William Horsell (31 March 1807 – 23 December 1863) was an English hydrotherapist, publisher, and temperance and vegetarianism activist. Horsell published the first vegan cookbook in 1849.
William Horsell | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of William Horsell, by Maull & Polyblank, London, c. 1857 | |
| Born | 31 March 1807 Brinkworth, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 23 December 1863 (aged 56) |
| Occupation(s) | Hydrotherapist, publisher, temperance and vegetarianism activist |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Horsell |
Biography
editWilliam Horsell was born in Brinkworth, Wiltshire on 31 March 1807. Before the age of twenty he was preaching the gospel and became a temperance activist in 1833.[1] In 1838, Horsell established the Anti-Nicotine Society at Congleton, Cheshire.[2] Horsell founded the Nature's Beverage Society in 1842. The Society aimed to spread abstinence from all artificial beverages.[3]
Horsell operated a hydropathic infirmary at Northwood Villa, Ramsgate.[4] It has been described as the first vegetarian hospital in Britain.[5] In 1847, a meeting was held at the hospital from which the Vegetarian Society was formed.[4] Horsell was secretary of the Vegetarian Society for several years.[6] In 1856, Horsell noted that there were a thousand members of the Society.[6] He managed the Society from his London office.[7]
Horsell edited the Truth Tester, which became the Society's official journal.[4] The journal described vegetarianism as "the next practical moral subject which is likely to call forth the virtuous energy of society".[6] In 1850, it was renamed the Vegetarian Advocate.[8] Horsell stepped down as Secretary and his journal ceased in 1850.[9] From 1849, the Vegetarian Society's President James Simpson published the Vegetarian Messenger.[9] In 1850, Simpson moved the Vegetarian Society office to Manchester and Vegetarian Messenger became the Society's official journal.[9] Horsell remained active with the London branch of the Vegetarian Society.[7]
Another publication of Horsell's was the monthly The Journal of Health & Phrenological Magazine which amongst its contributors was the popular temperance lecturer Jabez Inwards, a fellow teetotaler and phrenologist .[10]
He authored a popular hydropathic manual and was an advocate of phrenology.[6] He was a publisher for vegetarian and spiritualist literature.[6] His wife Elizabeth Horsell was also a vegetarian.[6]
Horsell was a London agent for the Fowler & Wells Company.[11]
In 1849, Horsell published Asenath Nicholson's Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians, in London. A review in the Vegetarian Advocate, noted that "butter and eggs are excluded" from the recipes.[12] The Vegan Society have cited the book as the first vegan cookbook.[13]
Horsell died of a fever, while on board the Just, on 23 December 1863, while on an anti-slavery mission to Nigeria. He was buried in Lagos Cemetery, West Africa.[14]
Selected publications
edit- The Board of Health & Longevity (1845)
- Cholera Prevented by the Adoption of a Vegetarian Diet (1849)
- Original Views on Diet (1849)
- Hydropathy for the People (1850)
- The Vegetarian Armed at All Points (1856)
- The Science of Cooking Vegetarian Food (1856)
References
edit- ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74681. Retrieved 6 January 2024. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Blocker, Jack S. Fahey, David M; Tyrrell, Ian R. (2003). Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Enclyopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 634. ISBN 1-57607-833-7
- ^ Winskill, Peter Turner. (1891). The Temperance Movement and Its Workers, Volume 2. Blackie & Son. p. 150
- ^ a b c Spencer, Colin. (1995). The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism. University Press of New England. p. 252. ISBN 0-87451-708-7
- ^ Forward, Charles W. (1898). Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England. London: The Ideal Publishing Union. p. 20
- ^ a b c d e f Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 31-52, pp. 72-73, p. 104. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
- ^ a b "London Vegetarian Association, 1850s - the world's first 'vegan society'" Archived 13 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret. (2010). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-313-37556-9
- ^ a b c "The Origins of the 'Vegetarians'". International Vegetarian Union. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ "London Vegans 1856 – Elizabeth And William Horsell". www.happycow.net. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ LeMaster, J. R; Kummings, Donald D. (1998). Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 230. ISBN 0-8153-1876-6
- ^ Anonymous. (1849). Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians. The Vegetarian Advocate 11 (1): 10.
- ^ "Key facts". The Vegan Society. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ Gregory, James (2013) [2008]. "'Zealously affected in a good thing' The publishing career and life of William Horsell (1807‒1863)". Academia.edu. p. 11. Retrieved 28 June 2024.