Undercover Activism 100+ Years Ago!

Today: – ……we would like to jump back to 1914, to one of the first successful animal cruelty prosecutions. The court case was brought by the Performing and Captive Animals Defence League (PADL).

We are happy to discover that undercover activism for the benefit of animals goes back more than 100 years!

‘Andrew’, a dealer friend in the UK, recently discovered this original postcard of ‘Choclat’ and sold it to us.

Our library team knew of the legal case because, in one of his published letters (copied below), Ernest Bell had described the case as –

‘……the first of its kind……’

Until seeing the postcard, we didn’t know that there had been such a happy ending to the story. The National Canine Defence League (NCDL) had rehomed the tiny dog & people had started to call him ‘Choclat’.

Andrew also sent high resolution scans of the postcard to us – ……to ease our impatience as we waited to receive it from our post office delivery friends!

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Introducing the ‘Players’: –

‘Choclat’ – a dog forced to perform. He was ‘freed’ from his abusers in 1914 by the efforts of our illustrious AR predecessors.

Mrs Albert Bradshaw – AKA – ‘Anne M. Tree’ – an almost forgotten AR pioneer. ‘Anne’ was also remembered this year on p31 & p56 of the truly superb new book – The Welfare of Performing Animals: A Historical Perspective – by – David A. H. Wilson – 2015.

‘Anne’ was – an undercover animal rights activist 100+ years ago – and a co-founder of the Performing and Captive Animals Defence League.

We have not yet found ‘Anne’s’ photo, we do have a great deal more information about her, this we will share in future articles.

Jessey Wade, Ernest Bell, John Galsworthy – also co-founders & active members of the Performing and Captive Animals Defence League.

Les Marcellis – a team of European performing acrobats. Their act continued, with changes of personnel, into at least the 1960s.

Arthur Case – a veterinary surgeon – called as an expert witness. Arthur Case was also sometimes an expert witness for the RSPCA. Read about Arthur Case testifying for the RSPCA in a 1911 a case of an abused lion from 1911 – here.

C. Rowland Johns – and the team at NCDL – now known as Dogs Trust. Ernest Bell was also a co-founder of NCDL.

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Ernest Bell’s published letter about the legal case –

August 8, 1914 – The British Journal of Nursing – p129 – source.

Note –

The Protection of Animals Act 1911 (c. 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 18 August 1911.

The act consolidated several previous pieces of legislation, among others repealing the Cruelty to Animals Act 1849 and the Wild Animals in Captivity Protection Act 1900. It was itself largely repealed and replaced by the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which consolidated many different forms of animal welfare legislation. – Wiki & a link to the Act.

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The reverse of the postcard –

A nice addition – in 1915 ‘L. M. Hitchens’ was seemingly working on rehoming a kitten & also offering to take it to its new ‘human’ carer ‘W. G. Lee Esq.’ .

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Related History –

Longer extracts from – The Welfare of Performing Animals: A Historical Perspective – by – David A. H. Wilson – 2015. We have ordered a copy of the book!

P30/32

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Bizarre Beyond Belief –

 

~ The case involved a dog balancing and climbing an oscillating ladder. ~

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15 March 2016 – update.

Just discovered – in the May 1915 issues of ‘The Animals’ friend’ journal –

……on behalf of those who are trained to be “performing animals.”

On one of the pages of this interesting Report is a picture of poor little “Choclat,” the performing dog whose case was brought into court by the League and the Performing Animals’ Defence Committee. To have rescued him from a wretched existence of terror, and handed him over to his present life of peace and contentment, is a matter for sincere congratulation, and we hope the case may only be the forerunner of others of the kind.

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John Galsworthy – later a Nobel Laureate –

Treatment of animals : being a speech delivered at the Kensington Town Hall on December 15, 1913, at a meeting called to protest against cruelties to performing animals – by John Galsworthy – The “A. F.” pamphlet series – London :Animals’ Friend Society,[1913]. Ask us for the complete pamphlet as a 15MB .pdf file.

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To go deeper into the history of the PADL & the NCDL –

Much more about the PADL, Jessey Wade and Ernest Bell – here.

Another PADL case in 1921 – here.

