C. P. Newcombe

Cornelius Prout Newcombe (5 September 1825 – 30 July 1913) was an English educator and social reformer who advocated vegetarianism, early veganism, and temperance. After an early career in shipbuilding and insurance, he became a schoolmaster and around 1859 operated a vegetarian boarding school before founding Alexandra Park College in Hornsey in 1868. He later worked as a head teacher in New Zealand and retired to England in his later years. From the late nineteenth century, Newcombe was active in the British vegetarian movement, editing the The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, publishing The Manifesto of Vegetarianism (1911), and arguing that humans were naturally adapted to a plant-based diet. He also claimed that strict vegetarianism could cure cancer and sought funding for a Fruitarian Cancer Hospital. A supporter of the British temperance movement, Newcombe edited the Temperance Gazette and worked with temperance organisations. Following his death in 1913, the Vegetarian Society established a memorial essay competition in his honour.

C. P. Newcombe
Newcombe in 1905
Born	Cornelius Prout Newcombe (1825-09-05)5 September 1825 Shoreditch, Middlesex, England
Died	30 July 1913(1913-07-30) (aged 87) Rusthall, Kent, England
Occupations	Educator social reformer
Years active	c. 1850–1913
Known for	Advocacy of vegetarianism, early veganism, and temperance
Notable work	The Diet Cure of Cancer (c. 1904) The Manifesto of Vegetarianism (1911)
Spouses	Caroline Tunnicliff ​ ​ (m. 1848; died 1857)​ Mary Kirk ​ ​ (m. 1858; died 1882)​
Children	4
Family	Samuel Prout (uncle) Ebenezer Prout (cousin) Bertha Newcombe (niece)

Biography

Early life

Cornelius Prout Newcombe was born on 5 September 1825 in Shoreditch, Middlesex.^[1][2] He was the second son of Frederick Newcombe, a butcher, and Hannah Prout.^[3] Newcombe was related to several notable figures, including his uncle, the painter Samuel Prout; his cousin, the musical theorist Ebenezer Prout; and his niece, the artist and suffragist Bertha Newcombe.^[4]

Business and education career

In the early 1850s, Newcombe entered business as a partner in Griffiths, Newcombe & Co., an insurance brokerage and shipbuilding firm. The partnership collapsed in 1854, after which Newcombe became a schoolmaster.^[4] Around 1859, he ran a vegetarian boarding school.^[5] In 1865, Newcombe was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts.^[6] In 1868, he founded Alexandra Park College in Hornsey.^[7] Later in his career, Newcombe worked as a head teacher in New Zealand before returning to England around 1895,^[4] where he retired to Torquay.^[5]

Vegetarian and vegan advocacy

1904 advertisement for the second edition of Newcombe's The Diet Cure of Cancer

Newcombe adopted a vegetarian diet around 1850.^[5] In 1895, he attended the autumn congress of the Vegetarian Federal Union in Birmingham.^[8]

In 1905, at the age of 80, he organised and presided over a meeting of vegetarian octogenarians in London.^[9] Speakers included Newcombe, Joseph Wallace (84), T. A. Hanson (86), John E. B. Mayor (80), Samuel Saunders (91), and Samuel Pitman (82), brother of Isaac Pitman.^[10]: 75

Newcombe asserted that a strict vegetarian diet could cure cancer^[11] and published the pamphlet The Diet Cure of Cancer, which reached a third edition in 1905.^[10]: 78 In it, he argued that the adoption of vegetarianism would not only cure disease but also transform humanity morally and spiritually, writing that

not cancer alone, but the foul brood of diseases that fill the world with suffering and sorrow will rapidly decrease in number. Humanity will gain its right place among the religions of the world, the causes of war will cease, and cruelty will be known only as a crime.^[10]: 78

In 1906, he sought funding for a Fruitarian Cancer Hospital.^[12]

In 1911, Newcombe published The Manifesto of Vegetarianism, dedicated to Mayor, Wallace, and Albert Broadbent.^[13] In the work, he argued that humans are naturally adapted to a vegetarian diet, citing the absence of claws or sharp teeth and the structure of the digestive system, which he believed was unsuited to the digestion of meat.^[14]

In 1900, Newcombe contributed a story titled "What the Animals Think of the Children's Garden" to the vegetarian periodical for children The Children's Garden. The story depicted an animal gathering in which animals protested human cruelty and the use of their bodies for clothing and fashion, including the killing of seals for fur and the plucking of ostrich feathers.^[15]

Newcombe also edited The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, the journal of the Vegetarian Society.^[16] In 1912, he invited correspondence on the differences within the vegetarian movement between those who consumed animal products and those who did not. The resulting 24 letters were published in the journal. Newcombe was critical of the arguments defending the use of eggs and milk, and promoted a diet consisting solely of cereals, pulses, fruit, nuts, and vegetables.^[16]

Temperance work

Newcombe edited the temperance periodical The Temperance Gazette, which was published by William Horsell. He was active in the temperance movement as a member of the National Temperance Association and worked as an agent for Temperance Emigration Shipping.^[5]

Personal life and death

In 1848, Newcombe married Caroline Tunnicliff in Coventry, and the couple had four children.^[4] In 1857, she died.^[17] The following year, he married Mary Kirk.^[4] She died in 1882.^[18]

Newcombe died on 30 July 1913 in Rusthall, Kent, aged 87. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.^[9] In his honour, the Vegetarian Society established a memorial prize essay competition.^[19]

Publications

• Alexandra Park College, Hornsey: Conducted by Mr. C. P. Newcombe Assisted by Competent Teachers & Lecturers. 1868. OCLC 1057325048.
• Health: Man's Birthright; an Address Delivered Before the Northern Heights Vegetarian Society, 1895. Ideal Publishing Union.
• "On Fish Eating". The Vegetarian. 4 (10): 145–150. 15 April 1899.
• "What the Animals Think of the Children's Garden". The Children's Garden (3). January 1900.
• Cancer: The Natural and Only Cure. 1903.
• The Diet Cure of Cancer. c. 1904.
• "Two Men I Have Met". The Vegetarian: 220–221. 3 December 1906.
• The Manifesto of Vegetarianism. London: Vegetarian Society. 1911.