.
  7. ^ Carpenter, Graham (2022). "The Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata in South Australia" (PDF). South Australian Ornithologist. 47 (1): 22–32.
  8. ^ Verco, J. C. (1896). "Descriptions of new species of marine Mollusca of South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 20 (1): 224–225.
  9. ^ "Ordinary Meeting: Friday, 14TH January, 1898" (PDF). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. 3 (1): 62. 1898.
  10. ^ Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England
  11. ^ "Robert Howell Perks". Deceased Online. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  12. ^ Bates, A. W. H. (2017). Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-137-55696-7
  13. ^ To Prohibit Experiments Upon Living Dogs. United States Government Printing Office, 1938. p. 27
  14. ^ "International Antivivisection Congress". The British Medical Journal. 2 (2533): 158–160. 1909. JSTOR 25282843.
  15. ^ Proceedings of the International Anti-Vivisection and Animal Protection Congress, held at Washington, D.C., December 8th to 11th, 1913. The Tudor Press, 1914.
  16. ^ "Anti-Vivisectionist and Cancer Research". The Newcastle Daily Chronicle. July 9, 1909. p. 3. (subscription required)
  17. ^ "London Anti-Vivisection Society, East Devon Branch". The Teignmouth Post. February 12, 1904. p. 5. (subscription required)
  18. ^ "Bristol Anti-Vivisection Campaign". South Bristol Free Press. October 23, 1911. p. 2. (subscription required)
  19. ^ "British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection". Morning Leader. October 24, 1911. p. 4. (subscription required)
  20. ^ "Conference of the Vegetarian Society". The Cheltenham Examiner. May 2, 1906. p. 4. (subscription required)
  21. ^ "The Vegetarian Society: Meetings in Bristol". The Western Daily Press. May 5, 1909. p. 3. (subscription required)
  22. ^ "Excessive Meat-Eaters Less Refined". Luton Times. October 17, 1913. p. 2. (subscription required)
  23. ^ "Moderate Vegetarians". The British Medical Journal. 2 (2182): 1359–1360. 1902. JSTOR 20274045.
  24. ^ "Vegetarian Diet". Tyrone Courier. September 12, 1907. p. 6. (subscription required)
  25. ^ "The Humanitarian Side". The Looker-On. May 30, 1914. p. 12. (subscription required)
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