The remaining records & archives of the PADL are held in the Ernest Bell Library.

The NCDL is now called Dogs Trust – the Ernest Bell Library is helping them to build up their historical archives – their current website – here.

NCDL 1905/15 era celebrity supporters – here.

NCDL 1909 postcards & more on Ernest Bell’s involvement – here.

NCDL 1926/7 – opposing vivisection of animals – here.

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Our Projects

The Henry Salt Archive is one of our, almost completed, projects.

The Humanitarian League is our Hong Kong registered charity. It cares for The Ernest Bell Library, which was conceived in 1934.

The library is still strong & very active eighty years later –  its primary objectives are to: –

• Collect all of Ernest Bell’s book & non-book works and make them easily accessible to everyone.

• Collect the literature of vegetarianism and all the other humanitarian movements in which Ernest Bell was so deeply involved.

• Assist students and scholars in their research.

• Introduce all aspects of Ernest Bell’s life, including his writings, campaign work, influences and his circle of friends.

• Undertake our own research into missing aspects of Ernest Bell’s life and work.

We already have more than 300 pieces of Ernest Bell’s own writings.

We are also actively building a collection of examples of promotional material, campaign material, fundraising & marketing activities etc. – related to: –

1. veg(etari)an products.

2. veg(etari)an books & other publications.

3. veg(etari)an organisations.

4. veg(etari)an businesses.

5. animal rights organisations.

6. animal rights publications.

7. humanitarian organisations.

8. humanitarian publications.

9. rambling clubs run by members of the above groups & related publications.

10. the work of Richard St. Barbe Baker & the ‘Men of the Trees’ organization & its many sub-branches.

11. the history of Democratic Socialism.

12. pre-WW2 Trade Union badges / pins / ephemera.

There are currently more than 2,000 items in the Ernest Bell Library. We will complete the cataloging of the collection as & when adequate funds are available.

 “I have little doubt that the proposal for the establishment of an Ernest Bell Library, which would specialize in humanitarian and progressive literature, and so form a sort of centre for students, will meet with a wide response.” 

Henry S. Salt – writing in September 1934

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What is our connection with HappyCow?

HappyCow is now very ‘vegan focused’ and, in our opinion, is very effective at promoting vegan businesses & projects.

We have been writing reviews on HappyCow & submitting new listings & edits since 2007.

Our library team cooperates with, and post articles to, HappyCow, primarily because the site is busy with ‘our kind of people’. HappyCow often gets 1,000,000+ visits each month & our ‘message’ gets out to many more times the number of people than it did when we used to post only to our UK based site – www.henrysalt.co.uk.

We are deeply attached to the history humanitarianism – and especially attached to the history of veganism – ……which is know by many different names around the world. In 1905 Ernest Bell referred to veganism / ‘animal rights related plant eating’ as the –

‘…wholesome and invigorating diet of the arboreal ancestors from whom we inherit our canine teeth (wrongly so called),…’

– more.

Luckily for all of us, almost 40 years later, Fay K. & G. Allan Henderson, with input from Dorothy & Donald Watson thought up the terms –

‘Vegan & Veganism’

We now have more than 100 blog posts visible on HappyCow.

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If anyone would like more information about our projects, please send an email to: – 

humanitarianleague (at) outlook (dot) com 

– or message me  through HappyCow – 

https://www.happycow.net/blog/author/JohnnySensible/
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“A people without a history is like a tree without roots.”

April / May 2007 – Satya

Q) Colleen Patrick-Goudreau – You use the phrase “historical amnesia” to refer to the fact that contemporary animal activists—and society as a whole—know nothing of the legacy of animal activism in the U.S. What are some of the effects of having “historical amnesia”? Why is it so important to know our legacy?

A) Diane Beers – Animal advocacy has an amazing history, yet it is essentially an untold story. African American activists will often say, “A people without a history is like a tree without roots.” Indeed, if activists don’t know the history of their cause, they can have no sense of their movement’s struggles, long-term strategies, achievements and heroes. In addition, they can’t promote their long impressive movement to the public, and their opponents—the meat industry, medical research industry and the government—will fill the void. They have been the ones most aggressively and successfully constructing negative images and outright myths of animal advocacy that the public often believes.

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