Humanitarian League

The Humanitarian League was a British radical advocacy organisation based in London that operated from 1891 to 1919. Founded by Henry S. Salt with Edward Maitland, Ernest Bell, Howard Williams, Kenneth Romanes and Alice Lewis, it promoted a general principle of humaneness, opposing avoidable suffering to any sentient being, and pursued reforms across both human and animal concerns.

Humanitarian League

Manifesto of the League
Formation	1891; 134 years ago (1891)
Founders	Henry S. Salt Edward Maitland Ernest Bell Howard Williams Kenneth Romanes Alice Lewis
Dissolved	December 1919; 105 years ago (1919-12)
Purpose	Promotion of humanitarianism and animal rights
Headquarters	London, England

The League campaigned against capital and corporal punishment, hunting for sport and vivisection, compulsory vaccination, and for changes in criminal law and prison practices. It disseminated its views through its journals Humanity (1895–1902), The Humanitarian (1902–1919) and The Humane Review (1900–1910), as well as books, pamphlets and public meetings. Membership and activity declined during the First World War, and the organisation dissolved in 1919. Former members subsequently helped to found the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports (now the League Against Cruel Sports).

History

Formation

The Humanitarian League was founded in 1891 by Henry S. Salt, who also served as general secretary and editor. Other founding members included Edward Maitland, Ernest Bell (chairman of committee and treasurer),^[1] Howard Williams, Kenneth Romanes and Alice Lewis (treasurer). Its inaugural meeting was held at Lewis's house, 14 Park Square, London, and she remained treasurer throughout the League's existence.^[2][3] Many of the founders were also members of the Shelley Society.^[4]

The provisional committee of the League in April 1891 consisted of William E. A. Axon, R. H. Jude, Alice Lewis, Edward Maitland, R. E. O'Callaghan, Rev. G. J. Ouseley, Kenneth Romanes, Howard Williams and Henry S. Salt.^[5]

Aims and principles

The League's guiding principle was that it is iniquitous to inflict avoidable suffering on any sentient being. Its manifesto declared:^[6]

The Humanitarian League has been established on the basis of an intelligible and consistent principle of humaneness – that it is iniquitous to inflict suffering, directly or indirectly, on any sentient being, except when self-defence or absolute necessity can justly be pleaded.

The League opposed corporal and capital punishment, hunting for sport, vivisection, and compulsory vaccination.^[2][7] Many members were vegetarians, and the League aimed to reduce animal suffering.^[4][5][8]

Organisation and activities

Office and publications

In 1895 the League opened an office in Great Queen Street, London, and launched its journal, Humanity (later The Humanitarian). That year it also held the first National Humanitarian Conference, with lectures covering diverse perspectives. From 1897 its headquarters on Chancery Lane actively engaged with the press and organised public debates.^[9]

Executive committee

The League's executive committee consisted of Ernest Bell, Alfred Binns, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, Herbert Burrows, Joseph Collinson, Helen Densmore, Edmund Harvey, Mrs. C. Mallet, W. Douglas Morrison, Henry S. Salt, Howard Williams and Llewellyn W. Williams.^[10]

Campaigns and departmental work

The League organised campaigns against blood sports, punishments for vagrancy, imprisonment for debt, "crimes of conscience", and other "barbarisms of the age".^[9] It also campaigned for human rights, contributing to the 1906 ban on flogging in the Royal Navy and seeking to reform laws on imprisonment for debt and non-criminal offences.^[11]

The League drafted the Sport Regulation Bill in 1894 which was introduced in Parliament by Alpheus Morton.^[12][13] The Bill would prohibit the hunting, coursing, and shooting of animals kept in confinement.^[13]

In 1895 the League was divided into four specialist departments: the Criminal Law and Prison Reform Department, the Sports Department, the Humane Diet Department and the Lectures for Children. Each department had a separate committee.^[2]

Joseph Stratton was honorary secretary of the Sports Department.^[14] The department condemned blood sports and any sport which caused suffering to animals.^[14] In 1897 the Humane Diet Department was renamed the Humane Diet and Dress Department, and in 1898 an Indian Humanitarian Committee was established.^[2]

The Animals Defence Committee replaced the former Humane Diet and Dress Department and the Sports Department.^[2] In 1909 the committee campaigned against the cruelties of the slaughterhouse, stag hunting, school-beagling, plumes, seal-skin trades and snake-feeding at zoological gardens. Members included R. Stephen Ayling, Ernest Bell, Joseph Collinson, Charles W. Forward and George Penn-Gaskell.^[15][16]

In 1908 the Criminal Law and Prison Reform Department merged into the Criminal Law and Prison Reform Committee, which covered both British and Indian affairs. Joseph Collinson served as honorary secretary of the committee for thirteen years.^[2]

Branches

Local branches of the League were established at Croydon and Letchworth after a meeting in 1909.^[2] A Manchester branch was formed with support from William E. A. Axon, William Byles and Rev. A. L. Broadley in 1912.^[17] By 1914 the Croydon branch had 56 members.^[2]

Publications

The League disseminated its ideas through journals: Humanity (1895–1902), later renamed The Humanitarian (1902–1919), and the quarterly The Humane Review (1900–1910).^[18]

Decline and closure

During the First World War, the League's membership and publication output declined.^[2] The organisation closed in 1919,^[19] shortly after the death of Salt's wife.^[20]

Legacy

Later influence

In 1924, former members of the League, Henry Brown Amos and Ernest Bell, established the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, which later became the League Against Cruel Sports.^[9]

Reuse of the name

The name "Humanitarian League" was later adopted by an organisation registered in Hong Kong in 2013.^[21] This group operates alongside the Ernest Bell Library, republishing historical humanitarian pamphlets and books.^[22]

Notable people associated with the League

A wide range of individuals were associated with the Humanitarian League during its existence. Some held formal offices in the organisation, while others supported its campaigns, contributed writings, or participated in lectures and pamphlets. The following tables list founders, officers, and notable members and supporters identified in contemporary and later sources.

Founders

Name	Occupation	Role in League	Source
Henry S. Salt	Writer, social reformer, animal rights activist and vegetarian activist	General secretary and editor of the League's journals	[2][3]
Edward Maitland	Writer and theosophist	Member of provisional and executive committees	[2]
Ernest Bell	Publisher, writer and animal activist	Chairman of committee and treasurer	[1][2]
Howard Williams	Writer, historian and vegetarian activist	Member of provisional committee	[2]
Kenneth Romanes	Translator, writer and humanitarian activist	Member of provisional committee	[2]
Alice Lewis	Philanthropist and activist	Treasurer and member of provisional committee	[2][5]

People with roles (non-founders)

Name	Occupation	Role in League	Source
William E. A. Axon	Librarian, antiquarian and journalist	Member of provisional committee	[5]
R. H. Jude	Mathematician, physicist and animal rights activist	Member of provisional committee	[5]
R. E. O'Callaghan	Activist, lecturer and writer	Member of provisional committee	[5]
Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner	Activist and writer	Member of executive committee	[10]
Herbert Burrows	Socialist activist	Member of executive committee	[10]
Edmund Harvey	Social reformer and politician	Member of executive committee	[10]
Joseph Stratton	Clergyman, writer and activist	Honorary secretary, Sports Department	[14]
Joseph Collinson	Journalist and writer	Member of Animals Defence Committee; Honorary secretary, Criminal Law and Prison Reform Department	[2][16]
Charles W. Forward	Activist, writer and historian	Member of Animals Defence Committee	[16]
Carl Heath	Quaker activist	Member of Criminal Law and Prison Reform Department	[2]
James Charles Mathew	Judge	Member of Criminal Law and Prison Reform Department	[23]
Jessey Wade	Animal welfare activist and editor	Honorary secretary, Children's Department	[24]
Henry John Williams	Clergyman and activist	Member of Humane Diet Department	[25]

Members and supporters

Name	Occupation	Source
Henry Brown Amos	Campaigner, animal rights activist and vegetarian activist	[26]
Annie Besant	Writer, women's rights activist, home rule activist and theosophist	[2]
Thomas Baty	Lawyer, feminist and international law reformer	[2]
Stella Browne	Feminist and birth control activist	[2]
Edith Carrington	Writer and animal welfare activist	[27]
Edward Carpenter	Writer, poet, socialist and vegetarian activist	[3]
Anne Cobden-Sanderson	Suffragist and socialist activist	[2]
Colonel William Lisle Blenkinsopp Coulson	Army officer, prison reform activist and anti-hunting activist	[28]
Ernest Howard Crosby	Writer and reformer	[2]
Clarence Darrow	Lawyer, civil liberties activist and anti-death-penalty activist	[4]
Michael Davitt	Politician, Irish nationalist and land reformer	[29]
Charlotte Despard	Suffragist and socialist activist	[29]
John Dillon	Politician and Irish nationalist	[2]
G. W. Foote	Journalist, editor and secularist activist	[2]
Isabella Ford	Labour activist and suffragist	[29]
Sigmund Freud	Psychoanalyst	[30]
John Galsworthy	Novelist and playwright	[31]
Keir Hardie	Politician and trade unionist	[2]
Thomas Hardy	Novelist and poet	[32]
Arthur Harvie	Clergyman	[33]
John Page Hopps	Unitarian minister and writer	[2]
W. H. Hudson	Author, naturalist and ornithologist	[2]
George Cecil Ives	Writer, poet, penal reform activist and homosexual law reform activist	[2]
Lizzy Lind af Hageby	Writer, anti-vivisection activist and suffragist	[2]
Bertram Lloyd	Writer, poet, naturalist and anti-blood-sports activist	[34]
Tom Mann	Trade unionist and socialist activist	[29]
J. Howard Moore	Zoologist, philosopher, animal rights activist and vegetarian activist	[4]
Conrad Noel	Anglican priest and Christian socialist	[2]
Josiah Oldfield	Lawyer, physician and vegetarian activist	[2]
Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier	Civil servant, politician and Fabian socialist	[2]
Alice Park	Suffragist and reformer	[4]
Christabel Pankhurst	Suffragette and political organiser	[29]
George Bernard Shaw	Playwright, critic and vegetarian activist	[2]
Arthur St. John	Writer	[2]
Enid Stacy	Socialist activist and suffragist	[29]
Leo Tolstoy	Writer, philosopher, Christian anarchist and vegetarian activist	[4]
Ralph Waldo Trine	Writer, philosopher, animal welfare activist and vegetarian activist	[4]
Alfred Russel Wallace	Naturalist, explorer and social reformer	[2]

Selected publications

Humanitarian League publications, 1897

Books

• Moore, J. Howard. The Universal Kinship (Humanitarian League, 1906)

Pamphlets

• Stratton, Joseph. Royal Sport: Some Facts Concerning the Queen's Buckhounds (Humanitarian League, 1891)
• Lester, H. F. Behind the Scenes in Slaughter-Houses (William Reeves, 1892)
• Ford, Isabella. Women's Wages and the Conditions Under Which They Are Earned (Humanitarian League, 1893)
• Oakeshott, Joseph Francis. The Humanizing of the Poor Law (Humanitarian League, 1894)
• Salt, Henry S. Literae Humaniores: An Appeal to Teachers (William Reeves, 1894)
• Suckling, Florence H. Lectures for Children (Humanitarian League, 1896)
• Suckling, Florence H. Our Insect Helpers (Humanitarian League, 1896)
• Suckling, Florence H. The Ant (Humanitarian League, 1896)
• Suckling, Florence H. The Dog (Humanitarian League, 1896)
• Stratton, Joseph; Coulson, William Lisle Blenkinsopp; Jude, R. H. So-Called Sport: A Plea for Strengthening the Law for the Protection of Animals (Humanitarian League, 1898)
• Verschoyle, John Stuart. Slaughter-House Reform (Humanitarian League, 1901)
• Collinson, Joseph. The Fate of the Fur Seal (William Reeves; Humanitarian League, 1902)
• Dickerson, Philip. The Eton College Hare-Hunt (Humanitarian League, 1904)
• Salt, Henry S. Humanitarianism: Its General Principles and Progress (Humanitarian League, 1906)
• Salt, Henry S. The Case Against Corporal Punishment (Humanitarian League, 1912)
• Salt, Henry S. (ed.) Killing for Sport: Essays by Various Writers (G. Bell & Sons, 1915)

See also

• Order of the Golden Age, Christian vegetarian and humanitarian organisation
• Progressive League, a later group operating on the same basis
• Ethical Union, now known as Humanists UK, its sister organisation
• List of animal rights groups